Yuengling Brewery

All of us are fans of Yuengling Lager, brewed in Pottsville, PA. During the Barn Raising we tried to get there for a tour, recommended in the "1000 Places to See Before you Die" as the best brewery tour in the US. Yuengling is the oldest brewery in the US, having started in 1829. The founder came over from Germany and set up a brewery which burned down after two years. He then built this brick brewery, which is still in the family (fifth generation). In German tradition, you don't inherit a family business, you have to buy it at fair market value. This facility is one of two in Pottsville and there is a third brewery in Tampa, FL. It only takes 50 people to run the brewery. The price of a Yuengling beer in Pottsville is still 40 cents. The tour is great. You have to wear closed shoes (they have loaners) because you are right out in the production area. This stained glass ceiling was built because the kettles were originally copper and the sun coming through the windows blinded the employees.

This photo is of the inside of the only remaining copper vessel, which was being cleaned. It is in this vessel that the liquid beer is separated from the mash. During prohibition Yuengling remained viable by brewing near beer, Porter (a medicine for nursing women) and ice cream. Interestingly, the day after Prohibition ended Yuengling delivered a truckload of beer to President Roosevelt. How that was possible since it takes 24-28 days to ferment beer is unknown, though there are various theories that the beer was being stored in the cistern or in the nearby church or in the town hall.

This original facility both bottles and cans, though we were there when they were canning the Lager. It produces 600,000 barrels a year. There was one guy on this machine and one more guy at the machine which loaded the cases of cans. You could get right up to the canning line. Yuengling originally dug caves under the brewery to store the beer. They are no longer in use. During Prohibition the government bricked up the caves to prevent brewing.

After the tour you are allowed to try two different types of beer. It worked out perfectly since we didn't need to taste the Lager or Light Lager and didn't want to taste the Light Premium. That left Premium (yuck!, no hops), Porter, Black and Tan (60% Porter and 40% Premium) and Lord Chesterfield. We liked the latter a great deal. After the brewery we walked around Pottsville and visited the Yuengling family mansion (which had a great gate house and is now the historical society) and looked at some nice buildings downtown. Pottsville is clearly economically depressed, but it has a huge, gorgeous county court house and and old jail (1851) which looks like a castle and is still in use. Afterwards we drove to the Dutch Kitchen, recommended in Jane and Michael Stern's Road Food. It had a great salad bar with pickled vegies and good, hearty Pennsylvania Dutch Food. I had a pot pie casserole (no dough) and Bob had turkey croquettes. We would definitely recommend Yuengling, both for the tour and for the beer.