Beer Friday: #1

Ha! You were maybe expecting "Foamy Friday"?

I don't do that crap. Beer deserves a bit more r-e-s-p-e-c-t.



Feel free to fire Aretha up while you're reading the reviews. I did while I was writing them, and it made the beer taste better, just like drinking your beer from expensive, hand-blown, wildly-accurate-designed-by-pseudoscientific-principles beer glasses that are "pretentious as shit"!!!

Aw...no, it didn't, not really. But I did enjoy the process more that way. Speaking of the process, here's how I'm going to do this. Unless otherwise noted, these beers are samples sent from the brewery, chilled to proper temperature, and sampled from a sleeve pint glass (because I'm an ornery bastard). I will also be trying to include one draft beer each week.

On to the reviews.


Yuengling IPL, 5.0%

Got some fresh at the brewery on Monday, so you bet I'm gonna review it. They want to see this go year-round; does it have the stuff?

It pours pretty, dark gold with a bright white head. Aroma is fresh lager (fresh-moist white bread, tiniest hint of sulfur!) and piney-grassy hop. Not a hint of skunk; IPL comes in brown bottles, thank you! The mouth is a relatively light lager with that bit of extra body you can expect from Yuengling, and an amount of hop flavor (pine, grapefruit zest, and something fruity...melon?) and bitterness that is definitely more than you expect from Yuengling. At 60 IBU, this is twice as bitter as their long-time hoppiest brew, Lord Chesterfield. The bitterness kicks in about a second after entry, gripping in the back, and turning it up in the finish. It's like a subtly spiced curry; the bitterness builds as you get through the bottle. The first gulp doesn't impress, but by the fourth, you can feel the hop every time you breathe; interesting effect.

This is a hard one to pin down. It seems simple, and you could drink it quickly and say it's simple...but it's not. There's a nice little twist here, and I'm not sure if most of us will catch it. I'd like more malt here, the body lets me down, and I'd like more hop aroma from something calling itself India Pale Lager. That's the problem here: expectations. After Yuengling absolutely nailed it with last summer's weissbier, I figured this one would be bolder. And even though the hop continues to breath-mint me on every inhalation... Damn. This beer is not giving up. A 4-ounce and done sample would not do it justice. The further I get into the bottle, the more I like it. It's no Prima Pils, but it's not meant to be. It's not a killer, but it's no baby bottle either.

I still want more, but it's better than I thought on first look. I'd like it sharpened up, I'd like more body, but it's not going to get "Flawed" for being not up to the expectations engendered by the name.

I'm going to encourage Yuengling IPL to be pleased to walk away with "Yawn," because that's not really that bad. Maybe tweak this before the next seasonal release? Maybe a bit more body? Maybe a bit more aroma hopping? Maybe then you'll have a killer on your hands.

Verdict: Okay...with potential


Allagash Interlude, 9.5%

I've been thinking to myself lately, 'You know, I don't like sours, don't like Brett beers, don't like funk.' But damn it, I know it's not true! Because I liked sours and Bretts and lambics 30 years ago, liked them right up through about 2008, when I went off them for a while after full lambic immersion in Belgium. When I tried some new ones...damn. No. But now, drinking my first Interlude in years, it's coming back to me.

This is almost too complex to describe. First, it's a coppery color, with very little foam. The nose is sharp, acidic; there are barnyard aromas and it's a bit reeky, but there are these sharp fruity notes, even some sweet candy flitting around. The beer's thick at first sip, then thins across the tongue: Brett funk and woody dryness blend with punk-sweet fruit and sour honey. It's like tasting some wild fruit I've never had before. A bit thick, a bit sweet, but mostly beautifully buggy.

And it drinks better and better as it warms (served WAY too cold, unfortunately). Wow. it gets even more friendly as it gets toward room temp. This is the funk I remember. This is the funk I desire. (Served on draft at Manny Brown's in Newtown: $7 for a big goblet)

Verdict: Stellar


Hamburg Hoppenstance, 8.0%

Hamburg Brewing is a small outfit south of Buffalo that opened in 2013. I hadn't heard of it before December 26th, when my brother-in-law Chris gave me this four-pack of Hoppenstance double IPA for Christmas. Happy to dive in; let's have a look.

Pine floats above the surface with a speckling of fruits tickling the nose. Very clean aromas, and the beer's clean too: bright gold, paper-white head. Take a great sip; and it's bitter but balanced, with a solid slice of hop bitterness backed with a table of malt. It's a well-built beer, nothing wrong with it, but I'm looking for something to make it stand out, and it's not there. There's nothing wrong with it: a small brewery making a solid, local double IPA. I'd love to try it in Hamburg at the brewery tap, nice and fresh.

