Brewing+in+Philadelphia--Microbreweries

__**Philadelphia Micro Brewing**__
= = In the 1980’s the United States adapted a type of beer brewing that the Europeans had been practicing since the early 1970’s. This new brewing was termed micro brewing which is defined as producing no more than 15,000 barrels of beer a year and at least 75% of their stock. This type of brewing phenomena began to spread in the 1980’s because the beer was not a “conventional” taste that Americans had grown accustomed such as Anheuser Busch and Miller. Prohibition destroyed many American breweries because they could not afford to stay in business like the big companies. With the emergence of these microbreweries other establishments such as brew pubs, which incorporated a restaurant/bar, were introduced as well. In Philadelphia many of these microbreweries began to spring up as well as brew pubs more common ones are dock street pub and triumph brewing company. Philadelphia has always had a strong culture of brewing beer, however the prohibition began a decline in the industry and it wasn't until the late 20th century when micro brewing arrived in the U.S. that brewing beer in Philadelphia began once mor __** Origins of Micro Brewing **__ In colonial Philadelphia it was a necessity for each family to brew their own beer. Unbeknownst to the germ theory it was generally known that drinking water would make people ill and by drinking beer, which was boiled, was safer than water. Pennsbury manor, home of William Penn, was known for brewing more than 54 barrels of beer a year. Pennsylvania is considered an excellent agricultural area to grow the main ingredients, hops and barley, for producing beer. William Penn’s notes even included designs for a larger scale brewery in order to brew his “craft” beers. Each household in the colonial time had to brew their own beer to survive and each family had their own receipts. Even though it was a necessity for survival in that time period the families were practicing what is termed today as craft brewing and falls under the definition of modern day micro brewing.

In the early 1860’s the emergence of several small breweries and distilleries started forming in an area in north Philadelphia. The locale of both the Delaware and Schuylkill River and farm lands in the region allowed for breweries in Philadelphia to flourish. With the demand for beer increasing during this time brewery town expanded and continued to grow. Initially, the majority of Philadelphia’s brewing operation existed near areas where beer caves were formed and could be placed anywhere with the invention of electrical refrigeration. Brewery town was occupied by mainly German style breweries to combat with the English style breweries that were already in existence. The area surrounding these breweries began to flourish as well because of the significant amount of money these breweries were bringing in. The West end electrical company was created and expanded in brewery town for the sole purpose of providing enough electricity to power the breweries. Other secondary businesses were formed for the purpose of servicing these breweries, such as wagon works companies and wholesale brewing supplies companies. The entire area was designed by a German architect by the name of Otto Wolf to capture the essence of Germany in this town. In Brewery town’s heyday the majority of Philadelphia’ seven hundred breweries occupied brewery town. Prohibition was the first strain that began the degradation of brewery town. At this point the breweries had developed into national companies and were shipping the beer to areas outside of Philadelphia. After prohibition many of the town’s breweries went under and the majority failed with the beginning of brewing in the Midwest. The last brewery, Schmitz, went under in 1987 this was the first time Philadelphia was without a brewery in three hundred years. For the first twenty five year of brewery town’s existence, its biggest expanding period, the maximum average of barrels of beer produced by each brewery was only twelve thousand eight hundred and one barrels of beer. The breweries today would be classified as micro breweries and the biggest impact it had on brewery town was during the first thirty years of their existence. __** Re-Emergence of Craft Brewing **__ In the 1970’s almost all the beer in America had become a form of lager and all the traditional styles brought over by immigrants had all of disappeared. There were only about forty four beer manufacturers in America. Large scale marketing campaigns had changed America’s preference of beer to the light lager. The only way to obtain a traditional European flavored beer was to brew the beer at home. This type of home brewing led to the creation of the craft brewing industry in the United States. The renaissance of craft brewing took place in 1976 with the founding of the New Ablion Brewery in Sonoma California. The brewery itself only lasted six years but it inspired many people to begin searching for different types of brews and hundreds of home brewers began following the footstep of the New Ablion Brewery. The 1980’s s the decade that micro brewing began to catch on. These pioneers were not perceived as a threat by the main brewing companies because of the fact that the volume produced by each of these breweries was so small scale, in comparison, that no one company could put a dent in their profit margins. These microbreweries were only capable of serving the surrounding communities in which they existed. In the mid to early 1990’s micro brewing volume grew at an alarming rate of 35% in 91 to a maximum of 51% in 95. In the year 2000 there were a recorded number of 1,392 breweries in America and three of these breweries (Anheuser-Busch, Miller, and Coors) controlled 96% of the market and all the micro breweries in the nation controlled 4% of the market. __** Modern-Micro Brewing in Philadelphia **__ One of the first micro breweries in Philadelphia is known as the Dock Street Brewery. It emerged during the 1980’s along with the micro brewing revolution. It was founded in 1985 by Rosemarie Certo and Jeffery Ware. At the height of its success it sold seven million dollars of Dock Street bottled beer in 23 different states. It was sold in 1998 and reacquired in 2001 by one of the original owners Rosemarie Certo. It contributes to the local economy by supporting the local arts and maintaining a high quality brewpub in west Philadelphia.

