He’s a practicing physician from Ohio and a beer connoisseur who enjoys not only sampling a variety of brews but writing lager history.
“I’m bigger on the writing than the drinking. Actually, I don’t drink a whole lot. I enjoy getting caught up in the history of the industry,” Dr. Robert A. Musson, Medina, Ohio, said Saturday in Pottsville while promoting his book, “Images of America D.G. Yuengling & Son, Inc.,” published by Arcadia on Sept. 23, 2013. The book includes a foreword by Yuengling’s president, Richard L. “Dick” Yuengling Jr., and more than 220 images.
Musson held an author event Saturday at the brewery at Fifth and Mahantongo streets, and in between signing copies and adding the salutation “Cheers!” he talked about himself, his love of Yuengling’s history and his thoughts on its future.
Musson said he became fascinated by the beer industry when he was a boy who enjoyed collecting decorative beer cans.
He started collecting in 1976. He said by 1979, he had about 400 cans.
“Eventually, my collection grew to about 8,500 cans and it was taking up way too much room, and I paired it down to the 200 that I have now. I loved all the different colors and designs. The hard-core collectors would only keep those that were open from the bottom, but I would take them in any condition. I think I had 1,000 full ones at one point. The only problem with those is sometimes they would spring a leak, and it was always a slow leak, so you wouldn’t find out it was leaking until three months later after it had created a huge mess,” he said.
In 1979, he paid his first visit to the brewery.
“It was a year of gas shortages, and it was two months after Three Mile Island. It was in June 1979. We were on a family trip ... on our way to Philadelphia. The gift shop tours weren’t here at the time. We stopped in the office, and Mr. Yuengling, Dick’s dad, came down and gave us a personal tour of the whole plant,” he said.
Musson said he enjoyed meeting Richard L. “Dick” Yuengling Sr. and said he was impressed by the kindness Yuengling showed to visitors.
“Apparently, that was the order of the day. He did that for a lot of people. It was probably an hour-long tour. It’s something I haven’t forgotten. It’s kept me a loyalist to this day. If you put out the effort and make people feel welcome, they’re going to be a lot more loyal to you,” Musson said.
Saturday was his 10th visit to the brewery.
Born in Akron, Ohio, April 27, 1963, Musson is the son of Irvin Musson, 93, and the late Frances Musson. He graduated from Firestone High School, Akron, Ohio, in 1981, then earned a bachelor of science degree in biology from the University of Akron in 1985 and his master’s degree from the Ohio State College of Medicine in Columbus in 1989.
“I went on to specialize in vein work, phlebology,” Musson said.
Since 1997, he’s written and self-published his first book, “Brewing Beer in The Rubber City,” and 23 others.
“Of those, I wrote one about veins and two about roads,” Musson said.
He also wrote three books for Arcadia. The other two are “Brewing in Cleveland” and “Brewing in Greater Pittsburgh.” And, recently, he’s been working on a book about Route 22.
“It heads just south of here. It goes from Cincinnati to Newark, New Jersey,” he said.
He said he was inspired to write a book about Yuengling in 2003, when he visited the Pottsville brewery with his wife, Jenny. On that trip, he noticed the numerous photos related to the brewery’s history.
He’s a fan of the book “Yuengling: A History of America’s Oldest Brewery” by Mark A. Noon, published by McFarland & Co. Inc. in 2007. But Musson set out to put together a book which concentrated on those photos.
“I worked on my book in early 2013. It took me about six months to get the whole thing together. The early history of Yuengling is so well-documented. I’ve researched and written about a lot of companies, and most of them started out as family operations. And most of them threw their archives away and pictures are non-existent. To find the volume of photographs they have about this place going back to the 1850s is just amazing. It’s so fun to look through that stuff,” Musson said.
While visiting Saturday, Musson noticed new windows were being installed in the former Yuengling Ice Cream factory.
Earlier this year, Yuengling announced its plans to turn its former ice cream factory into a gift shop and waste treatment facility.
“The last time I was here was about a year and a half ago, and that place looked like it was about to fall over. I just found out they’re completely renovating it. It’s going to house a new gift shop and museum. I think it’s going to be fantastic,” Musson said.
One of the reasons why Yuengling remained a strong business is the fact that it was a family business, Musson said.
“Now they’re in their sixth generation. Because of that and their heritage, it gives them a lot more pride. And they don’t take anything for granted. Sometimes, you’ll see new owners come into a brewery, and they’ll try to milk it for everything it’s worth and then let it go out of business. They just don’t care. This is bigger than that. For Yuengling, it isn’t just a company. It’s part of their family,” Musson said.
To learn more about Musson’s work, visit www.zepppublications.com.