Final Stretch

Patience is a virtue.

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The last piece of the sidewalk was poured on Saturday.  Dylan, myself, Mike and Kevin (volunteer) worked on the floors and the brewery side is awaiting an inspection from the boiler inspector who I secretly wish looks like inspector gadget.  If all goes well, and that is a big if, we should have our occupancy permit for the warehouse side by the end of the week.  Which means we can finally after almost a year of work begin brewing beer.  Insert audio of angels singing here.  

Stop audio of angels singing here.  Cue audio of Home by Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros.  

The last stretch has been hard on us especially me.  We have had the carpet pulled out from under us one to many times and it seems every time I go to sit down someone pulls the chair from me and then asks for ten thousand dollars.  Turns out opening a brewery is expensive.  Some say the pressure of opening a brewery would kill some people but for me it just took 30 years off my life. But a few things I knew came true and it reminded me of something a wise friend of mine used to say. A man rich with friends is poor in nothing.  Cue I get by with a little help from my friends.  

And that has kept me going.  It has without a doubt energized me to get this place open. They say it’s the last few miles of a marathon that are the hardest.  I wouldn’t know because I think it is absolutely ridiculous to put the human body through such a challenge (though I did walk 42 miles in a day once).  It is still too early to get really sappy with the thank you’s as we aren’t open yet.  But the great part of this is it really looks like we are going to get open and that will be a feat in itself as there were a few weeks  in there that getting open became a question rather than a date that kept getting pushed back.  

So where are we now.  The boiler is awaiting inspection.  The plumbing is done, the electric is done, the concrete has all been poured, Jim (our carpenter) since last October is on his last week, the brewhouse is wired.  And Carl a first class volunteer found himself a job that actually pays real money rater than the Barley 401K I was paying him.  We have one major project left.  Primarily we have to build a fence and that begins tomorrow at 7:30 a.m.  And after that all that is left is staining and finishing the woodwork and we have to purchase chairs (not sure how we are going to do this yet...there is a chance you will have to bring your own.)  

If something finally aligns for us we should be brewing in about 2 weeks and that means simply we will be open in about 6 weeks from now.  Please keep your fingers crossed and your toes and whatever else you can cross but not your eyes..at least not for too long.

We are getting there and best of all we have done things right.  So many times we have changed things, fixed them when they weren’t right and held our laborers up to a very high standard.  I tell people we have built a pub the way they used to be built.  I can’t thank Jim, our carpenter enough, you will soon thank him as well.   Jim wants t-shirts made that say ,”Come for the beer, stay or the carpentry.”  And we might just use this idea.  But no way are we using some of his other ideas.  

Our employee of the month Dylan is a champ and most certainly a saint.  But probably more like a saint from another planet.   Mike has also been very busy brewing some very tasty beers as Dylan’s hands have been busy with carpentry. 

I wouldn’t spend anytime getting worried if we can be successful at this.  We just simply have to find a way to get open.  And most importantly, I am not worried anymore.  Our city is ready for us.  Our neighbors are anxiously awaiting.  Our friends livers are being fine tuned.  And most importantly, I really can’t wait to show it to you.  There is a good chance I don’t even know who you are because I lately realized there is no way my parents have been to this web-site 6000 times. 

I can see the finish line and when you get a chance to come in and have a pint or pick up a growler to go you will quickly see it was all completely worth it and if I had the chance to do it all over, I would ask you to punch me in the face and then kick me in the groin and then Superfly Snuka me and then when I looked like I had enough and you were sure I was going to quit and go quietly into the night,  I would go beer ninja on you raise my pint glass high in the air, do a couple back flips and smile knowing that was nothing.  I can take a beating.  

Opening this brewery did the one most important thing for me.  It showed me how many talented people exist on this planet, it showed me how many people are pulling for me (many I don’t even know) and it most importantly cut out the middle-man.  I am soon to be a very large step closer to the source.  Cue angel song again and throw in overhead spot lights for good measure.

And pardon my French, you are going to fn love it. I was never good at French anyway.  i am not totally sure about that.  Well, I am sure about the French part, I am not totally sure you are going to love it.  Not everyone will get what we are trying to do.  Luckily, their will always have Applebee’s.