Photo Credit: YardsBrewing.com

BP: Does contract brewing have a bit of a stigma?

SM: There still is a stigma that lingers behind it; whether it’s intentional or unintentional from a consumer aspect, I think what happens with most consumers is they associate craft beers with the people that are behind it. They love the fact that they can go and see the brewers giving tours, see the beer being made, and buy a case or a six pack. There’s a certain kind of romanticism to that. It’s like “Hey, I know those guys.” I think that’s why you’re seeing more of a regional push for locally-crafted products. In a way I associate it to the effect that brewpubs have on a local community. They do a great job of transforming the craft beer culture in a particular area. Now they know the brewer, and they know the owner, and they take it as their own. They take a lot of pride in doing that. That’s why I think some people look at contract brewing as just another product on a shelf, and it can be a challenge to convince them otherwise. Some of the best beer you can have is contract beer, but the consumer marketing shift can be difficult for people to get past.

BP: How close do you guys keep in touch with the internet community?

SM: From an internet standpoint, it’s usually me who does all that, and out in public, Tom’s always embraced that. We all have. We always want people to come up to us and talk to us. In terms of the community, we have a good relationship with them. With Ratebeer and Beer Advocate and stuff like that, in terms of reviews and ratings, you have to take everything with a grain of salt. It’s just like Yelp… I don’t look at Yelp and determine whether or not I’m going to go to a restaurant, but there is something to be said if you look on Beer Advocate and they’re reviewing a bar and everyone gives it negative reviews, and then I go there and have a less than desirable experience. I know a lot of restaurant owners are frustrated and annoyed with sites like Yelp. Obviously we have a good relationship with restaurateurs and bar owners due to the nature of our business, so it’s interesting to see those guys voice their frustrations with online review sites because we’ve kind of already gone through that. It’s like “you’re the one complaining about reviews on Yelp, but you’re also picking your beers based on what you read on Beer Advocate.”.

It’s great that people can instantly share their thoughts and opinions on beers, but you can’t use that as the end-all, be-all on whether or not you want to try a new beer. Form your own opinion, that’s the whole point. Just because one guy in Ohio had a bottle of some brewery’s brown ale, and he didn’t like it because the brewery was from Denmark and he traded some other guy for the beer, and it’s 8 months out from when it was bottled, that doesn’t mean it’s not a good beer. You have to take everything with context. The guy who trades for a bottle of Prima Pils or Philly Pale, and he lives in Alaska, and he’s judging the beer…I mean, come on. The beer wasn’t designed to drink in Alaska, months later.

I think a lot of breweries struggle with the relationships they have with people in the online community because they feel the unnecessary need to defend themselves. And then what happens is, you invite more criticism from doing that. It’s odd, because in an online world where there’s anonymity, it changes the way people react and respond.

BP: Do you have any classic Yards or Philadelphia beer scene stories?

TK: Let’s see…well, we do our events out here, and we have to get a “block party permit”, which is such a Philly thing to get your block party permit, and nobody else lives on the block but you. So you have to go through this whole corporate process of getting a permit so that I can sign it as a resident.

SM: Actually, one of the greatest things that happened to us was last December, 2010, we were getting two new 200 barrel tanks. And this is a total Philly thing…so we’re getting these two tanks, and we’re all excited, and sure enough, the trucking company didn’t get the proper permits. The guy’s running late, it was snowing out, and he gets pulled over by the cops, doesn’t have the right permits, so the Parking Authority impounded his load. So it’s the week between Christmas and New Year’s, and we’re running around trying to find it. Our fermenter’s stuck on the side of the road in North Philly, we’re driving to Parking Authority lots trying to find our tanks.
That was a classic Philly thing, proving that once again, nothing is more powerful than the Philadelphia Parking Authority.

TK: It should’ve been on Parking Wars. We got a new trucking company after that.

BP: In one sentence, what is Yards?

SM: Yards is Philadelphia’s brewery. But it’s an odd one sentence. We’re Philadelphia’s brewery but it means so much more in that sense. We try to be committed leaders in the local comm, from our philanthropy and environmental stewardship, and that’s what shapes us. Our core values are that we want to make the best beer we possibly can. Philadelphia is cosmopolitan, a variety of different things. a very different city than it was 10 years ago, and it’s changing for the best.

TK: Yards is a bunch of guys and girls from Philadelphia who love beer, make beer. We make all the beer for us, and we sell what we can’t finish. We have that whole Philly attitude. We defend the word “yo”, it’s our word. And we defend Philly Pale Ale as our pale. The mantra on that beer is that it’s what Philly drinks. We take care of our own, and this is our beer. Every neighborhood has a neighborhood bar, and every neighborhood bar has Philly Pale Ale in it.

Chris Ferullo loves craft beer. An IT business analyst by day, he moonlights as a hophead and proponent of the Philly beer scene. Ferullo practiced journalism in college and is the first writer to join the BeerPulse team.

Follow @chrisferullo