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So Yuengling sales dropping like a stone because we're provincials scared of change?
By adamg on Thu, 07/17/2014 - 10:47am
The Herald reports how sales of the Pennsylvania beer are tanking in Boston and cites our provincial attitudes as one reason.
First, New Englanders are largely suspicious of outside brands and prefer to support our own.
The Herald calls it the Krispy Kreme Syndrome, implying that we rejected them only because the city with the largest number of historic firsts in the country is resistant to change, not because we realized after awhile that their donuts were, in fact, sugar-coated air, served with mediocre coffee.
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Comments
Or, it could just be that
Or, it could just be that after the novelty of unfettered Yuengling access people have realized that the beer really isn't that good. I always get some when I'm down in the Keystone state, but otherwise, I like Harpoon.
The same sophisticated Boston?
The one that loves Bud Light and Corona almost as much?
At least those beers are
At least those beers are pretty cheap.
It's
cheaper than Sam and most local brews but does appear to generate a much higher occurrence of beer broken wind.
bro fist bump
Guess you don't get out much in Boston... see ya at Patriot's Place, buddy!
Yes, worn-off novelty
Remember when we were finally able to buy Coors? Know anyone who drinks that stuff now? Me neither.
I do
I drink coors, so now you know, and knowing is half the battle...GI Joe real american hero!
exactly
Yuengling is a middle-of-the-road brand entering a market with a lot of superb beers that *happen* to also be more local. More critically, though, those local brands are established. Why even bother trying, much less switching brands, unless they bring something truly compelling to the table. As it stands, people *might* try it once and then go right back to whatever they were drinking when they see that the primary Yuengling beers are caramel colored American Premium Lagers.
Shiner seems likely to suffer the same fate. Very similar portfolio.
Shiner?
Interesting Shiner is a bit better than Yuengling. However the grate variety of local craft brews outshine both companies. Drink local!
Being from Texas, I cut my
Being from Texas, I cut my teeth on Shiner as an undergrad, so I have pretty fond memories of the brand. I haven't see a single bottle or six pack in this city and I've been here for two years now. Where have you seen Shiner being sold?
Shiner's arrival in MA bars and retailers is imminent,
a matter of days. I was a bit baffled as to why they were advertising it during Sox broadcasts until I got this news.
Shiner isn't in New England,
Shiner isn't in New England, but they do distribute to New York state. It's not common there, but if you go to a store with a large beer selection, you're likely to see it.
Buzz wears off
Once upon a time a new product comes to market with much fanfare. Every store and restaurant wants to be in on the action so they all start stocking it. Sales are great as everyone tries it once to "see what all the fuss is about". But the people found they didn't like it that much and went back to drinking whatever they previously liked and sales tanked.
If they were smart they would have limited distribution in NE so it would have been a "hard to find" item and would have sold well (in smaller volume) for that reason alone.
The stuff isn't even all that
The stuff isn't even all that popular on it's own in Philly. But since they have happy hour, if my choices are a bud light or Yuengling for $1, I'm going with the one that actually has a bit of flavor, as not great as it is. But if I have to pay full price for it, not happening.
Hahahaha! Hairoil must be having
..news sloth problems.
That stuff has been here forever. It was the house draft at the Middle East through the 80s, may still be.
It's just an okay hipster beer like Rolling Rock or PBR only less crappy.
Jeezus, do they have undergrad interns stirring this muddle?
It was up here years ago , a
It was up here years ago , a lead balloon. Rolling Rock was hipster, until Budweiser bought it and closed their quaint brewery. Don't know how Pabst re - invented itself , it was always a whiskey chaser stick beer. They closed and sold all their breweries I believe. The parent of Guinness bought the Pa. one , to mix up the Smirnoff Ices. Years ago, when men were men, and shipyards were shipyards , Yling would be just another stick draft beer whiskey chaser.
