Karlos Knott

karlos@bayoutechebrewing.com

If you’re like me, you’ve spent some time vacationing on the beach somewhere on the Florida panhandle and you’ve run into all of your neighbors, childhood friends, your accountant and lawyer and that cop who gave you a bogus speeding ticket, all unexpectedly staying in the same condo complex you are. And you’ve probably enjoyed several Yuengling American-style lagers that one of your Louisiana connections picked up at the nearby convenience store.

So what’s the big deal?

Well, D.G. Yuengling & Son is the oldest running brewing company in the United States, founded in 1829. It is the biggest U.S.-owned brewery by volume and is headquartered in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. Yuengling crafts around 3 million barrels annually, and runs two Pennsylvania facilities and a brewery in Tampa, Florida — hence your ability to buy it while vacationing on the Florida panhandle.

Now they’ve decided that Louisiana is their next market.

This is a family-owned brewery that has always changed its ownership by the purchase of the company by the children of the previous owner.

David Gottlob Jüngling, a brewer from Germany arrived in the United States in 1823 after saying “Auf Wiedersehen” to the small suburb of Stuttgart where he was raised. Wanting to start a new life in America, he anglicized his surname from Jüngling to Yuengling and began the "Eagle Brewery" on Center Street in Pottsville Pennsylvania, in 1829. The Eagle Brewery changed its name to D.G. Yuengling and Son in 1873 after David’s son Frederick Yuengling joined the brewery. Although the company's name changed, the bald eagle still is the Yuengling’s company's symbol.

During the Prohibition, Yuengling survived by brewing "near beers" — beers similar to O-Douls, with less than a 0.5 percent alcohol content. The company also ran a dairy and opened and operated several dance halls. In 1933, when the 18th Amendment was at long last repelled, Yuengling reintroduced its beers and shipped a truckload of its well-liked lager to the White House to show their appreciation to President Roosevelt.

Yuengling is a reasonably priced, very popular lager beer sold primarily in the Eastern and Southern States. The Tampa brewery supplies much of the Gulf Coast, and soon Louisiana. The Yuengling breweries use corn grown in Minnesota, barley from the Mid-west and hops from Washington as ingredients in their beers. It is not really a craft beer per se — In the brewing industry they’d be considered a regional brewery.

I’m sure you’ll see stacks of several of their brands after their Louisiana rollout in August. From what I understand, they will certainly focus on their Traditional Lager, which is a style of amber lager that was common before Prohibition, something like your grandpa used to drink back in the day. Additionally they’ll have bottles and kegs of the Light Lager they brew, as well. Yuengling sells a black & tan and a porter-style beer, too. I’m sure you’ll see some of those on store shelves, also.

So you won’t have to escape to Florida just to drink a well-koozied bottle of Yuengling beer — unless you need to unexpectedly bump into your vacationing Louisiana neighbors.

If you’re like me, though, call and taunt your friends in Texas. They can’t buy bottles or pints of Yuengling there yet.