POTTSVILLE, Pa. (WHTM) – Yuengling has been around since 1829 when David G. Yuengling founded the brewery which makes it 194 years old.
The first two beers that David brewed were the Lord Chesterfield Ale and Dark Brewed Porter which are still brewed today.
While David created and brewed the beer the name of the brewery was The Eagle Brewery.
Two years after the brewing began a fire destroyed the brewery located on Centre Street so a new one would be built on Mahantongo Street and since 1831 that building has remained.
In 1873, 42 years after the fire, David and his family started to grow and Frederick, one of David’s sons, joined the business.
Frederick promptly changed the name of the brewery to D.G. Yuengling & Son.
The malt used at Yuengling was transported on the Schuylkill Canal from over 100 miles away in Philadelphia.
Horse-drawn wagons would deliver the final project (the beers) throughout the region.
In 1877, David G. Yuengling passed away at 70 years old and Frederick would carry on the family business.
Frederick would expand the business by adding brewery locations in Saratoga, New York, New York City, and Trail, British Columbia.
Eventually, the breweries would consolidate into the original Pottsville brewery.
The brewery would extend past using Kegs and Frederick would add a bottling line to the plant in 1895.
Unfortunately in 1899, Frederick passed away at the age of 51, but Frederick’s only son Frank would take over the business.
Many breweries would shut down following the eighteenth amendment which started prohibition.
This didn’t stop Frank as he believed that real beer would be allowed again so he created “near beers” such as the Yuengling Special, Yuengling Por-Tor, and Yuengling Juvo.
Yuengling would celebrate 100 years of brewing in 1929 as they continued making “near beers.”
Prohibition would come to an end on Dec. 5, 1933, and to celebrate Yuengling created a beer called Winner Beer and shipped a whole truckload to President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Anyone who has taken a tour of Yuengling may have seen the room that was built in 1936 for employees to eat lunch called the Rathskeller.
In 1960, N. Ray Norbert would become Yuengling’s brewmaster and Norbert would hold that title for 40 years.
For 64 years, Yuengling was run by Frank Yuengling, but in 1963 Frank passed away.
Richard L. and F. Dohrman, Frank’s sons would take over the business.
In 1976, America would celebrate its bi-centennial and Yuengling would be added to the national and state registers as America’s Oldest Brewery.
Richard “Dick” Yuengling would buy the company in 1985 from his father.
Once Dick took over he would have Norbert develop new beers for Yuengling which resulted in 5 years of work to create the following; Premium Light Beer, Traditional Larger (an amber beer), and Yuengling’s Original Black and Tan (a unique blend of its Premium Beer and Dark Brewed Porter).
From 1989 to 1996 Yuengling increased from 127,000 barrels to 360,000 barrels.
But with this increase in popularity from outside the region would come the decision to withdraw from markets that were outside the region.
Dick Yuengling saw this as the perfect time to expand and in 1998 he announced a new brewery to be built in Mill Creek.
Three years after the announcement the new brewery would begin operation and this allowed Yuengling to grow outside the region.
In 2009, Yuengling began to offer seasonal beers such as Bock, Oktoberfest, Summer Wheat, and IPL.
The Mill Creek brewery would have to be expanded in 2011 due to Yuengling passing two million barrels in 2009.
For the first time in Yuengling’s company history, a female would take over the business but not just one female, four.
Dick Yuengling had four daughters who would all come together in 2014 to run the business and become the sixth generation to run the Yuengling Brewery.
In 2017, Yuengling decided to celebrate its history and rebrand the Yuengling Traditional Lager, Light Lager, and Black & Tan packaging, and in 2019 the Golden Pilsner would debut.
FILE—In this Feb. 21, 2020 file photo, Yuengling’s new upscale light beer, Flight, is seen on tap with Yuengling’s other beers at D.G. Yuengling & Son’s Mill Creek brewery in Pottsville, Pa. A trademark tiff between America’s oldest beer maker and its best-selling beer brand appears to be over before it really began. Last week, D.G. Yuengling & Son demanded its much larger rival, Anheuser-Busch, stop using a tagline for its forthcoming Bud Light Next zero-carb beer. Bud Light had been calling it the “next generation of beer.” Yuengling says that’s too close to the trademarked slogan it uses for its Flight low-carb brew. (Lindsey Shuey/Republican-Herald via AP, File) 
Yuengling Black and Tan cans are stacked in the warehouse of the D.G. Yuengling & Son Brewery Mill Creek plant on Tuesday, July 21, 2020. (Lindsey Shuey/Republican-Herald via AP)
In 2020, a joint venture would be established between Yuengling and Molson Coors which would help Yuengling expand past the 22 states it was already established in.
Yuengling decided it was time to expand but this time in Florida.
In 2020, the Yuengling Tampa Campus would be announced which would include a restaurant, outdoor recreation and entertainment areas, a beer garden, and a pilot brewing system.
It took one year after the joint venture with Coors to expand Yuengling into Texas which began in August 2021.
Yuengling is striving to expand its beer to customers in all 50 states so after Texas in 2021, Yuengling has since expanded its beers into Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma in 2023.
Yuengling will celebrate 200 years of brewing in 2029.