Verdict: Okay

First Day: D.G. Yuengling & Son, America's Oldest Brewery

I am waiting for you, Vizzini! 
You told me to go back to the beginning... so I have.

--Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride

As promised, I restarted my freelance career in earnest today, by going back to where things started: the Yuengling brewery, America's oldest, in Pottsville, Pennsylvania.

You see that sign on the wall? I touched that sign the very first time I ever visited the brewery, way back in the last week of December, 1982. It was closed that day, but I'd be back. I wrote the first story I ever wrote for pay about Yuengling, in a beer store newsletter I wound up producing for seven years, the same beer store newsletter that would get me my first assignment for what was then Malt Advocate, which would lead to my long-time column in Ale Street News, which would lead to Pennsylvania Breweries... 

I wanted to go back to the beginning...so I have.

I was joined by my old friend Scott Fasnacht, who was with me on a tour of Yuengling in 1985 that was a landmark for me -- my first real backdoor tour of a brewery -- and John Holl, editor of All About Beer, who had never been to Yuengling, and since I'm going to be writing my first All About Beer column about this visit for him, we thought it would be fun if he came along. 

We took the 11:00 tour: the old kegging line, the damp and dark lagering caves, the brewhouse, the machine shop, the canning line, and tasting in the Rathskellar, which didn't look much different from my son's first birthday, when we (his mother and I, and his four grandparents) took him on the tour and got his picture with a man who was there to take the tour for his 81st birthday (if I could find the picture, I'd share it). I got a hand-rolled Black & Tan: Porter and Premium. Still tasty stuff, by God.

Then we went across the street where they've almost finished refurbishing the old Yuengling creamery, where they used to make Yuengling ice cream (one of the many things Frank Yuengling did to get through Prohibition). The place looks great, with a huge gift shop area (the brewery merchandise has always been some of the best) and a nifty tasting room with a beauty of an old tap box and what I was told was the backbar out of what had been the oldest bar in Schuylkill County. Neat stuff, opening soon. 

Then we went over to the expansion brewery, the Mill Creek facility. I was very happy to run into Dave Casinelli, the COO, and the man who has a large part of the credit for making the brewery the success it is today (he'd say the main share goes to Dick Yuengling, and it's hard to argue that!). Dave welcomed me back to beer -- which I have to admit, was a thrill -- and I asked him how things were going. I got an honest answer, which I'll be talking about a bit in that column; you'll just have to wait!

We walked on down to the beautiful new bar and hospitality room, where they showed us this video. I have to say; it was well-done, and moving. It's 27 minutes long; take the time to watch it, there's some great stuff in there. Because the really neat thing about Yuengling is that they don't have to make up anything; they've got a story a marketer would kill for. They don't hide anything, they don't try to make what they are or what they do anything except what it actually is.

And then...I drove home. Once again, a freelancer. Once again, a beer writer. Back at the beginning.

The Week, plus the STAG Rating Scheme

Here we go...

A look ahead to what's coming this week. Tomorrow, January 4th, is my first full workday back as a freelancer, and I promised myself that on that first full day I would hop in the car and go do what I used to do a LOT when I first started writing: go take the tour at Yuengling. But since I'm working, too, I'm going up with All About Beer editor John Holl (and my old friend Scott Fasnacht), and I'm going to write about the trip, and the 'then and now' aspect of it all, as the first installment of my new web column for AAB. I'll let you know when it's up. Meantime, I'll probably throw up a few pictures and comments here, just for fun...since I doubt that's all we're going to do.

Tuesday I'm going to keep up with the beer then-and-now thing with a report on my visit to Selin's Grove Brewing on December 21st, their 19th anniversary. What changed and what didn't was delicious, and so was the Solstice Dubbel. If I have it finished, I may also drop my thoughts on the new challenge to "craft" beer: I think it's big enough to fail.

Next? I'm going to be doing regular tasting here on STAG for the first time. I'm going to commit to doing at least one whiskey/spirits review every Wednesday, and at least one beer review every Friday...until I decide it's not what I want to do. But I'll be at this for a while, and I'd like to explain my "system." I used to "recommend" or "not recommend" drinks, I've worked with the Whisky Advocate ratings scale, I've done the 5-star thing, and I've struggled with Untappd's 5-star with quarterly gradations system.

I'm not going to do any of that here. Instead, I'm going back to a system I made up in the dark days after 9/11, at a time when we desperately needed something to laugh about. A small number of my friends will recognize the term "GOOD or SHITE?", a snarly response to someone who trashed a friend's thoughtful tasting notes about Marston's Double Drop (remember that, Peter?). 'Who needs all those fancy tasting notes anyway,' I shouted, 'is the beer GOOD, or is it SHITE?' It evolved a bit, into a four-grade system: F****** Shite, Shite, Good, and F****** Good. We had some fun and then moved on, but every now and then...I thought about it, and considered actually using it. But, you know...swearing. Some of you are probably uncomfortable with this much.

