They’ve survived Prohibition with ‘near beer’ and ice cream. So why
did the Yuengling brewing company meet their maker with Mother Nature?
It's hard to envision a scenario where a brewery built in the 1830s wouldn't be included on the
National Register of Historic Places. Lo and behold, Yuengling's brewery in Pottsville,
Pennsylvania, is, indeed, listed on the Register.
Contrary to popular belief, though, the landmark Pottsville brewery isn't
the first Yuengling brewery operated by the company — it was actually the second
brewery built by founder D.G. Yuengling, according to the company's website.
After a fire destroyed the original Eagle Brewery location in 1831,
a new brewery was built at the company's current location. While the company eventually changed
its name to the more well-known moniker of D.G. Yuengling and Son in 1873, the main headquarters
for the craft brewery's operations have remained in the same place ever since.
During the years of prohibition, alcohol-producing companies had
to find creative and legal ways to stay in business during the nationwide ban of alcohol.
"What do you do? You employ - you employ people and you - you know what do you do with your
business when the government suddenly comes in and says 'you can't make this product anymore?'"
Jen Yuengling told WNEP in 2020 that the company continued making what they called
'near beer,' a legal beverage since it only contained half of 1% of alcohol.
According to the National Institutes of Health,
while the 18th Amendment prohibited alcohol's production and consumption,
it didn't mention anything regarding the actual legal limit for alcohol content in a beverage.
Consequently, the Volstead Act designated the legal limit for alcohol content at 0.5%,
which led some brewers, like Yuengling,
to continue producing beer with that drastically reduced alcohol by volume.
The company's near-beer proved to be a hit with consumers, as Debbie Yuengling
told History in 2019, helping the brewery persevere through the tumultuous period. And
when Congress ratified the 21st Amendment and repealed Prohibition on December 5,
1933, Yuengling emerged ready to hit the ground running and resume its regular beer production.
A company choosing to diversify the products it makes and sells to the public is nothing new.
But while many businesses can afford to take it slow when it comes to the growth of a new item,
an amplified sense of urgency exists if your main output becomes illegal overnight.
This was the position Yuengling found itself in at the start of Prohibition in January 1920,
Yuengling found that its entire business model had been nullified by the 18th Amendment. That
led the company's president and owner, Frank D. Yuengling, to launch its own brand of ice cream.
Yuengling didn't take any half measures with his new venture. Consequently,
not only did Yuengling's Ice Cream remain in business until the end of Prohibition,
but it prospered for more than 60 years during its initial run.
Originally shuttered in 1985, Yuengling's Ice Cream made a triumphant return to the
market in 2014. With 13 different flavors for sale as of 2022,
it appears the brand was welcomed back with open arms.
We'd venture a guess that millions of U.S. citizens were eager to show their appreciation
for President Franklin D. Roosevelt the day Prohibition was officially repealed. But the
odds that any person or company delivered on that thought quite like Yuengling are slim to none.
After all, Yuengling didn't just thank FDR;
it sent an entire truckload of beer to the White House as thanks after Prohibition ended.
"We delivered a truckload of winner beer - we figured we
won the fight against Prohibition - down to the White House and FDR."
We weren't able to find any information regarding how the delivery was received,
unfortunately, or whether FDR indulged in the free cases of Yuengling winner beer
bestowed upon him. But since there's no evidence either way, we're choosing to believe he did.
Actually, there is reason to think FDR may have welcomed his truckload
of gifted Yuengling with open arms. After all,
when he signed a different law in March 1933 that legalized 3.2% beer, the president quipped:
"I think this would be a good time for a beer."
For beer fans, it isn't exactly news to say the craft-brewing business has been
booming in the U.S. over the past decade. The exponential increase in available craft beers
has naturally led to a congested and competitive market, but only one can top the charts.
And, according to the Brewers Association, the best-selling craft brewery in 2021,
and current reigning champion of the industry, is also America's oldest: Yuengling.
Actually, Yuengling's ascendance to the top of the craft-brewing
scene isn't a recent phenomenon. In fact, according to PhillyVoice,
it has been the No. 1 best-selling craft brewery in the nation since 2015.
"As these other guys went out of business we'd pick up a couple customers and,
and it was- it was - it all worked out you know, I'm very lucky."
With seven consecutive years atop the craft-brewing industry, it's fair to
wonder when Yuengling will finally forfeit its crown. Only time will tell, of course,
but with just under 200 years of experience on its side, let's just say we don't plan
on betting against Yuengling any time soon. Given Yuengling's success with craft brewing,
it's fair to wonder what possible changes could have spurred its recent run of success.
Interestingly enough, a 2014 event did, in fact, help elevate Yuengling to the top
of the craft-brewery mountain. But the move wasn't by the company — it was a decision by
the Brewers Association that year to change its definition of what a craft brewery actually is.
Craft breweries have always been defined by their smaller,
independently owned status. But prior to 2014, brewers that used certain ingredients,
or mainly produced lagers, weren't technically classified as craft breweries.
Since Yuengling is known for its Traditional and Light lager varieties, this, in turn,
disqualified it from inclusion, along with many other older, traditional U.S.
breweries. This wasn't the first time the Brewers Association amended its craft-brewery definition.
According to The Street, they raised the maximum number of barrels a craft brewery
could produce each year from 2 million to 6 million in 2010.
