Proximity to Yards brewery
Published by Becky S September 15th, 2005 in philadelphia, food
One advantage of living in Fishtown is being within walking distance of Yards Brewery, located in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood. Philly has only one remaining brewery in operation (a sad state of affairs), and Yards is it.
But what a brewery it is. Not only is the beer good, but the employees care about their craft and their community. See for yourself—Yards is open to the public every Saturday from noon to three. Take a tour, pick up a case, and hang out in their excellent and spacious tasting room, where the friendly staff will happily pour you many free samples (you can pack a lunch, since Yards is a BYOF facility)*.
My favorite part of the tour is the Laverne and Shirley room:
Yards occupies the old Weisbrod & Hess Brewing Company building, creating a bright spot in a neighborhood that has seen better days. And these guys are everywhere. Yards promotes the slow food movement and regional agriculture, they’re around at all the beer festivals, they throw a BBQ after the Frankford Avenue cleanup day, and they are raising money for the Red Cross by donating kegs to local bars. On September 15th. Which is pretty much right now, and here I sit being selfish, drinking tea and not helping the Red Cross.
The most exciting thing I learned on a recent Yards tour is the plan to celebrate Ben Franklin’s 300th birthday by brewing up his beer recipe (Yards already reproduces the beers of Washington and Jefferson). Doesn’t it stand to reason that a highly intelligent, dirty old man would have a good beer recipe?**
*For the non-Philadelphians, an online brewery tour is available.
**Due to some liquor law issues, the brew won’t be Franklin’s exact recipe, but it will be close.
beer ben franklin fishtown food kensington Philadelphia yards
Ah, if I only lived closed by. I would have helped the Red Cross AND celebrated Mexican Independence! Tsk, tsk…i am not being good at all!
I’m not much of a beer drinking, but since I respect Franklin so much I just might have to toss back one of his brews.
I need to get me one of those bottling machines
Also, Yards is the only remaining production brewery in Philly but there are three brewpubs (Independance, Nodding Head, and Manyaunk) and soon to be four (Triumph).
Clair, knower of all that is good and beer-y, where will the Triumph be located? In Fishtown? Someone should open a brewpub in Fishtown.
Anyone ever toured Yuengling’s brewery? That is interesting, and, you get free samples at the end. Buy the way Becky, I was at the Phillies game Thursday night and there was a guy there in a t-shirt with Phillies colors and print, but instead of saying “Phillies” it said “Fishtown” (on second thought, it may have been “Phishtown”…hmmm….)
Tom, I never made it to the Yuengling tour, but if I’m ever in the area….
I know of this Phishtown shirt–the one in the classic powder blue, right? I’ve been trying to get one. Apparently, the guy who sells them is in front of a local wireless telephone store on Saturdays.
So what are the liquor law issues that make it impossible to exactly reproduce Ben’s recipe? Any idea?
D
I think the new Triumph is going on Chesnut Street somewhere but I am not 100% sure.
As for the Franklin beer, I think the issue was that in his recipe most of the fermentables were from sugars (brown sugar, molasses, etc.) and instead of hops it was just spruce tips. The law has a specific % of fermentables that need to be from grain and a specific amount of hops that must be used to be classified as beer, and since they are only licensed to make beer, they had to make some changes.
Thanks for the explanation, Clair. I just remembered the Yards guy saying that sticking to Franklin’s original recipe would have required the brewery to obtain a wine license, which they weren’t about to do.