I now believe its time has come, with one important addition. I'll be grading the reviews on this scale (the illustrations are provided to give you an idea of just how bad or good things are):

Crap

Few to no redeeming qualities. Notably flawed in concept or in execution. Examples: Cave Creek Chili Beer (undrinkably spicy and one-dimensional), Ten High bourbon (too young, too hot, too thin).

Flawed 

Not undrinkable, but with at least one serious flaw that should keep you from drinking again. Examples: most light beers (no flavor), Brenne (just too sweet).

Okay

Drinkable, even tasty, won't pour it out; but not something I'm going to look for. So standard as to be overlooked. Examples: Yuengling Lager (I drink it if it's the choice, but...), Johnny Walker Red (okay mixer, but...) Note: this is a change from "Yawn," which I eventually realized sounded too judgmental for drinks that I was essentially grading at C+ to B. I'll be changing the reviews to reflect this.

Good

A definite cut above, a small grin when spotted, yes please. Examples: Penn Kaiser Pils (zesty and well-made), Wild Turkey Rare Breed (overproof in such a proper way)

Stellar 

Conversation stopper/starter. Easiest choice on the menu. Examples: Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter (archetypal stuff), Redbreast (the standard 12 YO; such as dreams are made of)






It's a bell-curve, like many things, so don't expect too many Crap or Stellar grades, and most are likely to fall in the middle three...probably fewer Flawed, because those don't tend to be the ones I grab anyway. "Yawn" is, I think, the addition that makes the system work. Good...just not good enough to go looking for it.

I'll be accepting samples and buying off the shelf/bar, but I won't double-review; Whisky Advocate gets first dibs on all craft whiskeys, for example, and if I review them there, I won't be doing them here.  Some reviews will be long, some will be brutally short; some will just be tasting notes, some will be more. We'll have some fun, and I'll be as honest and objective as I can.

Thursday? I'm thinking about something on Canadian whisky. I've learned a LOT about Canadian in the past three years, and I've got some thoughts I want to pass along. Don't assume you know what there is to know about Canadian.

Let's see...next Saturday? I have nothing planned. Let's see what happens.

Philly Loves Lagers: hello, Philly Bierfest!

Gearing up for the second annual Philly Bierfest on February 23rd (1-5), and I'm starting to get a lager Stiffe. The German Society of Philadelphia is hosting the event, along with Brauhaus Schmitz and the Philly Roller Girls (that's right: women-owned and operated roller derby!).

You know I love me some smooth, cold-matured lager loveliness, and there's no place like Pennsylvania to get great fresh examples; er, outside of Germany, that is! For your $45 ticket (or $60 VIP), you'll get lagers and weizens from fantastic Pennsylvania breweries like this: 

Appalachian Brewing Co.          Berwick Brewing Co.
Lancaster Brewing Co.             The Lion Brewery
Pennsylvania Brewing Co.         Philadelphia Brewing Co.
Manayunk Brewing Co.            Neshaminy Creek Brewing Co.
Nodding Head Brewery             Round Guys Brewing Co.
Sly Fox Brewing Co.                Stoudts Brewing Co.
Straub Brewery                       Susquehanna Brewing Co.
Victory Brewing Co.                Yuengling and Sons Brewery

Meanwhile, down in the Ratskellar, the beer-loving folks from The Foodery will be pouring beers from German breweries like Ayinger, Jever, Trauenstein, and a number of smaller, less-familiar (and delish) brewers, including one possible surprise they're still working on; keep your fingers crossed that this famous doublebock makes it in!

Why am I plugging this? What, a guy can't like lagers? Okay, okay: I'm plugging it because I'm in it, a member of the Brewer’s Discussion Panel on ‘Lager-Love and the Resurgence of Session Styles’ (I swear, I had nothing to do with the title!) at 4 pm in the Society's historic Horner Memorial Library.

Other members of the panel? Artie Tafoya, of Appalachian Brewing (and a past-master of hefe-brewing), Bill Covaleski of Victory Brewing (where they've been known to brew a lager or ten), and German beer importer Lars Dahlhaus. It's moderated by Marnie Old, Philly's best-known sommelier...who is also a fierce proponent of beers, especially lagers. We'll have a few good things to talk about.

I hope you can remember to come hear us, after three hours of lager, weissbier, great German eats from Brauhaus Schmitz (snacks for freesies, more substantial -- and the Germans do know "substantial" -- eats for additional bucks), and the bluegrass picking of the Keystone Mountain Boys. 

