Where to Go to Visit the Oldest Breweries in America

It may come as a surprise that Yuengling is actually the oldest brewery in America. Founded in 1829 by German immigrant David G. Yuengling, it was originally called Eagle Brewery. To get through Prohibition, the company made ice cream, which can still be purchased. Since 1831, the building on Mahantongo Street in the small Pennsylvania town of Pottsville has acted as the company’s headquarters and was put on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. You can still visit the nearly 200-year-old beer-making facility today.

When Adolph Coors immigrated to the United States in 1868, he brought a long tradition of German beer-making with him. He established Golden Brewery in 1873 and, within ten years, the establishment was turning a hefty profit. When Prohibition hit Colorado a few years earlier than the rest of the country, Coors transitioned to making porcelain, distilled alcohol for pharmacies and malted milk. After Adolph Coors passed away tragically, the family had a rather fraught history, but Coors remains one of the largest breweries in the country and provides tours five days a week.

Pabst actually went under several different names—including Empire Brewery and Phillips Best—before settling on today’s familiar moniker. The “Blue Ribbon” nickname came in the 1880s after the company tied a blue silk ribbon around the neck of its beer to commemorate receiving a gold medal for taste at America’s Centennial Celebration in 1876. While the factory and headquarters has moved to Los Angeles, the old headquarters and mansion can still be toured in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 

Despite 15 different owners, Minhas Craft Brewery has been operating out of the same facilities in southern Wisconsin for the last 160 years. They claim to be the Midwest’s oldest brewery and the second-oldest in the country. However, many Americans may be less familiar with Minhas than other brands because the company tends to produce beer for larger distributors, including Trader Joe’s Simpler Times brand and Costco's Kirkland Signature line. Their brewery tour and museum boasts beer memorabilia, prints and lithographs dating back to the mid-19th century; the collection is billed as "the largest museum of its kind." 

Anheuser-Busch is the largest brewer in the world, and has about half the beer market share in the United States alone. They weren’t always number one, though. Adolphus Busch’s leadership and early adoption of technological advances—they were the first American brewery to pasteurize their produce and use refrigerated railroad cars—helped them became an American icon (at least until a Belgian company bought them in 2008). Today, they have factories across the country and interested drinkers can tour all of them.