If Reed did protest, it apparently was to no avail. Word comes now that Yuengling has "temporarily suspended" production of draft Lord Chesterfield Ale to keep up with the growing demand for Yuengling Traditional Lager. Yuengling vice president for sales and marketing Dave Cassinelli pointed out that Lord Chesterfield is one of the brewery's lower-volume products, accounting for only about 4-6% of overall sales.
With an 18% production increase to 1.2 million barrels last year and an anticipated 1.4 million in 2003 (both figures impacted by the demand from the recently opened New York and North Carolina markets), Yeungling has to make some tough decisions, it seems, and this was one of them.
Lord Chesterfield will still be available in bottles and cans, of course, but it's just not the same. For now, we're hoping that "temporarily" means just that and wondering what will go into the frig at Standard Tap.