An American success story for 200 years, Yuengling remains a family affair: "We make beer. We make it well"

America's oldest brewery calls Pennsylvania home. About 90 miles northwest of Philadelphia is Pottsville in Schuylkill County, where the success of one brewery helps tell the story of the country: Yuengling.

Walk into any Philadelphia bar and order a lager. The bartender will know what you want — a Yuengling. It's a point of pride for the Yuengling family, where the fifth and sixth generations are at the helm.

America's oldest brewery sits in a town of some 14,000 people about a two-hour drive from Philly.

"We make beer. We make it well," Dick Yuengling Jr. said, "and that's our schtick."

It's a simple motto and one that's worked for nearly 200 years. During Prohibition, Yuengling turned to ice cream and near beer.

"There are not too many businesses in the United States that are older than this," Yuengling Jr. said. "I mean, we didn't miss George Washington crossing the Delaware by too many years."

Yuengling Jr. has been at the helm since the mid-1980s. He's the mastermind behind the lager brand.

"The farther we get away from Pottsville — they can't pronounce our name, so I just say, just call it lager," he said. "I'm like, 'Oh my gosh, it stuck.'"

At its very core, Yuengling is a family affair. The brewery has been in the family for nearly 200 years. Yuengling Jr. is its fifth owner. His children will be the company's sixth owners.

Wendy Yuengling and Jennifer Yuengling are his daughters and part of the sixth generation running the family business, now alongside their two other sisters.

"We each touch a different area of the business, which is very helpful," Jennifer Yuengling said.

"Working side by side with our dad all these years, we have tremendous respect for what he's built, how he's endured," Wendy Yuengling said. "I mean, seeing what the business was in 1985 vs. where we are now with three breweries, 28 states. I mean, it's incredible."

Wendy Yuengling and Jennifer Yuengling began their education in the family business in the gift shop and by giving tours, but the sisters joining their dad in running what is now one of America's largest breweries wasn't always the plan.

That conversation still makes Dick Yuengling Jr. emotional.

"I took them to Florida and said, 'Are you interested?' And they said, 'Well, we all are.'" He said. "I almost cried, you know, because it could have been the end of the brewery."

Instead, this place has flourished, expanding the portfolio.

"It's that disciplined modernization innovation," Jennifer Yuengling said, "and continue to stay true to who we are."

"You can't react to every fad," Wendy Yuengling said. "We've learned that."

As the country celebrates its 250th birthday, Wendy and Jennifer Yuengling reflect on the brewery's part in America's story.

"When you have an opportunity to stop and think about it and reflect on America's 250th, and us being part of that for almost 200 years, it's very, very humbling," Wendy Yuengling said.

Yuengling is celebrating America's birthday all year by proudly showing off the 250th on its cans. On keeping the business in the family, not only are Yuengling Jr.'s four daughters involved, but two of his grandkids are too.