D. G. Yuengling & Son

Why it matters

American brewing history is usually told as a line broken by Prohibition and restarted by craft. This brewery is the counter-example that survived both ends of it, and its amber lager is a direct descendant of the German-immigrant brewing that dominated American beer before the pale industrial lager displaced it.

Details

Reference beers

• Yuengling Traditional Lager4.5% ABV

  An American amber lager from the country’s oldest operating brewery, and a survival of what American beer was before it went pale.

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Styles it is associated with

• International amber lager — A light, commercially-produced amber lager, most familiar in its Mexican form, with gentle caramel over a crisp body.
• American lager — A very light, highly attenuated pale lager brewed with a substantial proportion of maize or rice, prioritising drinkability and cold service.