Pennsylvania beers have some of the deepest history in America.
The state is home to America’s oldest brewery, helped launch the craft beer movement on the East Coast, and continues to produce some of the country’s most influential breweries. Yet when people discuss the most important Pennsylvania beers ever brewed, the conversation often turns into a debate about ratings.
I think that’s the wrong question to ask. The highest-rated beer is not always the most important beer.
Importance is measured by influence. It is the beer that changed drinking habits, inspired other breweries, created new trends, or helped shape Pennsylvania’s beer identity. With that in mind, these are the five Pennsylvania beers that had the biggest impact on the Commonwealth and beyond.
Yuengling Traditional Lager
No beer belongs at the top of this list more than Yuengling as a whole.
Released in 1987, Traditional Lager helped transform D.G. Yuengling & Son from a historic regional brewery into one of the most recognizable Pennsylvania beer brands in the country. Today, Yuengling remains America’s oldest brewery and consistently ranks as the largest craft brewer in the United States according to the Brewers Association.
The beer itself is not flashy.
It is an amber lager with light caramel malt character, subtle hop bitterness, and remarkable consistency. What made it important was accessibility. For decades, Yuengling Lager became the bridge between macro lager drinkers and craft beer. People used to ask relatives to bring many cases across state lines to where it was not available.
Millions of people had their first “local” beer because of Yuengling.
Without Traditional Lager, Pennsylvania’s modern beer scene might look very different. Even one of their first beers, Lord Chesterfield Ale, has stood the test of time and is a pretty bangin’ beer if you ask me.
Tröegs Perpetual IPA
If Yuengling represents Pennsylvania’s beer past, Perpetual IPA represents its modern craft era.
Tröegs describes Perpetual as the best-selling craft beer in Pennsylvania, and it has become one of the defining IPAs of the state.
The significance of Perpetual goes beyond sales. At a time when many breweries treated IPA as a specialty style, Tröegs proved that a hop-forward beer could become a year-round flagship. Perpetual helped introduce countless Pennsylvania drinkers to modern American hops and showed breweries that IPA could be the centerpiece of a portfolio rather than a seasonal experiment.
Today, nearly every brewery in America produces some version of a flagship IPA.
Perpetual helped establish that blueprint.
Tired Hands Alien Church
Few beers have influenced modern Pennsylvania brewing more than Alien Church.
According to Untappd, Alien Church has accumulated more than 132,000 check-ins and over 71,000 ratings while maintaining an impressive 4.18 average score.
Those numbers only tell part of the story.
In what the height of the craft beer growth during the 2010s, people from all over the east coast would travel to Ardmore, put lawn chairs in parking spots, and wait in line for up to 15 hours to get the latest hazy or milkshake IPAs. I personally wasn’t around beer yet to see the spectacle, but have heard tales from a number of you about one of the greatest migrations since the ice age.
Alien Church arrived during the rise of the New England IPA and became one of the beers that convinced Pennsylvania drinkers that hazy, juicy IPAs were not a passing trend. Its soft mouthfeel, saturated hop character, and opaque appearance helped define what many consumers now expect from modern hazy IPA
Look at tap lists across Pennsylvania today. Whether you love hazy IPA or are tired of seeing them everywhere, Alien Church helped shape the current landscape more than almost any beer brewed in the Commonwealth.
Yards Philadelphia Pale Ale
Sometimes importance comes from timing.
When Yards Philadelphia Pale Ale debuted in the 1990s, Philadelphia’s brewing scene was still rebuilding after decades of decline. The beer became one of the most recognizable symbols of the city’s brewing revival and helped establish Yards as one of the flagship breweries of modern Philadelphia beer culture.
What made Philadelphia Pale Ale important was its approachability.
The beer offered enough hop character to attract craft beer drinkers while remaining accessible to newcomers. At a time when many consumers were just beginning to explore beyond mass-market lagers, Yards provided an easy entry point.
For many people in southeastern Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Pale Ale was their introduction to local craft beer. That influence cannot be overstated.
Schmidt’s Beer
Including Schmidt’s may surprise younger drinkers, but leaving it off would ignore a huge piece of Pennsylvania beer history.
By 1960, Schmidt’s was producing approximately 2.2 million barrels annually and ranked among the largest breweries in the United States. The brewery’s beer dominated Philadelphia taverns and became synonymous with working-class drinking culture throughout the region.
Long before craft beer existed, Schmidt’s demonstrated that a Pennsylvania brewery could achieve national scale while maintaining strong regional loyalty. Its influence extended beyond beer itself.
Schmidt’s helped define Philadelphia’s beer identity during much of the twentieth century and laid the groundwork for the brewery culture that would follow.
Many of today’s Pennsylvania breweries owe part of their success to the beer-drinking culture that breweries like Schmidt’s helped create. I don’t even know the extent to which Schmidts had a grip on the beer scene so if there are any history buffs out there, I’d love to hear more!
The Beer That Had the Biggest Impact
If the question is which beer had the greatest impact on Pennsylvania, the answer is probably Yuengling Traditional Lager.
Which beer most influenced modern brewing trends? Alien Church has a strong argument.
If the question is which beer shaped today’s craft beer market, Perpetual IPA deserves serious consideration.
The truth is that each beer on this list represents a different chapter in Pennsylvania brewing history.
Schmidt’s built the foundation.
Yuengling survived and expanded it.
Yards helped revive local craft beer.
Perpetual IPA made IPA a Pennsylvania staple.
Alien Church helped define the modern era.
Together, they tell the story of Pennsylvania beer better than any single beer ever could. While Vermont beers boast some of the best quality and the west coast has some heavy hitters, I love my PA beer. (I’ll go with Yuengling to honor my high school friends’ favorite beer)
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