What do you get for that extra $15 for the VIP ticket? You get a bigger cup...and if that's not enough, you also get in at noon for a tutored tasting on German beer styles by Marnie. Trust me, there are more German beer styles than most people know. It's more than just light lager/dark lager/strong lager/wheat!

Oh, and the Roller Girls. Don't you worry about them, you'll understand that soon enough. So...check it out here, and I'll see you there!

The German Society -- 611 Spring Garden St.  Philadelphia, PA  19123

Yuengs for your Wings

Can't believe this took so long: Yuengling has launched a line of Barbecue and Wing sauces incorporating their beers: Lager, Light Lager, Porter, and Black and Tan. Check it out here. This should be a runaway success.

Let's beat up Dick Yuengling again!

Saw this...blather on PhillyMag's blog today, and just lost it. Gene Marks, a business consultant who writes...a lot, decided that he was going to take Dick Yuengling to task for something The Dickster said in a recent interview. Here's what Dick said about why he may or may not open an expansion brewery in western Pennsylvania:

“Some states are very economically friendly,” Yuengling said. “We don’t necessarily base business decisions on incentives like that. But if they are going to give them to somebody, we would stand there and take them.”
“Pennsylvania is a great location. But it’s not very business-friendly. You look for fair tax breaks, fair taxation. And the bottom line is more jobs. That’s what it’s all about.”

And Marks jumped all over him for it, mainly making the point that Yuengling -- because he mentioned that he might locate a new brewery in another state -- is just another entitled grabber, sticking out his hand for something he doesn't deserve.

So can we all admit that we’re the same? The unions. The small-business owners. The down-and-out workers. The big business executives. The 99 percent. In the end, we’re all trying to negotiate the best deal we can, regardless of the effects elsewhere. We’re all going to take it if we can get it. Whether we’re entitled to it or not.

Marks clearly doesn't know Dick. This is the last person to think he's NOT 'all the same.' He drives a well-used Ford. He wears jeans and flannel shirts. He still has his office in the 1831 building that houses the brewery, in Pottsville. He chainsmokes, and uses a coffee cup for an ashtray. He's folks.

I'm so tired of this being beaten to death for political reasons, because this is about the election. Did you miss that "99 percent," didja know Dick's a Republican? Can we put that crap aside just once before November? Dick Yuengling kept jobs in Pennsylvania when other breweries in the state were closing. He added jobs in Pennsylvania when he built his new brewery here. And now he needs to expand, and he says that he may not build another brewery here...and now he's evil.

Give me a break. This man's business decisions saved America's oldest brewery, gave union workers in Florida back their jobs (when Yuengling re-opened the Stroh brewery in Tampa, which went under because of bad business decisions), and made this the biggest American-owned brewery in 2012. I'm sorry; if the man wants to open a brewery somewhere else -- New England, maybe, or the Midwest -- that's his prerogative. It's his business, it's not a corporation. He can do whatever he wants with it.

And you know what? Doing just that -- whatever he wants with it -- has worked out really, REALLY well for his employees, for the thousands of people in PA who sell Yuengling, and for the residents of Pottsville. I'd say let him keep doing what he's doing.

Yuengling: Dick's on top, baby!

It's strange to think that when I had my first Yuengling 30 years ago, and took my first tour of the brewery 25 years ago, the Pottsville family business was just barely hanging on. I believe they told us that they sold about 165,000 barrels that year, which sounds like a lot in craft brewer terms, but not out of a plant that size, with a staff that size.

Things changed, as we all know, and while Yuengling is still only in fourteen states, they announced today that thanks largely to the huge surge in sales from their Ohio launch last year, they are now the largest American-owned brewery. Think on that, ye mighty, and despair.

For while I love Yuengling -- the history, the stubbornness, the Pennsylvaniality of it all -- it is sobering to think that America's four largest brewing companies, the brands that are household words -- Anheuser-Busch, Miller, Coors, Pabst -- are all either foreign-owned or, in the case of Pabst, gypsy brewers without a home. It is a shock that the largest American-owned brewer sold only 2.5 million bbls. in 2011; that the largest American brewer is a regional anomaly.

So what do we do? Celebrate it! I'm not talking about celebrating that Yuengling blew past Boston Beer, I'm talking about celebrating that a family-owned brewer has beaten the mass-marketing of the nationals on their own turf -- mainstream lager -- and done it with a "full calorie" beer, the stuff they apparently have forgotten how to sell. That's freakin' awesome.

Look, I know. If you're reading this blog, chances are you're a craft beer enthusiast (or a whiskey drinker, and I promise: more of that this year, too!). But ain't it great that people are ready to shrug off mass-media domination and buy regional? Buy something different? I think it is. Yuengling, like Sam Adams, is often the first step for someone to try something other than the usual. This is why "the usual" is sliding hard, and why the big guys are trying to find out how to make something other than the usual (Blue Moon and Shock Top are just the beginning, believe me).

