Pottsville, Pennsylvania: Oldest Brewery in America: Free Beer

The Yuengling Brewery tour is better than ever. On a recent Saturday morning we took the Yuengling tour and ran into the boss himself, Mr Dick Yuengling. He was hanging out in the gift shop talking with visitors.

The tour includes a fascinating visit to the underground caves where the brewery used to store their kegged beer.

I spoke with Mr Yuengling a few months ago and he told me that his insurance company hounds him to cancel the down-and-dirty tour in favor of a sterile, lifeless version like almost all of corporate American has adopted. He said that as long as he is alive that won't happen!

This is the oldest brewery in America. They produce Yuengling beer, a not unlikable brew. The thing that is noteworthy is that the brewery is set right in the middle of the town, the tour is apparently free (we didn't pay), you get 2 free glasses of beer, and it's pretty fun.

Unlike brewery tours at the big guys, you get to walk through the work area, observing minium wage workers doing their thing. You can peer right into the vats.