BLOG 8 -- YUENGLING BREWERY & POTTSVILLE, PA

On each of our East Coast trips in recent years, we've had a Yuengling Beer at one place or another and always noted the statement on the label “America's Oldest Brewery—Since 1829.”  Hearing that the brewery gives free tours and serves samples meant Yuengling Brewery had to be included on our itinerary this trip!

 

The Yuengling Brewery is located in Pottsville, PA, which is on Pennsylvania Highway 183 and 97 miles northwest of Philadelphia.  Pottsville is the county seat of Schuylkill County.   Anthracite coal was discovered here in 1790 and mined extensively until the end of World War II.   The city was founded in 1806.  Today's  population is about 15,500 people.  Novelist John O'Hara lived here. Van Heusen Shirt Co.started here in 1881. 

Driving into Pottsville, you can't miss the Henry Clay Monument that was dedicated in 1855 and restored in 1985.  Henry Clay is 15 feet tall and standing on a 51' column on a hillside in a very visible location above downtown Pottsville!  Henry Clay (1777-1852) was an American statesman, four time U.S. presidential candidate (he lost each time!), U.S. Senator from Kentucky but very popular in Pennsylvania coal country because he was a strong proponent of tariffs on imported coal and iron to protect “fledgling American industries from English imports.”

There are many architecturally interesting buildings and homes in Pottsville.  Here's a small group:

In the distance, the handsome 1891 five story Ohio sandstone Romanesque style Schuylkill County Courthouse is very visible on a hill overlooking downtown.  Did I mention that  Pottsville is very hilly?

On to Yuengling Brewery, located definitely on a hill at 5^th & Mahantongo Streets in Pottsville.  The current brewery we're visiting was built in 1831 after the original 1829 brewery burned to the ground.  Yuengling expanded production in 1999 by opening another larger modern brewery in Mill Creek 3 miles away.  In 1999 they expanded again, buying an old Stroh's brewery in Tampa, Florida.  In 2009, Yuengling's 3 breweries produced over 2 million barrels of beer total!!  And they're looking to expand again, since their distribution is currently primarily in the Eastern seaboard states. 

From 1919-1933 Prohibition forced Yuengling, like all breweries, to stop making alcoholic beer.  They switched to 3 varieties of “near beer” limited to ½ of 1% alcohol and opened a successful ice cream plant across the street, saving the company.  Yuengling is now 186 years old!

Tours operate twice a day and we went on the 1:30 PM tour with ace tour guide Elaine, a real cheerleader for Yuengling! 

There were 2 sections of the tour with about 40 people in each one and 2 guides.  We started in an old part of the brewery where barrels were filled and then moved to the aging caves about 50' underground from the actual brewing rooms, where the barrels were kept for more than a month to age before bottling.  As their production increased, they dug longer tunnels and side rooms in the caves. The caves are not in use anymore but they are very interesting! The Mill Creek brewery now fills barrels. 

We moved up to the actual brewery and saw all the different processes involved.  There are many large tanks and piping everywhere leading to the finished product.  The photographs show most of the equipment.  My interest is drinking the beer, not making it, so I won't try to explain the process!! 

One unique feature is several well done murals in different areas of the brewery showing the equipment and the workers. 

Then we moved to the bottling line and watched the finished beer go into the bottles, then into cases of 4 six packs each and the cases move on conveyors to eventually be transported to your local store!  Fascinating to watch the sheer quantity of bottles that move along the lines!  I really appreciated that photography was allowed in all areas even though it was challenging especially at the fast=moving bottling line but great to see!

The final stop of the tour was the Rathskeller tasting room with enthusiastic tour guide Elaine pulling the tap handles and giving us all generous samples of our choice of 2 Yuengling beers or a non-alcoholic birch beer!   

On the way out, we stopped by the gift store and bought a couple of Yuengling T-shirts, one being the Yuengling fire dogs.   

Great old company, excellent beer and a great tour and tour guide!  We're sure glad we came to Pottsville!

And if you are wondering---this is how Yuengling beer is brewed!