The wait of almost two centuries is finally over. Yuengling Beer, the pride of Pottsville, Pennsylvania and the oldest brewery in America, is now on tap in Chicago.
Starting Monday, nearly 2,000 bars and restaurants across the state will be able to pour the regional favorite, which was unavailable in Illinois for the first 195 years of its history — except for some grassroots interstate bootlegging.
Now the biggest challenge may be going out in the cold, finding Yuengling at your local watering hole and, for newbies, pronouncing the name. This is “Ying-Ling”.
The Village Tap in Roscoe Village, one of Chicago’s oldest craft beer bars, will be one of the locations pouring the pairing. As the signs go up and the tap handle takes its place among a bevy of local offerings, expectations are high that Pennsylvania beer will be in demand.
“We’re really excited to be able to have Yuengling in Chicago,” said Jeff Hoffman, owner of Village Tap. “It’s a bit of a mystery about it, because it’s not available here, and there’s a lot of buzz about it.”
Founded in 1829 by German immigrant DG Yuengling in the small mining town of Pottsville, where it is still headquartered, the family-owned brewery has been slowly expanding westward, but almost inevitably with a cult following. Remains a regional brand.
Illinois is now the 27th state to sell Yuengling, setting up shop on the beer’s western frontier.
A regional brewery for most of its history, Yuengling began expanding at the dawn of the new millennium, purchasing a Tampa, Florida, facility and opening a third plant in Pennsylvania. In 2020, Yuengling entered into a joint venture with Chicago-based Molson Coors, enabling it to produce its beers at plants in Fort Worth, Texas and Milwaukee, and facilitate distribution in new states.
All of its breweries will come into play to supply Illinois. Getting beer on tap and on store shelves is a challenge in a very competitive market at a beer with its own storied history, according to sixth-generation family owner Debbie Yuengling, who serves as employee engagement and culture manager. serves as. Brewery.
“It’s a saturated market,” Yuengling said last week while visiting Chicago Beverage Systems, a distributor on the city’s North Side. “You have all the different brands that are out now, from big names to some local ones. So it’s an uphill battle for shelf space or tap handles. ,
First up is draft sales of Yuengling’s flagship traditional lager & Flight, a new upscale light beer, which will roll out statewide through 18 distributors this week. In March, Yuengling will begin selling packages at Illinois retailers with its full portfolio in cans and bottles, including Light Lager, Black & Tan and Golden Pilsner.
The rollout will be welcome news to thousands of Yuengling fans in Illinois, many of whom share stories on social media about crossing the state line into Indiana — a Yuengling market since 2017 — with cases of their favorite beer. To score.
Fun fact: Those interstate beer runs may have even crossed a legal line.
According to Nicole Sanders, industry education manager at the Illinois Liquor Control Commission, consumers are allowed to bring back wine from another state, as long as they stay below the 1-gallon limit. For example, a case of beer is more than double that.
Yuengling said that has introduced “smugglers” through legal sales.
“We’re really looking to introduce ourselves to new consumers,” she said. “There are a lot of beer drinkers out there that don’t know our story and don’t know who we are.”
To get the word out to a broader Illinois audience, Yuengling Beer will begin advertising on TV, in print, on the radio and through digital channels, according to the brewery’s general manager Colin Callahan. There will also be billboards, bus shelter signs and other out-of-home platforms.
Additionally, the Yuengling website will feature a beer sales locator for Illinois.
Meanwhile, Illinois bars and restaurants are getting everything from table tents to neon signs to let customers know Yuengling has arrived. At a 35-year-old Nexus Village tap for Chicago’s craft beer connoisseurs, the countdown has been on for weeks.
Established in 1990, Village Tap has an extensive beer list featuring everything from local craft breweries such as Maplewood, Bagel, Revolution, Half Acre and Old Irving to an old school Chicago favorite, the Old Style.
The first deliveries of Yuengling beer are expected Monday morning, Hoffman said.
On most days, there are 25 beers on tap. Making room for Yuengling was an easy decision for Hoffman, who said he often orders the Pennsylvania beer when he’s on vacation in Florida or when he’s on the East Coast.
Hoffman said many of his customers are familiar with the allure of once-elusive regional brands, and are eager to imbibe something a little closer to home.
“People know it’s coming to Illinois, and they’re definitely asking if we’re going to put it on the draft,” Hoffman said. “I think a lot of people are going to be drinking it on Monday and Tuesday when we finally get it flowing.”