Drink #9 Yuengling Lager

1.19.2012

Virgin: “It’s quite sour.”
The table: “You mean bitter.”
Virgin: “Yeah, it’s kinda bitter too, but I mean sour.”
The table: “Yeah, you’re wrong. But ok.”

If you’re not from the eastern Midwest to east coast area, you might not even know about Yuengling beer.  In short, it’s a Pennsylvania beer, that just happens to also come from the oldest brewery in the US. Back in NE Ohio, it’s highly revered, and while it wasn’t readily available until last year on shelves, many a friend would travel “across the border” to drag it home. 

It’s literally so common and popular in PA that if you just ask for a “lager”, you’ll automatically get served a Yuengling. It’s also President Obama’s favorite beer. And now you know.

And for my sake, its my official gateway to lager.

I found that I could get Yuengling on draft just about anywhere in DC, but the Good Stuff Eatery caught my eye. Well known in DC for having been opened by Top Chef competitor alum Chef Spike, its a great Capital Hill spot for farmhouse burgers, fries and milkshakes. 

A burger and beer? Virgin, please.

We made a date with our friends Anna and Hemen. They’re great people, very international DC, political, nonprofit-savvy, smart, funny, crazy-intelligent kinda people. Where the beer might been lacking for my personal tastes, the company was not.

That’s not to say I didn’t like Yuengling. I did, but I didn’t fall in love. Agree with me or not, it has a solid sour taste. Not displeasing, but certainly sour, like an olive pit. It was musky, lightly earthy, bitter. It had this wet leather quality, a oaky wood flavor and finished tight. By tight I mean, the flavor didn’t linger. I don’t know how else to describe that. To taste it again, you needed to taste it again.

The fun part with its sour quality, is that it highlighted the sweetness of the bun of the burger nicely. I wouldn’t say the burger made the beer better, but the beer absolutely made the burger better. That was unexpected and nice.

The table: “You taste an ‘earthy flavor’? No, wait till you have ______”
Virgin: “Oh sure, I could eat some dirt out of that plant too for a real earthy experience. I taste what I taste.”
The table: “Yeah, ok.”

You know what’s fun about beer–for me maybe–is talking about it over meals with beer drinkers. No, seriously. For the most part, I would argue that most “beer drinkers” just drink it. They know what they like, they drink what they drink. They’re not tasting it. That is to say, when people drink their Pepsi, they’re not saying “Oh, you can taste the caramel and the hits of cherry…” They’re just drinking Pepsi.

But this is a completely different process for me. I’m searching for flavors. I’m trying to understand it, explore it. It’s literally an adventure as far as I’m concerned. And I’m learning that certain words I choose have a value attached with listeners or readers.

“Musky”? Oh, he must not have liked my favorite beer, that asshole.
“Cedar”? When was the last time this asshole drank hamster cage filler?
“Cough syrup”? Oh, this asshole’s gone off the deep end, what the hell is wrong with him?

[Do I want to mention that I toyed with using the phrase “wet dog” when describing beer? It’s much nicer, and cuter than “piss”, I think. Hm, think it over. If people didn’t like “cough syrup”, conjuring the image of a drenched man’s-best-friend will not win you any new fans either. Oh, words…]

Plus, I am completely aware that each drinking experience will build off each other, drink after drink. Each new drink is going to lend itself to new perspectives I didn’t have just a drink before.

For example, I can actually now describe more clearly what I didn’t like about Bud Light since having two more beers. I can also tell you that while I thought I wanted to marry sangria, I know realize I only wanted to date her now that I’ve had an amaretto sour. 

Seasons change, the world keeps spinning. Virgins keep saying crazy descriptive words.

And this Adventure is more than just the alcohol consumed, it’s also very much about the places visited, the company kept, the opportunity to write about it and certainly the fact that you’re reading it.

Oh there I go again, waxing romantic about this process. So gross, I know.

Anyway, 9 drinks in, many to go. Yuengling, you were a perfectly nice visit, I just don’t know if I want to call you home. Time will tell.

Cheers, Ben


PS: Next up, my first chardonnay with a good friend from out of town on Saturday. Then next week I’m planning a visit to one of DC’s oldest bars–Old Ebbitt Grill–for one of America’s oldest classic cocktails–the Old Fashioned. And then I’m planning my first shot–a Kamikaze–for next week too. Oh yeah, brace yourselves, it’s getting real up in here.