The nearly two-century wait is finally over. Yuengling beer, the pride of Pottsville, Pennsylvania, and the oldest brewery in America, is now on tap in Chicago.
Beginning Monday, about 2,000 bars and restaurants across the state will be able to pour the regional favorite, which for the first 195 years of its history was unavailable in Illinois — except for some grassroots interstate bootlegging.
Now the biggest challenge may be trudging out in the cold, finding Yuengling at your local watering hole and, for newbies, pronouncing the name. It’s “Ying-Ling.”
The Village Tap in Roscoe Village, one of the oldest craft beer bars in Chicago, will be among the places pouring Yuengling. As the signs go up and the tap handle takes its place among a bevy of local offerings, expectations are high that the Pennsylvania beer will be in demand.
“We’re really excited to be able to finally have Yuengling in Chicago,” said Jeff Hoffman, owner of Village Tap. “It has a little bit of a mystique about it, since it hasn’t been available here, and there’s just a lot of buzz about it.”
Founded in 1829 by German immigrant D.G. Yuengling in the small mining town of Pottsville, where it is still headquartered, the family-owned brewery has been slowly expanding westward, but remains an essentially regional brand with an almost cult-like following.
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, buying 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 into new states.
All of its breweries will come into play to supply Illinois. Getting the beer on tap and onto store shelves has been a challenge in a very competitive market with its own storied history, according to Debbie Yuengling, a sixth-generation family owner who serves as employee engagement and culture manager.at the 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 different brands that are out now, from the big names to just some of the local ones. So it is hard fighting for shelf space or a tap handle.”
First up is draft sales of Yuengling’s flagship Traditional Lager and Flight, a new upscale light beer, which will roll out across the state through 18 distributors this week. In March, Yuengling will launch package sales 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 — to score a case of their favorite beer.
Fun fact: Those interstate beer runs may have crossed a legal line as well.
Consumers are allowed to bring back alcohol from another state as long they stay below a 1-gallon threshold, according to Nicole Sanders, industry education manager at the Illinois Liquor Control Commission. A case of beer, for example, is more than double the limit.
Sating the “smugglers” through legal sales is just the start, Yuengling said.
“We’re looking to really introduce ourselves to new consumers,” she said. “There’s 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 radio and through digital channels, according to Colin Callahan, the brewery’s general manager. There will also be billboards, bus shelter signs and other out-of-home platforms.
In addition, 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 Village Tap, a 35-year-old nexus for Chicago’s craft beer connoisseurs, the countdown has been on for weeks.
Founded in 1990, Village Tap has an extensive beer list featuring everything from local craft breweries such as Maplewood, Begyle, Revolution, Half Acre and Old Irving to an old school Chicago favorite, Old Style.
The first delivery of Yuengling beer is expected Monday morning, Hoffman said.
On most days, there are 25 beers on tap. Making space for Yuengling was an easy decision for Hoffman, who said he often orders the Pennsylvania beer while on vacation in Florida or when he’s on the East Coast.
Many of his customers are likewise familiar with the allure of the once-elusive regional brand, and are looking forward to imbibing a little closer to home, Hoffman said.
“People know it’s coming to Illinois, and they’ve definitely been asking if we’re going to have it on draft,” Hoffman said. “I think there’s going to be a lot of people drinking it on Monday and Tuesday when we finally get it flowing.”