Actually, Yuengling disappeared from MA distribution 20 years
ago. It was reintroduced with a very expensive industry launch party ($250K or so) and aggressive sales in March of this year.
I think it's alright, better than most macro adjunct lagers, but it is being priced above that locally. As others have noted, it only compares favorably when the competition in its price bracket is Bud/Miller/Coors-level crap.
They have some other more interesting brews (that I fondly remember from their old retail variety cases) but apparently aren't bothering to distribute them here. If Shiner is smart, it will follow the Gansett model and bring along a range of geekier offerings in addition to its mass-market flagship.
The Middle would get kegs for the old front room taps.
They came in industry standard kegs, the larger ones and it was dirt cheap. That was the whole point.
They called it 'house' as in... "Jessica.. shoot me a house dahk when you've gotta sec.."
Sandman liked it.
There was a dark and a regular. The various bands that showed up there would get a free pitcher or two of the slop along with falafal sandwiches .
Nabil was convinced back then that the solution to any quarrel was a free falafel sandwich.
I probably first ran into it when I worked at Erewhon in the 70s although I don't remember why. It may have been billed as organic or something for proto earthy crunchies.
I miss all the killer imports that have been displaced by our crap micro brew nationalism.
Kulmbacher Monkshof...in dark, ocktoberfest and light...mmm
Or Old Nick Barley Wine.
Why do people call beers
Why do people call beers hipster beers? They're cheap beers that don't taste like absolute shit or turn your stomach like Budweiser and course etc. they're better than redneck or college or whatever you wanna call the other cheap beers. I personally prefer to drink corona in the summer or craft beer but if I'm short on money I'll drink pbr rolling rock or tecate. Idk how that makes me a hipster
"hipster" means "things I don
"hipster" means "things I don't like and am too stubborn to understand why others like them." Once you understand this definition, these dumb arguments make sense.
Exactly
Perhaps the term once had a useful meaning, if so, it is long lost. Now, it simply is a term to fling at people (usually younger than the the term flinger) doing anything one doesn't like.
Here's one "old guy" who won't ever use that term.
It doesn't need to be pejorative.
One can always just own the thing and have fun with it.
If anything, the tides of opinion, where it exists, go in and out.
The Henry Miller idea of a hipster and its significance in its time and place may well be different from the disgruntled UHub idea in its time and place.
Were the Henry Miller versions more or less thin skinned?
Now that would be a fun research project.
Maybe work out a vanity indice and plot it all on an x/y graph.
I'm more interested in how marketing lipstick on a basic pig works its magic.
I had more than my share of free pitchers and glasses of this elixir when I was a Middle employee and I can assure you that it's pretty bitchin' when it's free.
I couldn't wait to see Yueng
I couldn't wait to see Yueng and had it a bunch when it debuted... but then it was everywhere. I mean, freakin everywhere. There became no reason to get it.
Same thing when I was on the hunt for Gansett Del's Shandy. Half of the appeal was the quest to find it and I did and found it enjoyable. Now, however, I rarely want to have it now that a lot of places have it in stock.
Too bad you missed the
Too bad you missed the original Gansett. that was the best , Jerry , the best. Even their commercials were the best. ,
OG Gansett was the first beer
OG Gansett was the first beer I ever had, given to me by my dad at a cookout, as all first beers should be.
Kvn..do you remember the various local bar bottle stuff?
Pickwick ales in 24 oz bottles you could kill a bear with.
Croft, 70s era Gansett Porter or Harvard Ale.
Long before micro brews and corporate mergers the region had a bunch of these beer brands.
In the early 70s outlawry days a case of Pickies.. Pickwick.. was a status trophy.
There was strange lo cal stuff like Hershel Gablinger.
Have a Pickwick Ale clock
Have a Pickwick Ale clock light sign in my man cave back shed. Worked as union casual day driver back then , probably delivered every type of beer brewed, back then. The golden days, plenty of work, men were men, shipyards were shipyards , train tracks had trains on them.Budweiser was over in East Cambridge , Fifth ,Sixth Street, had a rail siding too.
