Thirty years ago, Canada struck at the brewing pride of Pennsylvania. The sudden, unexpected broadside was aimed at Yuengling. At stake was the very definition of \u201cAmerica.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\nYuengling Lager<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
In 1995, Yuengling wanted to trademark the slogan \u201cAmerica\u2019s Oldest Brewery\u201d for its products. Since 1829, the brewery had been making its beer in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. However, Molson Brewery objected<\/a>. Founded in 1786 in Montreal, Molson not only argued that it was older than Yuengling, but Yuengling\u2019s use of \u201cAmerica\u201d was \u201cdeceptively misdescriptive.\u201d Molson\u2019s attorneys claimed that \u201cAmerica is synonymous North America,\u201d which definitely includes Canada. For Molson, Yuengling was being dishonest with beer drinkers in the United States and around the world.<\/p>\n The Yuengling family was unimpressed. At the time, fifth-generation brewery owner Richard L. Yuengling Jr. quipped, \u201cWhen Kate Smith stands up and sings \u2018God Bless America,\u2019 she\u2019s not singing about Saskatchewan.\u201d Plus, the brewery had been using its slogan since 1957 without any confusion over what country Yuengling was located.<\/p>\n The Trial and Appeal Board of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office took up the dispute. Molson went as far as to introduce a Webster\u2019s dictionary of geography to show that America means North America. Yuengling responded by showing that Molson\u2019s marketing had previously referred to the brewery as Canada\u2019s oldest instead of America\u2019s. Clearly, Molson understood the distinction.<\/p>\n Anyone who has looked at the label of a Yuengling beer lately knows the end of the story. It took nearly four years for the Board to reach its decision. For the board members, there was no evidence that \u201cthe purchasing public in the United States would equate the term \u2018America\u2019 with North America, rather than the United States of America.\u201d Case closed.<\/p>\n Over twenty years later, all was forgiven. In 2020, Yuengling and Molson announced a joint venture to distribute Yuengling beer<\/a> farther west\u2026 in America.<\/p>\n (To learn more about this dispute and Yuengling\u2019s history, the author recommends Yuengling: A History of America\u2019s Oldest Brewery by Mark Noon<\/a>)<\/p>\n Paul R. Kan<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>is the author of\u00a0Hawai\u2019i Beer:\u00a0\u00a0A History of Brewing in Paradise<\/em><\/a>\u00a0which was a North American Guild of Beer Writers\u2019 award winner and a #1 new release on Amazon\u2019s Books on Beer.\u00a0\u00a0He has written for Good Beer Hunting<\/a> and is Editor-at-Large at The Beer Thrillers.\u00a0\u00a0Along with beer reviews, book reviews and interviews, he also writes about the interesting ways beer intersects with people and society.\u00a0\u00a0His current book project is\u00a0Red, White and Brew: \u00a0The Beers and Battles that Shaped America.<\/em>\u00a0He lives in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n \u02bbOi kau ka l\u0101, e hana i ola honua <\/em>(While the sun yet shines, do all you can).<\/strong><\/p>\n The following are articles that Paul R. Kan has written here for The Beer Thrillers:<\/p>\n For more information and other articles on Yuengling here at The Beer Thrillers, you can check out these articles:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The following comes from Untappd.<\/p>\n Yuengling Brewery is a regional brewery from Pottsville, Pennsylvania. They have 22 unique beers and over 1 Million ratings. They have a global average rating of 3.43 (as of 5.19.25). Their Untappd description reads: \u201cBased in Pottsville, PA, D.G. Yuengling & Son, Inc., America\u2019s Oldest Brewery, is family owned and operated since 1829. Principal beer brands include Traditional Lager, Light Lager, Premium, Light, Black and Tan, Dark Brewed Porter, and Lord Chesterfield Ale. For more information, visit www.yuengling.com.\u201d<\/p>\n You can find them on their social media platforms here:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n If you like this article, please check out our other many articles, including news, beer reviews, travelogues, maps, and much much more. 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Thank you for helping to support The Beer Thrillers and to help us maintain the site and blog and to keep it running.<\/p>\n The Beer Thrillers are a blog that prides itself on writing beer reviews, brewery reviews, travelogues, news (especially local to the Central PA brewery scene), as well as covering other topics of our interests \u2013 such as hiking, literature and books, board games, and video games which we sometimes stream with our friends over at\u00a0Knights of Nostalgia<\/a>. We are currently listed as #5 on FeedSpot\u2019s \u201cTop 100 Beer Blogs<\/a>\u201d and #9 on FeedSpot\u2019s \u201cTop 40 Pennsylvania Blogs\u201d<\/a>. (As of May 2025.) Thank you for reading our site today, please subscribe, follow, and bookmark. Please reach out to us if you are interested in working together. If you would like to donate to the blog you can here: Donate to The Beer Thrillers<\/a>. Thank you!<\/p>\nPaul R. Kan Articles<\/h3>\n
Other Yuengling Articles<\/h2>\n
More Articles About Canada<\/h2>\n
For More Information on D. G. Yuengling and Sons Brewery<\/h2>\n