Yuengling = underwhelm-ling
Yes, I heard the great news (delivered by an angel perhaps?) “Hark! I bring you tidings of great joy! Unto you will be sold a lager, you will recognize this lager by its funny name, it will be wrapped in a swanky (and very appealing) label and will be laying among the many other macro brands in the grocer’s cooler”… Yada, yada, you know the story.
I have never understood the hype behind this very average beer. Sure, Yuengling is a well-brewed and drinkable American lager, but does it deserve this sort of worship? It certainly isn’t worshipped by the beer aficionados that I know. This worship is almost Obama or Coors-like in nature (before Coors came east). Are we so desperate for decent beer that we accept Yuengling as the savior? Please…
I have read many of the comments posted on the WV Gazette website that followed the announcement article by Eric Eyre. Somehow these confused people have mixed up the currently stalled “craft beer” legislation as the reason for Yuengling becoming available in the state. How could stalled legislation have any affect? Facts are stubborn things…
Here’s the fact. Yuengling lager has always been legally ready for sale in West Virginia. Yuengling is within the current 6% alcohol limit for beer. The only obstacles were labeling and commercial issues. Our market was just too small for the growing brewery to put in the effort to jump through the hoops at the state government, and then have to fight for mindshare from our feudal beer distribution system. Do you know how many great beers are approved and franchised for sale in West Virginia and are never carried by the disinterested distributors that have contracts to sell them? Plenty; and the brewer can do little about it short of taking the distributor to court to sever the contract!
Why do I seem so irritated by this Yuengling worship? It’s simple; I do not want this announcement to become a distraction to the real issues. The WV senate is sitting on the house-passed legislation that will be the first step in getting real, world class beer into West Virginia. And secondly, I am frankly quite disappointed with fact that most folks would be satisfied enough to proclaim “problem solved” for West Virginia beer drinkers now that Yuengling is coming; Allelujha!
Fellow blogger and beer geek Chris Workman put a positive, but very sarcastic spin on the announcement via his WV Gourmet Blog (www.wvgourmet.com). Chris says as Publius “West Virginians no longer have to bootleg mediocre beer. Now all bootlegging efforts can be focused on bootlegging beers that are actually worth drinking.”
Come on folks; let’s keep our eye on the ball! Call your state senators and ask them to support HB-2719, currently stalled in the senate judiciary committee!
March 24th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
If I were to line up three glasses - one with Amber Bock, one with Shiner Bock, and one with Yeungling, I dare anyone to tell me the difference in a blind taste test.
March 24th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
Chris,
I have to say that I could tell the difference between Amber Bock and Yuengling. Not that Yuengling is a fantastic beer or anything, but I will choose it over Bud, Miller, or Coors any day.
Rich,
HB 2719 is not really stalled. It is common practice for a particular house of the legislatue (House of Delegates or Senate) to not take up a bill that originated from the opposite house untily they can no longer consider bills from their own side. This date happens to be this Friday. Take a look at the Senate Committee agendas right now. You will not find many, if any House Bills on there. Starting Monday however, you will not find any Senate Bills.
This is common practice and is not a reason to get worried.
Now with that said, we all still need to be writing Senators and preaching the gospal of craft beer. We need to mainly focus on the Senate Judiciary, Finance, and Rules Committee because they are the ones with the most power to stall this bill.
I have been on the phone with various Senators since the bill passed the House nearly everyday. I have very high hopes that this is going to go through. If I am not mistaken, Sen. Jeff Kessler, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is a homebrewer, and he is very in favor of this bill, so I do not see it gettin stalled by his committee. Sen Larry Edgell is on the Finance Committee who will look at the bill after Judiciary and he has told me many times that it will make it through his committe also.
If this all happens, then HB 2719’s fate lies initially in the hands of the Senate Rules Committe who after a certain point decides what bills are allowed to go to the floor for a vote.
So, write, call, email, telegraph, send smoke signals. Do what ever it takes to contact theese people.
If anyone is interested I have all the contact info for theese committees organized into a nice document. If you are interested, contact me at traviscwv at yahoo dot com. I tried posting it on this blog before, but the powers that be saw fit to not allow it to go through.
Cheers,
Travis
March 24th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Thanks Travis for the “legislative therapy”… I feel a bit less irritated!
March 24th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
send me your document… I will post it!