I'm not the least bit surprised.
You are a lore keeper.
A druid stuck in an age of cubicle drones.
Is that like a caveman ? That
Is that like a caveman ? That I have been accused of. A Druid had to drink Guinness , gave that up a few years ago, when my boxing skills declined. Swirls could probably slap me silly, but I can still swing my hammer, no nail guns here ! Remember when they called a glass of beer a dimey, sweet Gansett draft.
Gansett beers
Man, my dad worked for Gansett, see if these beers they made ring a bell
Croft Ale
Krueger Beer ,Ale and pilsner
Haffenreffer Beer, ale, and malt liquor, aka Green Death in 16 oz bottles
Pickwick Ale
Narragansett beer, ale and porter
Some of these came in GIQ's - Giant Imperial Quarts, 38.43 oz (20% more than a qt)
Chris: were you thinking of GIQs?
Gablingers (nothing to do with Gansett) was the original light beer, that I know of. "Fills you up, not out". Just shows what marketing can do. Gabs did nothing. Miller introduced Lite beer and made a killing via clever marketing.
Did you dad work with Mr.
Did you dad work with Mr. Clean ? (You forgot Falstaff ) GIQ's were 40 oz.
Not Gansett's GIQs
All the Gansett product GIQ's were that odd 38.43 oz size in a returnable bottle. I think some other brewers had a 40 oz bottle, Black Label maybe was one. Google found this link for me.
GIQs were big around the Quincy shipyard. At lunch time, guys would pile into the bars, slam down a few shots, and grab a GIQ out of the fridge for lunch.
Falstaff didn't come into play until later in life when they bought Gansett.
Who's Mr Clean?
Mr Clean worked JP on the
Mr Clean worked JP on the Gansett truck. There were a lot of Gansett distributors around, with small areas. George Doran had a distributor ship in South Boston, that moved to the old Haffenreffer brewery in JP, then was absorbed by the distributor in Needham. There was also a house in Cambridge, and Brockton, and more. I knew guys from each.
Who did you know in Brockton?
That's where I was occasionally......
Dude , that was a long time
Dude , that was a long time ago , the beer house was on West Chestnut beside Cirelli's Food. Cirelli is gone, its Toyota dealer. Just cant remember any names, unlike the Rebel who I remember, who passed out work at a shape-up , but thats another story.
hit twice.
hit twice.
Yuengling's appeal in NY and NJ was the price
And the bars and business in MA didn't seem to understand that. Most bars sold it at the same level as a bunch of craft beers. I liked this beer because it was better than PBR/Rolling Rock/Highlife/Bud Heavy, etc and generally cheaper. I don't want to pay $6 for the novelty.
Completely agree
Some of the bars around here are pricing it like it's a craft beer. I was in Game On about 2 months ago and they were charging $6 for a pint. I was completely dumb-founded as I've been accustomed to it being on the cheaper side. Some of the liquor stores are pricing it too high too. I like it for what it's supposed to be and is in other states...a good cheap beer.
That's it exactly
I like Yuengling and would drink it the same times I'd drink Bud Light-type beers. It's a slightly better alternative and I'm willing to pay a touch more for it, maybe. But if I'm in the mood to pay $6 a pint for beer, it's usually because I want something interesting and unique. Yuengling is neither.
I dunno, I frequently drink
I dunno, I frequently drink it when I want a middle of the road beer. I generally buy the $10+ 6pk's of quality brew but when I want to pound some down for an event, hanging at the pool, what have you I'll buy this stuff. It's hella better than Budweiser and it's couterparts and the price is right. $13 for a 12pk at my local corner store. At $1.10 a can I can put them down as fast as I want or maybe share with people I barely even like ;)
You can great good, real
You can great good, real craft beer for $12-14 per 12pk at lots of stores. Sierra Nevada, Smuttynose, Ipswich, Longtrail, Sam Adams, etc. Buy the $17.50/24pks of Yuengling or stick to craft, IMHO.
