Yuengling is widely regarded as a “craft-y” rather than a craft brewer both because of it’s size, (over two million barrels annually) and the fact that the recipe for their Traditional Lager uses an adjunct ingredient in corn. However, given that they’ve been a family-owned brewery ever since the company was formed in 1829, and since the recipe for Traditional Lager hasn’t been changed since the late 19th century, I tend to cut them some slack. The beer is a fairly mainstream style American lager. The head is fairly weak, and the scent is of toast with honey. The middle has roasted grain and quite a bit of sweet honey. The finish is slightly metallic, and the flavor of corn peeks through here. The transitions and overall flavor profile is very smooth and mellow, but not overly watery, and the body is light to medium. It’s a really nice lager, and I enjoy it as a malty break from the hop-bombs that I normally crave. This is a good lager, and a great into to start transitioning a beginning beer drinking away from the macro world.

I give it a 4 out of 5.