Cross Off Two More

Shartlesville, Pennsylvania
Mountain Spring Campground Resort

The music played up until about 11 pm last night.  I thought it was coming from the park, but found out it was from the rodeo grounds that are next door.  

We left for Pottsville a little after 9 this morning.  The first tour of the Yuengling Brewery started at 10.  I wanted to allow for plenty of time to find a parking space and get to the gift shop before 10.  It was another beautiful day with temps in the 80's.  

When we arrived in the gift shop we were given orange wrist bands.  Right behind us was a bus load of very senior citizens.  They were having trouble with the four or five steps into the gift shop.  There were signs warning about the rigorous tour.  I can't imagine these people being able to climb all the narrow stairs and uneven surfaces.  I have to say, I was happy when they were given purple wrist bands and told their tour started at 10:30.  

There was a small museum and gift shop to occupy us while we waited for the tour to start.  Bill did the museum, guess where I was?  

Our tour guide called the orange group together to start the tour.  I have no idea how many tour the brewery but this is an example of the group size.  There were 28 people in the 10:30 tour.

Lou, was an excellent tour guide and she spoke loud enough for everyone in the group to hear her.  Yuengling is the oldest brewery in the United States.  It is family owned and operated.  Each successive family member must purchase the brewery because it was thought they would do better if they had to spend their own money. Unfortunately for us, you can't buy Yuengling in Arizona but they are expanding in the future.  

These three oak barrels were original and are all that's left from the original 1829 oak barrels.   

Lou lead us down into the caves under the factory.  These were hand dug by coal miners and were used for refrigeration in the early years.  The temperatures stay between 47 and 52 degrees.  Lou did mention that the drips from the ceiling were not beer, so she didn't advise trying to drink it.  

The spring water originally used would come down the pipe by the ladder, but today they have to use city water that is filtered.

Lou told us that, because of the set up used, two people can make all the beer in the brewery.   

I was surprised that they can only process cans or bottles but not both at the same time.

Bill saw this photo about Beech Bottom, WV and he knows the owners of the Waldorf Distributing company.  Small world, isn't it?

After walking up and down some very narrow steep steps we left the brewery and walked back across the street to the museum/gift shop.

Would you say this was the best part of the free tour?  We were allowed two samples.  

I did spend a little time in the gift shop.  What do you think of my new sweatshirt?

It has an insulated pocket to keep your beer cool and a bottle opener attached.  Almost as nice as that pair of thong sandals with a built in bottle opener that Polly has.

One last photo of the building before we leave.

It's still early so we made a stop in Pat Garrett's Sheepskin Shop.  There were some nice items in the store, but nothing we could use.  

I'll save number two on our bucket list for tomorrow's blog.  

Turtle Safely.......