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Washington Post
8/27/2008
The Biggest of a Dying Breed
By Greg Kitsock
One year shy of 180, D.G. Yuengling and Son
Inc. in Pottsville, Pa., is the oldest
continuously operating beermaker in the United States. Depending
on your definition of
"brewery," Yuengling might soon boast another
distinction: the largest brewery that's 100
percent U.S.-owned.
Now that Anheuser-Busch (the nation's largest
brewer, with an output of 102 million
barrels last year) has accepted InBev's $52 billion buyout
offer, the King of Beers will
shortly be part of a Belgian-Brazilian conglomerate. Numbers
two and three are likewise
international corporations: Miller (40 million barrels last
year) was sold to South African
Breweries in 2002, and Coors (24 million barrels) merged
with Canadian mega-brewer
Molson in 2005.
Next up is Pabst (6 million barrels). Pabst
"will be the last of the famous iconic U.S.
brewers to be fully independent and American-owned,"
the company proclaimed in a
recent news release. But Pabst sold the last of its physical
plants years ago. It rents other
people's tanks (mostly Miller's) to make Blue Ribbon, Schlitz
and about three dozen other
budget brands. Can a brewery be a brewery if it lacks mash
tuns, brew kettles and
fermenters?
Boston Beer Co. (maker of Samuel Adams) turned
out almost 1.9 million barrels last
year, and it does own several breweries, including a former
Pabst plant near Allentown,
Pa., that company founder Jim Koch just acquired. But demand
exceeds capacity, and in
2007 (estimates New Brewer magazine) Boston Beer contract-brewed
999,000 barrels at
other companies' breweries. If we disqualify Pabst, do we
have to subtract those barrels
from Boston Beer's total?
That leaves Yuengling, which last year brewed
more than 1.7 million barrels, every last
drop at its two plants in Pottsville and one facility in
Tampa.
Founded in 1829, Yuengling is privately owned,
so it isn't vulnerable to a hostile
takeover the way Anheuser-Busch was. And it's going to stay
that way, insists brewery
President Richard L. Yuengling Jr. "I'm the fifth generation
of the family that started this
thing. I'm 65. I enjoy working," he says. He has four
daughters to carry on after he retires.
The brewery has been a boon to Pottsville,
a city whose fortunes have waxed and waned
with the anthracite coal industry. The last time Pottsville
residents were able to yell
"We're number one!," the year was 1925 and this
coal-region city had a franchise in the
fledgling National Football League. The Pottsville Maroons
went 10-2 and appeared to
have won the NFL championship. But they played a late-season
exhibition game in
Philadelphia and were suspended by the league -- and stripped
of their title -- for
violating another team's territorial rights.
Sometimes technicalities work for you, sometimes
against you.
I don't know what type of tailgate parties
Maroons fans held; it was, after all, Prohibition.
But the local brewery is a proper source of refreshment
for modern tailgaters.
Yuengling's brands are "step-up"
beers: In terms of flavor, they're better than the bland
national brands, but they're not so aggressive they would
fry the taste buds of a Bud or
Miller drinker. Yuengling lightens the beers by adding corn
grits, an adjunct that most
microbreweries eschew in favor of 100-percent barley recipes.
All of Yuengling's beers (except the Porter)
come in 12-ounce cans, easier to tote and
quicker to chill than glass bottles. And you can follow
the change of seasons by hopping
from one label to another.
During that last summer heat wave at the end
of August and into September, suck down a
pleasantly malty Yuengling Traditional Lager, the crisper,
pale Premium Beer or a Light
Lager.
Mark the first frost of autumn by switching
to Yuengling Black & Tan, a 60-40
blend of Porter and Premium with that roasty, slightly coffeeish
flavor familiar to
Guinness drinkers.
As the weather turns frigid in November and
December, fortify yourself with unblended
Porter or the citrusy Lord Chesterfield Ale, a hoppy pale
ale that's a notch stronger (5.4
percent alcohol by volume) than the brewery's other offerings.
If it's not too sloppy, mix
equal portions of the ale and porter to make a heady blend
called a half-and-half.
And what if your team is fortunate enough
to still be playing in January?
Dick Yuengling has been conservative not just
in politics (he was a delegate for Bush at
the 2000 Republican National Convention) but in product
development. While other oldtime
regional breweries such as F.X. Matt in Utica, N.Y., and
High Falls in Rochester
have introduced craft beer lines and a changing array of
seasonals, Yuengling stands pat
with a handful of year-round offerings.
"I don't have the capacity to do seasonals,"
says Yuengling, noting that sales are up 7
percent so far this year. "But we'll probably get into
them someday." When that day
comes, the brewery has an archive of old recipes for such
styles as brown stout, bock and
cream ale, as well as the technical expertise to reproduce
whatever the microbreweries
are doing.
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