"}We sold the name 'Yards",' not the heart and soul of the operation," Bill Barton was quoted as saying in the release.. "We'll continue to do what we did with Yards, with new brand names. We remain devoted to serving our food and beverage industry customers and beer lovers everywhere."

Nancy Barton was quoted as saying that "we remain committed to quality beer, our employees, and to making Philadelphia a great city through community involvement."

The Barton release confirmed the basic arrangement which had been earlier released by Tom Kehoe, founder and president of the Yard brand, saying "Yards Brewing Co. will rent the Kensington brewery from the Bartons and McBride until it relocates. Once Philadelphia Brewing Co. is licensed, full brewing, bottling, and distribution operations will commence under the new name."

Over the weekend, Kehoe posted a message on BeerAdvocate.com which read, in part

The official separation happened on August 2nd and all "three" parties got what they wanted. The details are details. The big picture is Yards will be leaving It's lease early and moving to a new location (which I can't disclose now). And a new brewery will be formed at the former location. Philadelphia gets TWO breweries and we need more. Philly needs to take back the reputation it once had as the brewing center of the country.

Yards will be making it's fourth move in the city since it was a small 3 barrel brewery in Manayunk. We increased the size of the brewhouse to 30 barrels when we moved to Roxborough and kept it the same when we moved to Kensington but expanded the amount of fermentation to increase capacity. Each one of these brewhouses was designed by me to brew Yards. Now I am working on a new larger Brewhouse -- one that will be designed by brewery engineers to my specifications to produce Yards Beers. Yards brews (and the Yards drinking public) will benefit from the move by having Yards produce a better product and an increase in availability.

The Barton news release goes on to say that

When the Bartons joined Tom Kehoe as partners in Yards in 1999, the company was struggling financially. The Bartons stabilized the business, quadrupled production, and anchored the community revival in Kensington with their restoration of the Weisbrod and Hess brewery complex.

"When we joined Yards, the company lacked direction and infrastructure," said Bill Barton. "We're extremely proud of the company's nine-year record of progress and growth. We could not have done it without our brewers, bottlers, drivers, and administrators. Over the years this team, along with valued friends of our operation, made engaging beer lovers in new ways and serving our bar and restaurant clientele a great pleasure for us."

If all goes as planned and promised, it appears that Philadelphia, which has seen Yards as its only full-production brewery in the modern era, may have two breweries up and running in the relatively near future.--JACK CURTIN