We can be scared by that...or we can embrace it. I'm happy every time a light beer drinker has something other than their usual tipple. I think when a light beer drinker enjoys a wheat beer, an angel gets its wings. And I think Dick Yuengling -- and Jim Koch! -- have had a lot to do with that. Cheers, Dick: congratulations! Keep doing what you're doing!

King of Beers now the duke?

Budweiser passed another milestone this week; on the way down. The iconic beer brand's 20+ year slide continued, and Coors Light passed it, headed up, moving into the #2 spot in American beer sales according to a story in Advertising Age. Budweiser hit its peak in 1988, selling 50 million barrels (50 million barrels! Of just Budweiser! All U.S. craft brewers' 2011 sales put together should be about 11 million barrels) and then sliding ever since, including a 4.6% slide in 2011...which actually represented a slowing in the rate of plummet. Total 2011 U.S. sales for Budweiser were 17.7 million barrels, an amazing decline since 1988. Of course, Bud Light's rise has pretty much made up for it, and 17.7 million barrels is still more than most of the world's breweries sell altogether...but wow.

What happened? Smarter people than I have guessed at that one. "Light beer!" is the usual answer offered, explaining it as Americans' desire to get into better shape. Well, maybe...only what's up with the boom in steakhouses, and sugary liquors, and...craft beer? As far as that goes, how the hell does "Light beer!" explain the huge growth of Yuengling Lager? Yuengling Lager, a "full-calorie premium" beer, will likely blow through 2 million barrels on its own this year, and is, if anything, accelerating. (Add'n: when I first wrote this, I forgot the other obvious example here: it's not Pabst Light the hipsters and bike messengers are drinking, it's Pabst.) "Light beer"? Bullshit.

Light beer has seen huge growth, but there are other factors here. I think some of the problem is fratricide. There has been cannibalistic action between brands in the A-B house, and Bud and Bud Light are not the only ones. When you have a number of large brands -- Budweiser, Bud Light, Bud Light Lime, Bud Select (several cases a year are still sold), Michelob Ultra, Busch, Busch Light, Natural Light, and so on -- that are this close together in taste and character (okay, granted: Bud Light Lime does taste a bit more different than the others), and require a huge expenditure on marketing merely to create an illusion of difference...success in one camp is more likely to mean failure in another. This is, I believe, a major weakness for the big brewers, and it's just now starting to crack wide open.

Does that explain how Coors Light is growing? Well, no! I'll have to cogitate on that...especially since it's one of the very few mainstream beers that is growing. Is it the blue mountains? Hey, maybe.

Yuengling Oktoberfest Beer!

An announcement like this from America's Oldest Brewery deserves to be published in full at a Pennsylvania-based beer blog! Yuengling continues to deliver -- slowly -- on long-made promises of more beers.

Yuengling Oktoberfest Beer, and Festival, Coming This Fall
Live polka and dance music, delicious German cuisine, plenty of family fun, and a new Yuengling Oktoberfest Beer highlight the first-ever Oktoberfest Presented by Yuengling September 29 - October 2 and October 6 - 9 at the new SteelStacks arts and cultural campus in Bethlehem, PA.

The Yuengling Brewery has partnered with ArtsQuest, a non-profit organization dedicated to music, the arts, and cultural experiences, to produce an authentic festival to pay tribute to Yuengling’s German heritage. Highlighting the event is the 130-foot by 260-foot Yuengling Festhalle tent, featuring waitresses dressed in dirndl outfits, Bavarian-style food, over 40 live performances, and plenty of Yuengling Oktoberfest Beer.

“Anticipation has been high for our new Oktoberfest Beer, and we’re particularly excited about creating an authentic Oktoberfest atmosphere at the festival for all to enjoy,” commented Lou Romano, Marketing Manager.

Copper in color, Yuengling Oktoberfest is a medium bodied beer with a perfect blend of roasted malts to capture a true representation of the style. Yuengling fans that can not make it to the Oktoberfest event can enjoy the product at their local taverns, as Yuengling Oktoberfest Beer will be available seasonally, in ¼ and ½ Barrels in all markets where Yuengling is sold, beginning in late August.

"With the successful creation of Musikfest and the SteelStacks campus in the Lehigh Valley, we at the Yuengling Brewery felt it appropriate to show our support for Jeff Parks and all of the people at ArtsQuest who contribute to making arts and culture flourish in our community," said Dick Yuengling. "At Oktoberfest, there will be plenty of opportunities to hear live music, have some family fun and share some company under the big tent. Plus great beer and food too."

