Bottle Royale

Dick Yuengling built America’s oldest brewery into a $550 million powerhouse, becoming a billionaire in the process. Now, after 30 years in control, it’s finally time to let go and pass the family business on to a sixth generation— but which of his daughters will inherit the billion-dollar throne?

- Chase Peterson - Withorn

Stepping into his gold Toyota Camry Hybrid, Dick Yuengling pauses to apologize. There are crumpled papers coating the floor, littering the seats, teeming from every crevice. And there’s such a thick film of dust on the dashboard that you wouldn’t be able to see the radio channel if it weren’t for a little swipe in the dirt made by his finger. This is the car of a billionaire. “It smells and it’s dirty,” he says with a shrug. “But that’s just the way it is.”

For three decades the blue-eyed, blue-jeaned chain-smoker has been driving a cheap sedan to his brewery long before the sun rises over Pottsville, Pa., a charming town of 14,000 in the heart of coal country that was immortalized by native son John O’Hara in his novel Appointment in Samarra. Yuengling heads to work so early every day that he has to grab the paper straight from the distributor on his way.

As the president of D.G. Yuengling & Son, America’s oldest brewery and his family’s business for five generations, he runs the company exactly as he sees fit. A self-described “production nut” who operates on instinct, the 73-year-old Yuengling sometimes mans machinery himself or backs semi trucks into his loading dock because he knows the most efficient methods. Some at the company joke that, in terms of organizational structure, all 350 employees’ jobs point up to their managers—but oftentimes directly to Dick.

His instincts have served him well. When Yuengling took over from his father in 1985, the company was producing 137,000 barrels of beer a year; today it’s one of America’s five largest brewers, turning out some 2.8 million barrels annually. And despite the well-worn Wrangler jeans and the dirty Camry, his $1.9 billion net worth earns him the No. 361 spot on The Forbes 400 this year.