Price examples: http://www.cambridgewinespirits.com/weekly-specials/
Yuengling
sucks. Aside from being tooth-grindingly sweet with a horrible aftertaste, it is also one of the few non-unionized breweries. In fact, Yuengling forced its workers to break with the teamsters in 2007. There are tons of local breweries that make delicious beers without exploiting their workers. Avoid that swill from Pennsylvania!!
SWEET?!
I'm from eastern PA where the Yuengling brewery is located, and that's honestly the first time I've ever heard of anyone refer to Yuengling as sweet, let alone "tooth-grindingly sweet". Are you sure you're referring to the correct beer? If anything, Yuengling Lager is bitter and skunky, as in the Heineken realm. I know that everyone has their own palate, but Yuengling being considered SWEET?? I just don't see how that's possible.
People up here just don't get
People up here just don't get it. No one anywhere thinks Yuengling is an amazing beer. The reason it is so beloved is because it is far superior to other beers in it's usual price point. In Pittsburgh, you can often find pints (sometimes even pitchers) for a buck or two. The problem here is that you go into a bar and they want 5 bucks for a pint, and at that price point, it is a shit beer.
Yuengling, Rolling Rock, Straub...
All those PA beers are sickeningly sweet, but hey, I'm an IPA person so compared to the bitter, hoppy deliciousness of a Geary's or a Harpoon, that shit tastes like its cut with fructose.
Palates aside, The important point is that Yuengling busted its union and threatened to close its brewery if workers aligned with the teamsters. That's some bullshit.
Non union? All the more
Non union? All the more reason to drink it. (Just not at the stupid $5 and over price point)
Finally, DuchessOfDot!
You finally said what you meant to say: That you dont like Yuengling the company because it's anti-union. Why didn't you just come out and say so? And while you're at it, tell us the "union status" of Sam Adams , Harpoon and other local breweries .
Bless you for your kindness!
Bless you for your kindness!
Bless you for your kindness!
Bless you for your kindness!
@Duchess:
@Duchess: It's obvious why you like your beers as bitter as possible... it's so that you can have an excuse for that sour puss.
So do you research every beverage you drink to find out whether they're pro-union or not, and then make your decision to consume it based on that fact? Who the hell cares if they're union or not?
For what it's worth, unions are garbage and the subject provides nothing to topic of this thread.
I'm surprised the Herald hasn't stoked
the Murrica First crowd and mentioned how Yuengling sounds downright Chinese.
I looked at some the other day
And it's yellow.
Just sayin'
I don't think it's solely "provincial attitudes"
They overhyped their entrance to the market by several orders of magnitude.
I was very excited as I have a friend who moved to the Philadelphia area several years ago and always brings back a couple of cases of Yeungling to share with us when he's back in town. I've always liked it as a far-superior "cheap beer" than Bud/Coors/Narragansett/PBR/etc.
A dropoff was always going to happen. Even amongst people who already were fans of their beer, there was an initial excitement and rush for the product. New people tried it, and some were going to like it and buy more, but some were also not going to like it and wouldn't buy it further. Once that initial excitement wore off, sales were absolutely going to decline; even as a fan of the product, my purchasing rate has slowed to about 1/4 of what it was because, hey, you can get Yuengling at any time now, and there's old favorites I want to go back to or other new beers I want to try.
Frankly, I think they should have entered the market slower and with less over-the-top promotion.
Meh.
Meh.
Yuengling is great....
..if you take it exactly for what it is. A cheap beer that's better than bud/coors/miller light. Is it a great beer just on taste? No, of course not. But it's a great alternative if you're going to sit at a bar and have 6 or 7, or if you're going golfing and want to throw some cans in your bag.
I'd also suggest founder's all day IPA for golf, that is a great session beer.