Oktoberfest presented by Yuengling tickets are now on sale at www.artsquest.org and 610-332-3378. Festival hours are 6 p.m.-midnight on Thursdays, noon-midnight on Fridays-Saturdays, and noon-9 p.m. Sundays. Single-day admission tickets are $8 in advance and $10 at the gate. Single-day admission tickets for children ages 6-12 are $3 in advance and $5 at the gate, while ages under 6 are admitted free. A Weekend Pass, good for one entire weekend, is $20 in advance and $25 at the gate.

A Yuengling brewery...in Harlem?

Well...yeah. Thanks to my eagle-eyed, beer-loving brother-in-law Carl (who works in the Archives at the Library of Virginia in Richmond), I found out some stuff I didn't know about Yuengling today. Take a look at this entry in "Out of the Box," the Archives blog. It's a letter to Virginia governor James L. Kemper from David G. Yuengling Jr. -- yes, he's that Yuengling, the founder -- dated Sept. 28th, 1874. In it, Yuengling says he is sending the governor 

“one bbl. of old stout in bottles this has been brewed three years ago and considered the Best. Should you find it to [sic] strong[,] add water to suit your taste, and it will be a delicious stimulant. Hope it will do you good.”

Pleasantries out of the way, Yuengling moves on to business; the progress of the C&O Railroad. 

But the interesting thing is the letterhead: the Ryerson and Yuengling Champagne Ale Brewery, Harlem, NY. The archives blog says: "It was the junior Yuengling [David's son] who oversaw the construction of a new brewery in Richmond in 1866. Located at 912 East Main Street, the brewery became known as the James River Steam Brewery and was later sold to the Richmond Cedar Works in 1878. Yuengling’s letter does not originate from Richmond, but instead from Harlem, on Ryerson & Yuengling, Champagne Ale Brewery stationary."

Pretty interesting. 

Dick Yuengling: "another rich cheapskate"

I've only ever seen Dick Yuengling wearing something besides jeans once. Last time I interviewed him, he chain-smoked Marlboros and stubbed them out in a used keg tap cover. So this doesn't surprise me at all. Buying the big ex-Coors plant in Memphis? That surprises me!

Major Yuengling expansion on the table

Just got a press release from Yuengling about the purchase of the Hardy Bottling Facility in Memphis. They are in negotiations for the purchase, and have signed a letter of intent. Here's the first paragraph:

Dick Yuengling, Jr., president and owner of D.G. Yuengling & Son, Inc., today announced the company has signed a letter of intent and is in serious discussions for the purchase of the Hardy Bottling Facility in Memphis, Tennessee, which will allow them to distribute Yuengling lager, their flagship brand and Yuengling's much sought after portfolio of brands in select new markets in the United States.

The "Hardy Bottling Facility" is the former Coors brewery in Memphis, where they made Zima at one time. Carolyn Hardy, the former plant manager, led an employee buyout of the facility in 2006. Apparently, things have not gone quite as well as they might have hoped. Unfortunate for the company, but if Yuengling does make the purchase, they have a track record of saving jobs. I don't know if the workers at Hardy are unionized or not; Yuengling took on the union workers in Tampa, and they later voted to de-certify. The release did say that no plants will be closing, and no jobs will be lost: great news.


So why did Yuengling decide to buy yet another facility, not long after expanding the newer Pottsville brewery? I thought they had capacity to spare. Apparently not:

Our three existing plants, two in Pennsylvania and one in Tampa, FL are limited in their production capabilities. In addition, the cost of freight and logistics challenges our ability to market our products at the competitive prices to our loyal consumers.

Good news for the people who've been hankering for Yuengling. The release made no promises on timing: "We can not put a specific timeline on this yet, only to say our company is working very hard to manage our growth in our usual slow and methodical manner." 


Okay. What's this mean? Well, first, it means New England should finally see Yuengling, along with other parts of the country that are jonesing for an American-made, American-owned light lager beer, a beer with a real history behind it, from America's oldest brewery. Sounds hokey, but I think it's real; it's certainly worked for them in Pennsylvania.

Maybe more importantly, it puts Yuengling on the national radar. Up till now, the big boys could call it a regional brewery. Now they're going national, in their "slow and methodical manner." Will they continue to do things "the Yuengling way," feet on the street, not a lot of reliance on marketing and laptops, leaning on the beer and the story? I believe that's the way to bet.

The joker in the deck is Dick Yuengling. He's getting older, his daughters are in the business, things are good...is it time to retire? My guess is no. I think Dick wants to take his shot at a national market, and judging from how he sounded when I interviewed him last November, I think he's ready for it. I really wonder what will happen when the torch passes, and the daughters are, inevitably, offered a buyout deal from a much, much bigger brewer. Impossible to predict the result. We'll just have to wait and see.

