After a 28-year hiatus, cartons of Yuengling's Ice Cream are filling up the supermarket freezer aisles this week, the Associated Press reported.
The Pennsylvania-based brewery, which was founded in 1829, went into the dairy business in 1920 to help support the family after the prohibition went into effect. Now, almost 30 years after it ceased making the frozen treat, the company is bringing it back.
Yuengling's Ice Cream hit shelves in stores around Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and West Virginia.
"I was brought up with it," Bob Pomian told the AP while he was picking up a $4.99 carton of chocolate marshmallow at a store in Pottsville, Pa. a few miles away from the brewery. "If it's the same ice cream I ate 50 years ago, then I'd be happy with it."
Leiby's Dairy in Tamaqua, Pa. is producing the ice cream. The initial run will consist of 100,000 quarts, in 10 flavors, including chocolate marshmallow and "Black and Tan" (chocolate and caramel), UPI reported.
Yuengling said the company's ice cream comeback is long overdue.
"It's a very exciting time for us," David Yuengling, president of Yuengling's Ice Cream, said in a statement. "We originally expected production to begin in March, but when we announced in September that we were bringing back Yuengling's Ice Cream, the response was so enthusiastic that we pushed up production."
Although the family name is the same, Yuengling's Ice Cream is a separate company with no connection to the brewery, the AP reported. Yuengling's cousin, Dick Yuengling, runs the beer-making operations.
"It brings back good memories and it's good to see our family product, ice cream to come back in the market," WNEP New Station quoted Yuengling as saying.