March 24th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
What I said on the Gazette site:
“Ah, Yeungling. Rich is exactly right that it’s just not that special. However, it’s better than much of the product being foisted upon us by Bud/Miller/Coors and generally a couple of dollars cheaper a case, so win-win…sorta. Much of the fervor for it is it’s forbidden fruit quality, just like Coors in the Seventies. The grass is always greener/absence makes the heart grow fonder, etc.
Another theory as to why people want it so damn bad is where they’ve had it: most likely at a tailgate party in Morgantown or Pittsburgh. Compared to the absolute swill one usually finds in the Mountaineer Field or law school parking lots - Natty Light and the Beast - the Yuengling Traditional Lager is Ambrosia. We drink a few, go watch WVU rack up 80 points against Rutgers or knock of Va Tech and voila! We inflate our memory of the beer (or conflate the beer with the stirring Mountaineer victory). I had the same experience with Shiner Bock and U.T./Austin.”
Now Chris, I’ll take that blind taste challenge and I’ll bet I pass. But I’ve drunk an awful lot of the Shiner and Traditional Lager over the years so it’s probably not fair. Oh, and Amber Bock is my go-to beer on buck night at AppPower Park, so plenty of experience there too.
March 24th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
So you’re saying many of these people are psychologically hooked on this stuff? Like you I drink a few Amber-Bocks on buck night, and sometimes I drink flat-out swill when looking at pole dancers… I hope I don’t make a psychological connection!
March 24th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
I think we all know that Publius was James Madison.
March 24th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
I see that the folks at Yuengling offer quite a few lagers. 1.Lager, 2.Light Lager, 3.Premium, 4.Light
Gee I was wishing upon a star that we could get some more lager choices here in WV. Maybe I can go to a bar and the tap choices will include Bud, Bud Light, Mich Ultra, and all of the above. But seriously, I have taken a Yuengling over a Bud more than once. Has anyone tried their ale, Lord Chesterfeld (I think) ?
March 25th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Hopefully the real star of the Yuengling family will come to WV - that is the Porter. The Lager is certainly better than the standard Miller - Bud - Coors junk but not all that exciting. The Porter is excellent - try it!
March 25th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
I still say let’s go to Carolina for a Chamay…
March 25th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
Lord Chesterfield may be an ale via technicality but in practice is part of that great Pennsylvania tradion of corn-based lagers served in green bottles: Rolling Rock, Straub, etc. Difficult to tell a Chesty from a Straubie in my book. No, I take that back. Straubs is a pretty fine corn lager. Lord Chesterfield isn’t.
And while the Porter isn’t bad, it’s not an actual ale but is instead a dark lager. At least that’s what it used to be. Perhaps the Pottsville crew has changed it up.
The Black and Tan is okay as well and can be purchased in tall boy cans (even better.) However, it’s a mix of the Porter and the Premium - which is Yuengling’s attempt at the standard American Adjunct Macro Lager. Honestly, it’s crap - and not Porter and Traditional Lager or Lord Chesterfield. Weird, huh?
Yuengling Light Lager is drinkable. But why would you drink it?
And one final thing. @Sherri: Chimay is available at Ashland Bev. Center and Leo’s, over in South Point Ohio. At least the ones
March 26th, 2009 at 8:03 am
Rob, have you ever tasted Naragansett porter? The lager porters are damn near their own American purebred style; a little schwarzbier-ish but original enough. Considering our inept beer distributors, I doubt they will bother with Yuengling’s specialty brands.
March 26th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
No I haven’t but I’ve been pining for Naragansett ever since I first read The Stand. I’ve simply never seen it anywhere (I don’t get up north much. As in: never.) Seems like I’ve had another faux-porter before but can’t quite recall what it was. Rainier, perhaps? Maybe Ballantine? It was a loooooong time ago.
Back to Ying: I think the Black and Tan will make it here eventually. Less certain on the Porter. There’s almost no reason for the Premium to ever show up here. Hell, I can think of two distributors in PGH that prominently carry the Lager and B&T but don’t carry the Premium, and Pittsburgh is squarely in Yuengling’s primary market.
March 26th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
I talked to my HD Rep.Larry barker the other about this bill.He says the bill will pass the senate.The Black and Tan is very good.I don’t care for their lager.
March 26th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
I’m making my own Black and Tan tonight: Schlafly Extra Stout-Irish Style + Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine-style Ale (2009 vintage). Hold on…
Ooooh, that’s nice.