To say that Yuengling's Traditional Lager is synonymous with the brewery
in its native Pennsylvania is obvious. In fact, if you order a lager in the
Keystone State without specifying a brand, you'll be handed a Yuengling. Given this,
you may think the Traditional Lager is nearly as old as America's oldest brewery itself,
but the company reports that it's only been around since 1987.
Now, with 35 years under its belt as of 2022, Yuengling Traditional Lager isn't some new kid
on the block in a crowded craft market. But just as no one's denying the beer has the right stuff,
a four-decade run doesn't change the fairly surprising fact that Yuengling's
signature beer wasn't sold during its first 150 years in existence.
It's unclear what took Yuengling so long to start brewing the Traditional Lager,
but since there's no feasible scenario under which it disappears from shelves at this point,
we suppose that's the sort of question we don't need to answer.
Even though Yuengling has been around for close to two centuries,
its distribution network is much smaller than many would guess. While it still isn't
available in every state as of 2022, you'd probably expect it to be sold throughout
the Northeast given its Pennsylvania location. Yet according to Brewbound,
Yuengling wasn't available north of New York state prior to 2014, when the company finally
secured distribution deals to sell its beer in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.
After just one year of sales in those three states, company owner,
Dick Yuengling, described the move to The Morning Call as an absolute success in 2015.
"The consumers picked up our brand so we have to thank them,
and uh, the whole sellers and the whole network for what they did for our brand."
Alas, for the three northern New England states, Yuengling remains an elusive
fantasy as of 2022. Though Yuengling had said in his 2015 interview that a move to
Vermont and New Hampshire was possible in the future, residents in both states
and Maine continue to wait for their chance to purchase Yuengling within their borders.
When it comes to iconic Pennsylvania-based companies, few can match the stature of
Hershey and Yuengling. Hershey may not have the same lengthy tenure as Yuengling,
but that doesn't mean the fellow business that also started in the
19th century is any less beloved within Pennsylvania's borders.
Given the immense joy the two companies bring to their consumers,
then, it's only fitting they decided to collaborate in 2019,
when PennLive.com reported that the Yuengling Hershey's Chocolate Porter was being released.
The partnership between Yuengling and Hershey appears to have been a
smashing success. First sold in select markets in October 2019,
Yuengling Hershey's Chocolate Porter didn't become a one-shot deal.
For its third year on the market, the two companies decided to embrace Halloween for
the Chocolate Porter, announcing the beer would be in stores by the end of September that year.
Yuengling hasn't yet made the leap to nationwide sales as of 2022, but that doesn't mean it lacks
the ambition to expand. Of course, since ensuring the company remains independent and family-owned
is of paramount importance, the number of options available for expansion is slightly limited.
But creative solutions can lead to productive partnerships, and, in 2020,
CNN reported that America's oldest brewery agreed to a joint venture
deal with Molson Coors to increase its national distribution network.
Now, to be perfectly clear, the agreement between the craft brewery and the
international conglomerate was not a merger or sale. Under the terms of the agreement,
Yuengling would simply utilize Molson Coors breweries to make its own beer,
which would then be sold in central and western U.S. states. In fact,
Yuengling reported that the deal actually created a new company separate from both Yuengling
and Molson Coors, with a board of directors split evenly with reps from both companies.
Though the company would use Molson Coors breweries for production,
fans shouldn't fret about any changes to the Yuengling beers they know and love.
No matter where you stand politically in 2022,
it's hard to think of a more polarizing figure than former president Donald Trump.
There's no denying the man sparks an unbridled fervor in folks across the political spectrum.
Perhaps, then, brewing company owner Dick Yuengling should have known his public endorsement
of Trump would inevitably lead to boycott calls — as it did in 2016, according to Forbes.
After hosting the then-presidential candidate's son, Eric, at the brewery
in 2016 calls decrying Yuengling's political preference were seen on social media. This
included a Facebook post by openly gay Pennsylvania State Rep. Brian Sims,
which ended with a message shaming the owner. The company, and Dick Yuengling himself,
were taken aback by the response, as the latter told Billy Penn back in March 2017:
"I didn't expect it would be such a big story."
Still, despite the backlash, any actual boycotts didn't seem to cause any real
damage to the brand, with sales ending up about the same in the aftermath.
Whether people want to acknowledge the detrimental effects of pollution on Mother Nature or not, it
doesn't change the fact that the planet is dying before our very eyes. And the existence of large
corporations skirting environmental regulations only makes this pre-existing problem worse.
Perhaps this explains why the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Justice
cracked down on Yuengling in 2016, after the EPA alleged that its Pottsville breweries were found
to have been improperly discharging pollutants into a public wastewater treatment plant.
According to EPA Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin, between 2008 and 2015,
the craft brewing company committed a number of serious violations of the
Clean Water Act. In addition, Garvin noted Yuengling's lack of engagement
or efforts to fix the problem meant that the company would face a steeper penalty.
Yuengling decided to settle with the government and signed a consent decree that included a $2.8
million fine. In addition, according to the U.S. Department of Justice, the decree tasked the
company with spending $7 million on improving and upgrading its facilities to comply with
environmental regulations. The then-assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden stating at the
time that Yuengling would be required to put an environmental management system into place.