Pottsville, Schuylkill County, PA -
Jennifer Yuengling, one of four sisters comprising the sixth-generation future ownership of D.G. Yuengling and Son Inc., said at the kickoff of America's oldest brewery's 190th anniversary celebration that the festivities are for more than just beer.
“We're a family. We also mean the employees and fans,” she said at the exclusive media kick-off event in the gift shop and museum across the street from the brewery, which was built in 1831. “We are inspired by our past.”
That family atmosphere also inspired Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola, the company's brand ambassador, to join forces with it and travel to the city for the event.
“I'm happy to do it. They're great people, and it's great beer,” Nola said.
David G. Yuengling, a German immigrant, established his brewery at the current site of Pottsville City Hall in 1829. After a fire in 1831, he built the brewery on Mahantongo Street, where it remains to this day, although expanded and supplemented by breweries in Port Carbon and Tampa, Florida.
Having survived Prohibition by making ice cream and near beer, the brewery is now the oldest continuously operating one in America. It is currently owned by Richard L. “Dick” Yuengling Jr., great-great-grandson of the founder; he has placed his four daughters into the management team.
Wendy Yuengling, another of the sisters, unveiled a time capsule shaped like a beer barrel, in which Nola placed an autographed baseball and the family put a “Letter to the Future.” The company will continue to place items in the capsule until it is sealed on April 18, she said.
Another sister, Debbie Yuengling, said April 18 also is the day the company will release the names of the performers at a July 13 free community concert as part of the 190th anniversary celebration.
Wendy Yuengling also announced that visitors touring the old brewery on Thursday would receive a one-day-only treat: a specially prepared batch of Winner Beer, which was brewed in 1933 to celebrate the end of Prohibition. The brewery sent a truckload of it the day Prohibition ended to President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the White House.
“It's a little hoppy,” like the company's Lord Chesterfield Ale, Pete Kalinich, one of the employees who was dispensing Winner Beer, told visitors near the hand-dug caves where beer had been cooled and fermented in days gone by. “It's a little smoother.”
Employees also staffed the brewery tour, spoke about the company's many offerings and offered tastes, complemented by food from The Brick House Grill, Orwigsburg, to visitors.
In the Rathskeller, Kevin Sibbett said the company has made its fourth release of Bourbon Barrel Reserve Porter.
“It's been aged for a year in bourbon barrels,” he said.
Vickie Lord showed off the two production lines. She said only one works at a time because the brewery has only one pasteurizer.
She also said the company pays $20 in taxes per barrel of beer before they leave the brewery.
As a special treat for visitors, Carbon County Environmental Education Center, Summit Hill, brought a 19-year-old female bald eagle, representing the company's symbol and reminding them that the brewery's original name was Eagle Brewery.
The bird suffered injuries when hit by a car in Nesquehoning and cannot be released, said Franklin Klock, program assistant.
“She is unable to fly” and blind in her left eye, Klock said of the eagle.
Klock said the bird's diet is different than it would be if she were living in her natural state.
“In the wild, they eat primarily fish,” he said. However, Klock said, the center feeds her rats.
Nola, 25, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, said his fondness for the company started when he was drafted in the first round by the Phillies in 2014.
“I had my first Yuengling,” he said. “It was really good. I really like it.”
Nola said his fondness for Yuengling increased when he met the family.
“I got a good vibe from them,” he said. “They're super nice.”
Philadelphia has become a home away from home for Nola, who is optimistic about the Phillies season. The team has started 4-1, thanks in part to contributions from newcomers Bryce Harper, Andrew McCutchen, J.T. Realmuto and Jean Segura, and is in second place in the National League East.
“We're a talented ball club,” Nola said. “It's a tough division.”
He said he especially likes pitching to Realmuto, whom the Phillies acquired from the Miami Marlins.
“Having a catcher who's been around a while is great,” Nola said.
Debbie Yuengling said having Nola as the company spokesman is a natural fit.
“We've been longtime Phillies fans,” she said. “We're one of the first breweries to partner with an active major league player.”
Such family and community connections are important to the company, Debbie Yuengling said. They help carry on the traditions of the generations that preceded them.
“They got through a lot of hardship and they persevered,” she said. “We hope we make them proud.”
