Yuengling Brewery

By national stereotype, beer instead of blood should be running through my veins. Honestly, I’m not a big fan of beer. I prefer wine. (Does that make me a bad German?) However, I appreciate a good beer when I get my hands on one. I sure did at “Yuengling Brewery - Americas Oldest Brewery” in Pottsville, Pennsylvania.

I had seen Yuengling beer at the bar menus in the US before. I always wondered how to pronounce the name and therefore never ordered one. Now I know that Yuengling is the anglicized version of the German name Jüngling (young man). Of course! For the sake of sanity and blending into a non-German speaking environment, any “Umlaut” (the two funny dots on a’s, o’s or u’s) should be eliminated from a name!

I fully understand David Gottlob Jüngling’s name change as a necessity when he moved from Germany to the US to set up the “Eagle Brewery” in 1829. While David was happily brewing along, bestowing thousands of people with great bears for many years, his son and successor faced rather challenging times. More precisely, the Prohibition era.

In 1920, some “moral and health” lobbyists managed to establish a national alcohol ban in the US, further known as the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution. No brewing, no transport, no sale, and for sure no consumption of alcohol! I wonder if the 13 years in which the Prohibition was enforced can be considered the darkest era of US history (from an indulgence perspective). It’s like banning cheese from the Swiss, wine from the French, pizza from the Italians, tulips from the Dutch, chocolate from the Belgium, and cars (and beer!) from the Germans!

I’m glad they kept the brewing going and the recipes expanding! After an interesting walk through the whole factory learning quite a bit about beer making, bottling, and shipping, we reach the long awaited “testing area”. Basically, a replica of a German Brauhaus with rustic wooden tables and benches. Wow, it almost felt like Germany! Except for the fact that our whole tour group, all obviously older than 21, had to present their IDs before tasting one (or two) of the many different beers.

My favorite was the Porter. A dark, rich, and full-flavored beer. As I said, I do enjoy a good beer if I can get one!