Yards and Dock Street are still with us, although each has been transformed as other beer makers and brewpubs have hopped onto the scene.
And they, along with many of the later arrivals in the city and region (see accompanying list), will be part of the talking and tasting that is being called Philly Beer Week.
In Yards' case, a divorce between business partners resulted in a cellular split that has created two separate breweries - no bad thing to beer lovers.
The Yards name remains with founder Tom Kehoe, while its former brewery in Kensington is making beer under the Philadelphia Brewing Co. label with Kehoe's former partners Bill and Nancy Barton at the helm.
Kehoe has moved into an industrial building at Delaware Avenue and Poplar Street in Northern Liberties and has been installing vats, pipes and drains, aiming to start making beer in April.
In the meantime, he has been brewing Yards' signature Philadelphia Pale Ale and India Pale Ale (IPA) at Lion Brewery in Wilkes-Barre, and relying on inventory for other types.
He said that when the new brewery is in full operation, he plans to make 10 types of bottled beer, from ales to stout, and two seasonal keg-only brews for different times of the year.
"We're going to bring back some of the old favorites we weren't able to do because we didn't have the capacity before," Kehoe said.
Those include Old Ale; Trubbel de Yards, a Belgian-style dubbel ale; and Brawler, an Irish-style dark ale.
Kehoe plans to make 12,000 barrels, or 372,000 gallons, of beer in the first year and increase production after that.
Over in Kensington, at the former Yards Brewery - now renamed the Philadelphia Brewing Co. - at Amber and Hagert Streets, the smell of boiled grain and hops is again in the air after a lull.
The Bartons' brewers, including one who once worked for Dock Street, have started making four types of beers that will be PBC's signature brews.
