Breweries

Visiting breweries is a great activity for all. Despite what most people think, visiting a brewery can be a fun event for anybody, regardless of age. Breweries produce not only alcoholic beverages, but also kid-friendly beverages such as root beer, cream soda, etc. Anyone who enjoys seeing how things are made, or simply just enjoys beverages, will have fun at a brewery. Beer, however, is the most commonly made beverage in breweries. Beer has been in existence for over 5,000 years, and therefore, so have breweries. The earliest breweries were primitive at best, but they slowly advanced through technology, until eventually they became the breweries we see today. The modern day process of beer-making can usually be divided into 3 important steps, with a few more specific steps. These are the important steps in the process of beer making:  
Fermenting – In brief, the sugars from the malt ferment, and become alcoholic. 
Conditioning – In brief, after most or all of the sugar has fermented and produced alcohol, all the unwanted flavors and contents of the beer are removed from the beverage in this stage.
Filtering – In brief, this stage filters out the rest of the unwanted contents. Filtering is used in the finer beers, while some beer is unfiltered. Unfiltered beer has a rougher taste, which is preferred by some.
Packaging – This step is pretty self-explanatory. This stage takes the beer from large vats and puts them into smaller containers; bottles, kegs, cans, etc.
The entire process of brewing is quite fascinating. There is a variety of chemical reactions that take place in the process, so even science buffs will enjoy breweries! 

There is many different types of breweries in business today, the most common of which are Microbreweries (a small, privately owned brewery), and Macro breweries (larger breweries, that produce high quantities of beer). Generally, beer from Microbreweries is considered to be higher quality beer, but that is not always the case. Some Microbreweries have an open policy, where you can even brew your own beer! These breweries will produce a special mix of your choosing, with your own design of bottles, packaging, and labels. 

There is a brewery, named Yuengling, in Pottsville, Philadelphia that has been open and brewing since 1829. This brewery is commonly known as “America’s oldest brewery”. They offer tours of their facilities, both the Pottsville location, as well as a brewery in Tampa, Florida. 

The Yuengling breweries have been family owned and operated since there creation in the early 19th century, and have been perfecting their brews for over 5 generations.