Yuengling to Expand Tampa Brewery as Tourism Destination

The Tampa, Florida area will soon have another tourism destination with ties to an American beer dynasty when D.G. Yuengling & Son, Inc. expands its Tampa campus.

The expansion project, which broke ground earlier this week, is expected to be completed in 2022, and includes a 15-story hotel tower, full-service restaurant, meeting and event space and a “digital interactive history” of the country’s oldest brewery.

“For us to be located right in the middle of it all and have the opportunity to help drive the economic benefits and drive some tourism to this area, I think it’s great not just for us, but for the entire Tampa community,” VP of operations Jennifer Yuengling told Brewbound.

The Context: Yuengling’s Tampa campus is near Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, which Anheuser-Busch sold to private equity firm the Blackstone Group in 2009, and the University of South Florida campus.

“What we’re most looking forward to is bringing an array of amenities not just to the community, but for tourists from around the world,” Yuengling said.

The Plan: The expanded Yuengling site will include “a state-of-the-art pilot brewing system,” a restaurant serving “fresh and local cuisine” with indoor and outdoor seating for as many as 500 people, and private events and office space for up to 125 people, Yuengling said.

At the helm will be new VP of hospitality Brent Wertz, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America who brings three decades of food and beverage experience.

According to Yuengling, the project has been under discussion for “a couple of years.”

Yuengling — who, with her sisters, belongs to the sixth generation of Yuengling family members to run the Pottstown, Pennsylvania-headquartered brewery — said there are no plans yet for any family members to move to Tampa.

“Our sister Sheryl does have a background in culinary and food experience, so we do expect she’ll play a role in maybe some of the recipe development,” Yuengling said.

Roots in Florida: Yuengling acquired its Tampa brewery in 1999; prior to the sale, it had been a Stroh’s brewery. Yuengling has embraced the surrounding area and its partners, even lending its name to the Yuengling Center sporting and event arena at the nearby University of South Florida.

“The state of Florida has become our largest real estate and our brewery here in Tampa has become our largest operating brewery,” Yuengling said. “For sure, we felt like this was a really great place to invest.”

Stats: Yuengling is the nation’s largest craft brewery by volume, according to national not-for-profit trade group the Brewers Association. In 2019, the company’s volume declined 2%, to 2.65 million barrels of beer, making its output nearly 1 million barrels greater than the next largest craft brewer, Boston Beer.

Those 2.65 million barrels are sold in only 23 states in the eastern half of the country. Yuengling made news earlier this fall when it unveiled a joint venture with Molson Coors Beverage Company to brew and sell its products west of the Mississippi River.