Brewed fresh and local

If you are a cerevisaphile and decide to stay home, Philadelphia is the place to be. Here are two suggestions.

Yards Brewing Co. is Philadelphia's first microbrewery and the only local brewery that has made a specialty of British-style cask-conditioned ales. Situated on the Delaware just north of Spring Garden Street, it's also the most accessible for the car-free traveler. There's a lively and youthful brewpub in sight of the brewery floor, but the best reason to go (apart from the beer) is the informative, funny stand-up patter of the tour guides. Tours are available between noon and 4 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

Philadelphia Brewing Co. brews out of the most interesting brewery building in town. The former Weisbrod & Hess Oriental Brewing Co. at the corner of Amber and Hagert Streets in Kensington is an industrial ghost, one of those dead buildings you see in Philly's older, dying, industrial neighborhoods. But this ghost is alive with a brewery that's deeply committed to its neighborhood. Pay a visit to see Philadelphia's only local hops harvest. Tours are from noon to 3 p.m. on Saturdays.

- Lynn Hoffman