"The Breweries of Kensington and Beyond"

by Brian White

Are you one of those people who couldn't care less about whether Miller Lite tastes great or is less filling? If you really relish rich beer, then you might want to check out Yards Brewing Company in Kensington, Philly's only active brewery. Yards gives beer lovers that chance every weekend with guided tours of the premises; this weekend sees the added bonus of a talk with beer historian Rich Wagner, presented by Kensington History Project. Wagner, who has spent 23 years scouring Pennsylvania for brewing history, will be discussing "The Breweries of Kensington and Beyond," covering the roughly 80 to 90 breweries that used to exist in the city's river wards.

Brewing was big business along the Delaware before Prohibition forced most of them out of business. Alongside textile makers and other manufacturers, now-shuttered Kensington breweries like Proto, Gretz and Weisbrod & Hess helped fuel Philadelphia's reputation as the "workshop of the world."

Yards brews beer the old-fashioned way, in open fermentation vats, unlike big-name breweries, which use sealed vats. Wagner says that beer made in open vats is more "fruity and ethery." Visitors can see the path that Yards' 10 brews travel, from malted barley to keg. Yards produces mostly English-style ales (although there is a Belgian brew); they import English malt and hops to create an authentic British beer. The brewery started out in Manayunk in 1994 during the microbrew craze; in search of more space and lower rents, they moved to the former Weisbrod & Hess brewery (which closed in the late 1930s) in Kensington in 2001, enjoying success as other local microbrewers like Red Bell and Dock Street folded.

“The Breweries of Kensington and Beyond” talk by Rich Wagner, Sat., April 26, 2 p.m., preceded by tour, 12:30 p.m., free, Yards Brewing Company, 2439 Amber St., 215-634-2600.