Messy and Picky

What is made of a boatload of sustainable/reclaimed materials, pumps out 12k barrels of brew a year and makes cheap grilled cheese? The new Yards Brewery, of course. We headed up to the new[ish] location of Philly's 15-year-old brewery for one of Picky's co-worker's surprise going away party (and we kept it a surprise!) last week for a potluck in the new tasting room. We also got to tour the facility with one of the head brewers, Frank.

We were treated to a flight of brews on tap. From right to left: ESA, General Washington's Tavern Porter, Poor Richard's Tavern Spruce Ale, Philly Pale Ale. They didn't have Picky's current Yards favorite, Brawler on tap. Messy, who is not a beer fan, had a Yards root beer instead. It was tasty: a little spicy, not too sweet, but sadly, also a little bit flat.

It was our first visit to the new tasting room and we saw that they had a nice big menu to order from. We were there for a potluck so we had our own food to nosh on, but the menu looked great. There is a great selection of mix-and-match grilled cheese sandwiches ($3), soups and other tasty treats.

The brewery itself is a sustainable beast. Read up more about it here. That gorgeous bar above is made from reclaimed bowling alley planks.

Here's a shot from the back of the bar towards the entrance (and there's the surprised co-worker at center). There's a wall of recycled booths with a really cool vinyl wallpaper of all the logos of Yards beers.

To the left is a really nice, 100-year-old, made in Philly pool table. It has real pockets, as in "8-ball, side pocket" and no ball return – old school.

Right, the tour. Here's a shot of what the Yards crew calls Yards One: the original kettle from which beer under the Yards label was made.

Here's Frank showing us where the malt is kept, right in the room to his right. When he opened up the doors, it smelled luscious. The whole tour could've been just that room and Picky, a malty beer lover, would've been happy.

Frank took a seat next to the keg filling line. He talked us through the assembly line process which has several steps to make sure everything's nice and clean and sterile for beer to flow into.

And here is a very cool experiment: barley wine being brewed in some oak whiskey barrels. Small batch stuff for sure, but we're sure it'll be worth the wait. No, we didn't get to try some.

Giant stainless steel kettles and tanks within which the proverbial magic happens.

Some more info on the brewery and the tasting room from the site:

Tour Hours:
Saturday: Noon – 4 pm
(Tours are on the hour. Last one begins at 3:00 pm.)

The Tasting Room is open for business, pleasure, and special events. From floor to ceiling, the entire room reflects our commitment to environmental sustainability. We have bar tops made from old bowling alley lanes, recycled booths and lighting, and a pool table built here in Philadelphia more than 100 years ago. Come say hello and have a pint, or two, and purchase six-packs, cases, and kegs.

Tasting Room Hours
Monday – Saturday: Noon – 7 pm
Sunday: Noon – 4 pm
For Special Events, please call 215.634.2600.

Brewery Facts:

• Pennsylvania's first 100% wind-powered brewery.
• Current production capacity of 12,000 barrels a year.
• Hot water collected and recycled whenever possible.
• All glass and cardboard recycled through the Pedal Co-Op.
• Grains and dregs donated to local farms as feed.
• Earthen clay walls in the Tasting Room.
• Floors made from recycled concrete and coated in SoyCrete sustainable compound.

Yards Brewing Company
901 N. Delaware Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19123
215.634.2600

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 1st, 2010 at 8:45 am and is filed under Bars, Beer, Events, North Port Fishington. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.