If Pennsylvania’s liquor laws were revamped under a privatization proposal, Yuengling said beer distributorships should be protected, and he believes the commonwealth’s economy would better off if it were a “Right-To-Work” state.
“I wanna protect (beer distributors) because they’re the guys who stepped forward and sold the beer in the state of Pennsylvania for our company,” he said at the Press Club luncheon at the Harrisburg Hilton and Towers. “…They made our company in the state of Pennsylvania and I don’t wanna see them get hurt.”
He also hailed Corbett for trying to do “the right thing.”
“He’s a good man, an honest man,” Yuengling said of the governor, “and that to me is paramount when you’re electing an official.” When Yuengling was quoted as saying he would build another brewery out of state, he said the governor’s office contacted him “right away.”
Yuengling, 69, also discussed his trade and competing against large beer companies as well as burgeoning craft brews.
“I think (craft beers) actually help us. People are drinking better beers. They’ll land on ours because of the price,” he said, noting Yuengling’s price structure is closer to larger beer companies like Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors.
“I like to see the craft beers successful. They’re introducing the public to new brands. They’ve helped our business because that’s what we are: We’ve been a craft beer since the inception of brewing,” he said, noting the Yuengling basics which include an ale, porter and its flagship lager.
“They just don’t seem to classify us as a craft beer because of the pricing structure that we’ve chosen to take,” he said. “Most of the craft beers are up there at $150 a keg or $30 a case or $40 a case. We don’t choose to market our brand that way. We think to build brand you have to be consumer friendly and sell it at a reasonable price, that’s all. We try to compete with the Bud, Miller and Coors of the world and sell our beer at $18, $20, $15 whatever it is.”
Yuengling is currently available in 14 other states in the Mid-Atlantic and the south. Instead of spending millions on a large advertising budget, Yuengling said the company creates a demand for the product and continues to expand.
“We know our brand will grow to a certain point in the market… there’s wholesalers in Indiana that want our beer in the worst way. Michigan wants our beer because of the success that we’ve obtained in the state of Ohio,” he said. “Wholesalers there have done a great job, it’s only been there three years, I think.”
“We keep it in short supply and they want what they can’t get. I shouldn’t say that on television,” he added.
He said the company couldn’t afford to run advertisements like larger breweries do during the Super Bowl.
“We can’t do that. So we create a demand for it. We’re happy with our market share,” he said.
Yuengling was included in a Forbes Magazine billionaires list that reported his worth was $1.3 billion. But he said Monday he’s not worth that much.
“I’m not worth a billion dollars. Our company’s grown so much that if we were to sell it, some fool may come along and offer me that kind of money. But it’s not what we’re all about,” he said. “…We’re not for sale. Nobody’s going to offer me a billion dollars for it, and if they did, I wouldn’t take it.”
The company, known as “America’s Oldest Brewery,” has been operating since 1829. It employs 280 people at two plants in eastern Pennsylvania and one in Florida.