George Younger (1722-88), a member of a family of saltpan owners in Culross, Fife was brewing in Alloa from 1745. He established his first brewery, later known as Meadow Brewery, in Bank Street, Alloa in about 1764. After his death the business was passed on from father to son, trading as George Younger and Son. Additional premises adjacent to the brewery were acquired in 1832 and 1850. The Candleriggs Brewery, Alloa, owned by Robert Meiklejohn & Co, was leased in 1852 and bought outright for £1,500 in 1871. The Meadow Brewery closed in 1877 and was turned into offices for the business. Some of these buildings still exist. Craigward Maltings, Alloa, were built in 1869 and a new bottling department was established at Kelliebank, Alloa, in 1889. The Candleriggs Brewery was badly damaged by fire in 1889 and rebuilt on a larger scale to cover nearly two acres, becoming the largest brewery in Scotland outside Edinburgh.
George Younger and Son Ltd was registered in February 1897 as a limited liability company to acquire the business at a purchase price of £500,000. The company traded extensively to the North of England, West Indies, Australia and North America and from the 1880s to India, the Far East and South Africa.
It took over R Fenwick & Co Ltd, Sunderland Brewery, Sunderland and Robert Fenwick & Co, Chester Brewery, Chester-le-Street (closed 1934), in 1898. The first chilling and carbonating plant in Scotland was installed at Kelliebank Bottling Stores, Alloa in 1903. The company's own bottling works was established there in 1908 and a new export bottling plant opened in 1912. The company built up large supply contracts with the armed forces at home and abroad.
It acquired the Craigward Cooperage of Charles Pearson & Co, Alloa, Geo White & Co, Newcastle upon Tyne and the Bass Crest Brewery Co, Alloa, in 1919. During the same year the Kelliebank bottle manufacturing plant was floated as a separate company and eventually became known as the Scottish Central Glass Works, a partnership with three other breweries. The Sunderland Brewery was rebuilt, being sold in 1922 to Flower & Sons Ltd, Stratford-upon-Avon. The Grange Brewery in Alloa was closed in 1941. In 1954 they installed the first bulk liquid carbon dioxide plant in Scotland. The company took over Blair & Co (Alloa) Ltd, Townhead Brewery, Alloa, in 1959, which was closed and demolished.
George Younger and Son was acquired by Northern Breweries of Great Britain Ltd in April 1960 and became part of the combined Scottish interests of that company, Caledonian Breweries Ltd, later United Caledonian Breweries Ltd, which merged with J & R Tennent Ltd, Glasgow, Strathclyde, in 1966 to form Tennent Caledonian Breweries Ltd.
The Candleriggs Brewery was closed on 31st December 1963 and was later demolished, providing space for greenside car park.
The bottling operation premises at Kelliebank, Alloa is now occupied by the Williams Bros. Brewing Company.