Different style/taste than typically found in Boston
Boston is a stout/IPA sort of town. Yuengling is closer to the kind of beers that you find in Germany or the Czech Republic. (Sam Adams tends to straddle these niches in their offerings)
When it is done well, I'll drink it and I'd take Yuengling over Bud, but it isn't my first choice. Given the popularity of Harpoon and Guinness, it doesn't surprise me that Yuengling hasn't taken the area by storm.
Harpoon isn't made by a greedy mouthy douchebag, either. I'd bet the "workers are my slaves" braying from their CEO doesn't help sales much in these parts either. That aside, my bet is that people aren't fearing something new, they simply tried it and didn't love it despite the marketing hype, and it has been overpriced.
Seriously,
Who needs living wages and benefits? The satisfaction of making a right-wing psycho who was born into wealth still richer should be reward enough. Stupid union thugs destroying the economy!
Fair enough, the 'progressive' shills
and true believers are out in force. I'm a moderate, middle if the road guy myself. That out of the way, it's an abive average beer for it's price range, quite decent,actually, and very reasonably priced. If you can afford to drop $ for Guiness, Harpoon and Sam Adams, etc. on a regular, daily basis, more power to you. I like Yeungling, and am glad it's available as a choice.
And no doubt the distributers of the more expensive 'premium' brews don't like Yeungling.
Why would they care?
They are making $$ either way. I've seen no lack of promotion of Yuengling, either.
I suspect that it is mostly due to differing regional tastes - Sam Adams has made brews in the flavor range of Yuengling - pilsners and german lagers and such - and they don't seem to have caught on in a huge way, either.
Ummm
Maybe because its just a step above Budweiser, the cat piss of beers. Gross.
I guess I like Harpoon brews too much. Yuengling doesn't even hold a straw next to a Harpoon product or any other local brews to New England.
Some people make Yuengling
Some people make Yuengling out to be like Heady Topper or something, when it's not. It's a good shitty beer, or a shitty good beer, depending on how you look at it. It's better than PBR, Coors Light, etc... but not as good as Harpoon, Notch, Peak Organic, etc.
Beer Without Borders
It isn't provincialism-- Bostonians have no problem quaffing beer from anywhere. In my waitron/bartending days I served plenty of Abita Turbo Dog, Lone Star, Brooklyn Lager, and more others than my middle aged brain can dredge up right now. I agree with the commenters who said Yuengling was overhyped and this is, as Allen Greenspan would have put it, a readjustment.
Yuengling Black & Tan
+
Wouldn't mix it with Guinness, though
This would be my choice of a good match for a Yuengling in a Black and Tan:
It's too expensive.
When I drank it in NJ, it was priced similarly to Bud. I've seen it at a few places locally and it's priced like a micro brew. It can't compete in that arena.
Boston College, '79 - '83.
That's where I learned to love Genesee Cream Ale. And Matt's Beer Balls when money was especially tight.
Beer Balls
They could be returned, or, with some labware parts, recycled into hookahs.
Brubaker!!
Bring back Brubakers, with their strange blood after taste. Those were great
That was brewed for Henry
That was brewed for Henry Vara for the Father's joints. Kappy's might have Lion or Stegmaier , it could be close to it That brewery made the Bru , 16 oz blood bottles...
People, WE CAN'T LET THIS
People, WE CAN'T LET THIS HAPPEN!
Yuengling's the only beer at that price range that's actually drinkable.
Yuengling now give Budweiser hangover
Let me preface this by saying I hate Bud. In my heyday anything Bud would without question give me a headache next morning.
Im no stranger to drinking 8-10 beers and getting a buzz on. After searching through different beers and finding Yuengling as a half decent beer that met that requirement.
I'm sorely disappointed to find Budweiser got their grimy hands on them. Now the taste has changed and that budweiser headache is back.
Sad to say no more for me.
Sneaky hiw they changed the labeling from "worlds oldest Family Owned Brewery"
To
"Worlds oldest Family RUN Brewery"