More here from the Wall Street Journal.

Yuengling expanding Port Carbon brewery

Holy crap: Yuengling's expanding their 'new' brewery. The Pottsville Republican-Herald is reporting today that the brewery will be adding four 1,500 barrel fermenters and nine 1,500 barrel Lagering tanks to their Port Carbon brewery at 310 Mill Creek Ave.

America's Oldest continues to crank out the Lager.

Words of wisdom from Lord Chesterfield

From the actual Lord Chesterfield, not the Yuengling brand. I got this in my A Word A Day e-letter this morning (a free service that I highly recommend as educational, fun, and engagingly weird at times).

Wear your learning, like your watch, in a private pocket, and do not pull it out and strike it merely to show you have one. If you are asked what o'clock it is, tell it, but do not proclaim it hourly and unasked, like the watchman. -Lord Chesterfield, statesman and writer (1694-1773) 

I present it not only for its worthy message, but for its messenger: appropriate this week, because Lord Chesterfield will be visiting Philly Beer Week. It's true, you can look it up with the Philly Beer Week iPhone app (which is not only cool, but it works, too: you can schedule ahead, you can search by venue, brewery, date, or type of event (would have been nice if you could search by Pay As You Go; just a suggestion, because these are the kinds of events it is easiest to drop in on by whim), or by GPS-determined closest to you). Yuengling is bringing Dick's daughter Jennifer Yuengling and an actor-portrayed Lord Chesterfield to town for some light-hearted meet-and-greet.

This is good news, and fun. Good, because A) it looks like they're putting some push behind this hoppier entry in their line, a clandestine fave of some for years, and that's good to see; and B) because Ralph Archbold needs some competition to keep him on top of his game!

Yuengling Porter Follow-up

I did put the question to John Callahan, lead brewer at Yuengling's "new" Pottsville facility: is 'porterine used in brewing the Yuengling Porter? No porterine, he said, "our Porters are brewed with Briess specialty malts$$$, and it is the oldest, along with Chesterfield Ale, of our recipes."

Doubters? Believers? John's a pretty stand-up guy, based on the impressions he's made on me on this day and at the MBAA meeting we attended last year. I buy it.

That Yuengling Porter News

I briefly mentioned some news about Yuengling Porter last week. (That's a glass of the stuff on the bar at the pretty damned nice Maroons, a classy sports bar in Pottsville that's going to be a regular post-tour stop for me.) It's not much, and it's not about cans (sorry, jaysus), and it's not a change, but it was significant news for me.

Here's the thing. There's a brewing 'supply' called porterine. It's like Weyermann's Sinamar: a dark cereal extract that is used to change the color of beer. I've been told (always mistrust those words; I do) that many Bavarian "dunkel" beers are simply a brewer's helles + Sinamar. Similarly, "I've been told" that Yuengling uses porterine to change the color of Traditional Lager, and that Yuengling Porter is mostly dark thanks to the use of porterine. Both of the sources of the "I've been told" are brewing industry insiders; this doesn't mean I trust them 100%, but it does add some credence.

So...when I went to Pottsville three weeks ago to interview Dick Yuengling and Dave Casinelli, and to finally tour the big 'new' brewery, I had my eyes open for evidence of porterine. I didn't see any, but that's not proof positive it ain't there, even though John Callahan -- lead brewer for the facility -- gave me a thorough tour, let me take pix of anything I wanted, and answered any question I asked (and no, I didn't think to simply ask him about the porterine...color me dopey).

What I did see, and what this whole thing is about, was "supersacks" of the dark, roasted malts that go into Yuengling Porter: caramel and black patent. It's real. Callahan said the porter is still made with the original recipe. Buy that or not, but Callahan's not any kind of marketeer: he's the real deal, pure brewer, and I first met him at a MBAA meeting at The Lion last year. If he says it, he believes it to be true.

Callahan also said, with a lot of feeling, "Thank God for Lager." Traditional Lager is about 90% of the company's output, and if it hadn't been for Lager's success, Callahan (who's been with the company for 28 years) seemed pretty sure the company would have gone under.

Instead, the company is closing in on 2,000,000 barrels in annual sales, a wholly attainable goal for 2009, according to Casinelli, who began to laugh as we both recalled something industry analyst Robert Weinberg said back when Yuengling bought the Tampa brewery in 1999, to the effect that Yuengling was doing well, but the brewery selling 2,000,000 barrels in a year was about as likely as Weinberg getting a date with Sharon Stone. "We should buy them dinner," Casinelli said with a big shark's grin, and I think it would be a fantastic publicity coup.

