3 Pennsylvania craft breweries rank among nation’s top 50

Once again, D.G. Yuengling & Son Inc. is tops in the nation.

The Pottsville brewer is the biggest seller of craft beer in the United States, according to the Brewers Association, a trade group representing craft and independent brewers, which on Tuesday released its annual top 50 ranking of craft brewers based on sales volume.

Bart Watson, the association’s chief economist, noted the impact the pandemic has had on the industry.

“The covid-19 pandemic drastically changed where Americans purchased alcohol in 2020. Breweries who had established packaging and distribution capacity were best positioned to take advantage of the boom in off-premise sales and weather market uncertainty,” he said.

Craft brewers have had to adapt as beer drinkers’ habits shift. In the past year, brewers have streamlined operations, bumped up production of canned and bottled beer and relied on shipping, subscription services, curbside pickup and delivery sales.

Yuengling has consecutively topped the list since 2014 when it surpassed the Boston Beer Co., maker of Samuel Adams. Boston Beer continues to hold the No. 2 spot.

Two other Pennsylvania craft brewers made the list: Artisanal Brewing Ventures (merger of Victory Brewing and Southern Tier Brewing) in Downingtown and Lakewood and Brooklyn, New York at No. 8 and Troegs Independent Brewing in Hershey in the No. 20 spot.

The Brewers Association defines craft breweries as having annual production of six million barrels of beer or less.

Yuengling, known as America’s oldest brewery, started in 1829 as Eagle Brewery, and has been in operation ever since — barring dramatic obstacles such as a brewery fire in its early years. Even during Prohibition, the company continued producing “near beers” and even had a truckload of beer delivered to the White House on the day Prohibition was repealed.

The company is undergoing a major expansion in Texas where later this year it will begin distributing its beer as part of a westward expansion made possible through a partnership with Molson Coors Beverage Company.

Last month, it announced the release of Raging Eagle Mango Beer, a pilsner made with natural mango flavor targeted to younger beer drinkers.