Yard’s Brewery began in a garage in Manyunk Philadelphia in 1995. The brewers, Tom Kehoe and Jon Bovit, entered a craft beer festival in Philadelphia and gained many praise by the beer community. The operation was expanded and moved to the Roxborough area of Philadelphia in 1996. Once again the Yards Company needed to expand and moved to the old Weisbrod & Hess Brewery in the Kensington area of Philadelphia in 2001. At this point in time there were no businesses moving into the Kennsington area because of its reputation. The Yard’s company found this building fit for their needs because it was a part of Philadelphia brewing history and it had all of the necessities for brewing beer since it was an old brewery. With the addition of this new brewery in Kennsigton the local economy felt an impact not only were jobs created but new businesses opened to support the company as well as newer bars in the area. Yard’s also released a series of beers, after partnering with City Tavern, to honor the founding fathers. These beers included receipts that were created by Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and Benjamin Frankiln. This was done to honor the City Taverns History of being a favorite bar of the founding fathers.

The micro brewing revolution in the 1980’s lead to the creation of many modern day brew pubs which brew beer on site just for their customer’s and do not bottle or sell their beer on the market. Philadelphia is rich with many brewpubs that serve up their own style of craft brews and contribute to the preservation of Philadelphia’s great history of brewing. The Manyunk brew pub is a prime example of a Philadelphia brew pub. It opened its doors in 1996 and exists where Krook’s mill was. Another well known brew pub was such a success it opened its own micro brewery. Triumph brewery opened in 1995 after settling disputes and changing it’s name from Victory brewery to Triumph brewery.

Micro brewing in Philadelphia helped to change the face of Philadelphia as well as stimulate the ideas for new businesses. The creation and expansion of Brewery town was a direct cause of the brewing revolution. Even though the term micro brewing had not yet been coined the early breweries that help create Philadelphia’s brewing history were originally and for a large period of time micro breweries. Within Philadelphia this boom of modern micro brewing helped to stimulate local economies by providing jobs to the surrounding areas as well as creating the opportunity for support businesses to move in. This concept of craft brews helped to create a new business that had never been thought of in the America’s which is known as the brew pub.

__** References Primary **__ Kahoe, Tom, “Brewed and Bottled in the City of Brotherly Love” Yard’s Brewery.” 10th Marrch,2009< []> __** Secondary **__ Yenne Bill, __American Brewing: From Colonial Evolution To Microbrew Revolution__. (Minneapolis: MBI Publishing Company, 2003)

Smith Greg, Beer: __a History of Suds and Civilization From Mesopotamia to Microbreweries__. (New York: Avon Publishing, 1995) Brewers Association. 10th March, 2009. < []> Brewery Town Philadelphia, The Combach Group.10th March, 2009 [] Dock Street Beer. 10th March, 2009. < http://www.dockstreetbeer.com/history.htm>