Anyway, that's the news from Pottsville. Sorry if I oversold it. It was a fantastic interview; you'll get more of it in Pennsylvania Breweries 4.

Yuengling Celebrates 180th Anniversary with a party and 13% growth

Dick Yuengling Jr. and his daughter Wendy celebrated the family-owned (Dick-owned, to be precise) brewery's 180th anniversary at Michael B's in Deer Lake, PA. They were joined by a bunch of fans, and country singer-songwriter Earl Bud Lee.

Okay, yada-yada-yada, this is just another celebration of the brewery's anniversary, except for this quote from the Pottsville Republican: "I'm excited about the fact that we're still continuing to grow at such a rapid rate," Yuengling said. "This year's a big year. We're up about 13 percent. And in general, the beer business is down like 1.2 to 1.5 percent," Richard Yuengling said before the show.

Yow! That's pretty damned good, that's kicking beer sales ass. This reinforces something I've been floating with craft brewers: Americans want to buy beer made by American companies. Be a good time to jump on that.

Yuengling boycott? What?

My Google Alert on Yuengling has suddenly started spitting out pieces about Yuengling "illegally" busting the Teamsters out of their plant, and a bunch of folks saying "Man, I gotta stop drinking Yuengling!" Huh?

So I read the stuff, mostly coming out of a Mike Elk post on Huffington, and wow, that Dick Yuengling, he's huffing and puffing and blowing the union down! Elk claims Dick "said that if they didn't vote to kick the union out, he would close the plant, and ship the work to a non-union facility in the South." Which sounds like total bullshit to me right there: if he closes the Pottsville plant, they're no longer America's Oldest Brewery, and the facility they have in the "South" is the old Stroh brewery in Tampa, which is where Yuengling got unionized in the first place. There is no "ship it south" option for Yuengling; which is when I got my first inkling that Elk might be rabble-rousing.

I'm getting a lot more skeptical these days, so I looked deeper into this. The first thing I see is that according the AP story on the issue, the National Labor Relations Board "could find no evidence that management pressured employees to leave Philadelphia-based Local 830 of the Teamsters." The NLRB ruled for the brewery. So where's Elk get his "Yuengling had illegally busted their union" line? If the NLRB rules for the brewery, and the last appeal by the union is denied -- which it was -- then it's not illegal. And it's not like the workers are being oppressed. Yuengling pays 100% of their employees' health care, and brewery workers make $20 an hour. Not so bad.

Then I took another look at the story: it's from May of 2007. What da hell? This is a two year old story! Why is it suddenly coming up now?

Keep looking in Elk's piece...and you find that what Elk is really doing is trying to put pressure on Arlen Specter to vote for the Employee Free Choice Act. Boycotting Yuengling, the all-too-obvious hope is, will cause Dick Yuengling to cry uncle to Arlen. Wow. To paraphrase Bugs Bunny, if this guy thinks he's going to get Dick Yuengling to cry uncle, he don't know him very well, do he?

Look, I'm not a big fan of the EFCA because of the no-secret-ballot provision. I am not anti-union -- used to be, but no longer -- but I think the EFCA, as written, needs work. What I'm really not a fan of is using, manipulating union workers for political reasons. And suddenly stirring the shit two years after the fact (particularly when the "fact" ain't even in your favor) for political gain all too clearly shows that you never gave a rat's ass about the union workers in the first place.

This is stupidly transparent. Think for yourself -- don't just blindly follow what I'm saying, go look at this stuff yourself -- but my advice? Keep drinking Lager if you feel like it.

No, no comments on this one. Just because.

Biggest American breweries? Right here in PA, baby

In a conversation on Uncle Jack's blog, he and I realized that the biggest production facilities of the two largest American-owned breweries (well, once A-B actually gets bought by InBev, that is, and as opposed to beer marketing companies, like Pabst) are right here in Pennsylvania. That would be the newly operational "Upper Macungie" brewery of Boston Beer in Fogelsville, PA, and the St. Clair brewery of D.G. Yuengling & Son -- "America's Oldest Brewery™" -- outside of Pottsville, PA. (Before we get into it...yes, there's a certain amount of interpretation here: BBC makes about 1/2 of their beer under contract. There is, however, no doubt that they are the two largest breweries, so I'll leave it up to barroom conversation to make the final call.)

As I said there, this could potentially be huge for Yuengling, if they capitalize on it. And if I were Pabst...I'd get my ass out there beating the bushes to buy a brewery post-haste and become America's largest brewery. Pabst: still an icon, still American-owned, and just one brewery short of being what their drinkers want them to be: honest. Hmmm...City Brewing, Latrobe? Wouldn't that be sweet? After all, Pabst used to own that Upper Macungie plant, their last. Time to put together a deal, gentlemen.