I toured Philadelphia Brewing Company this summer - it was a Saturday tour and not available all the time. I really enjoyed it.
PBC is open for tours and tastings 12-3 on most Saturdays. Exceptions are when they are holding or attending special events. Yards is open for tours 12-4 with the last tour starting at 3. Yard's tasting room is open every day (noon to 7 m-sat, noon-4 sun). However, since you can actually buy a pint of beer at the Yards tasting room, they're a bit unclear as to whether or not they give free tastings other than Sat 12-4 (I doubt they do).
---Shameless neighborhood promotion---
The whole Fishtown/Northern Liberties section of Philadelphia is a good area to chill out at night too. There's a bunch of very good bars and restaurants right near each other. It's kinda hipstery and the "in" neighborhood, but most tourists don't venture up here. My personal suggestions...
For beer:
The Standard Tap- Consistently ranked one of the best bars in the city. It's a good gastro pub that serves only local craft beer.
The Abbaye - Good beers on tap. Food is good as well.
700 Club- I begrudgingly suggest this because it's so ****ing hipster. Regardless, it's got some really good beers on taps and a large bottle selection.
The North 3rd- Similar to the Standard Tap. Gastro-pub with good food, but the beer selection goes beyond local beer.
The North Bowl - Yes, a bowling alley. It has a surprisingly good selection of beer, so it's worth it for the bar alone, though it gets crowded on weekends. If you can't get a lane or don't want to bowl, there's some pool tables and pinball machines as well.
For a nice dinner:
Modo Mio - Arguably the best modern Italian food in the city. It's a BYO, cash only, and with a prix fixe option that's a good deal. These people own Paesano's as well. You most likely need to make a reservation a few days in advance.
KooZeeDoo - New BYO Portuguese restaurant. The food there is excellent, will also probably have to make a reservation a day or two in advance.
Bar Ferdinand - Spanish Tappas & wine bar. Restaurant is large, usually don't need to wait for a table or anything.
For breakfast:
Most of the pubs in the area offer good brunches on the weekend. But one place in this neighborhood that you should have breakfast at is
Honey's. Be warned though, if you try to go there for brunch on a weekend, the wait for a table is very long.
A side note: If you want a nice dinner, Philadelphia is full of BYOs. You can get much better food for the price because money you would have spent on a bottle of wine that's been marked up 300% can be spent on quality food instead. In my experience, if you find yourself choosing between restaurants, opting for a BYO is, more often than not, the better bet.
