A pilgrimage, of sorts

So, this weekend we finally made it it out to the new Yard’s brewing company, in the not-so-lovely (but up-and-coming) Kensington section of Philadelphia. I wanted to visit Yard’s back when they were in Manayunk, near our own section of town, but I never made it. But when Yards combined their clear desire to brew beer the old-fashioned way with the purchase of a genuine, old-time brewery building, I was quite smitten. After all, Philadelphia’s long legacy of brewing is embodied in a whole series of decaying and disappearing brewery facilities, and anything which saves one of these nifty old buildings is a good thing in my book. Yard’s has gone that one better, by turning that old brewery into a new brewery!
The brewery is housed in the old Weisbrod and Hess brewery, which hadn’t brewed beer since 1939. The building is larger than the brewery’s needs for now, and they are clearly restoring it on an as-needed basis, but the parts they’ve done look good and the remainder is at least the beneficiary of more maintenance than it’s had in a long time.
To add to the enjoyment, the tour is very informal, very friendly, and pretty informative as well. There’s a fantastic old room which has been turned into a comfortable tap room for those who are waiting for a tour, and the brewery itself is contained on two floors of the old brewery.
Now, as noted, it’s not the best neighborhood in the world (we may or may not have witnessed a drug deal while driving around to see the rest of the building), but the beer is good and Yards deserves kudos for returning this great old building to its original function. By all means check it out.

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