Summer fun!

Bienvenue Hopfools,

It’s been a busy and fun three weeks since we last posted. The big news is that we’re just a hair’s breadth from finalizing all of our financials and ultimately the purchase of our new brewhouse, fermenters, bright tanks, pilot system, walk-in, etc.

The basic elements of our taproom and brewery are starting to come to life on paper and we’re beginning to vet contractors in anticipation of starting construction.

Along the way I also managed to visit Ontario and spend some time with our friends Peter and Andrea Chiodo of the award winning Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery in Barrie, just outside of Toronto.

It was a great first visit to Barrie and I really enjoyed hanging out in the brewhouse with his brewer, Paul Buttery and the rest of the “monkeys”. This also gave me an invaluable opportunity to bounce around ideas about brewery layout, process workflow, standard operating procedures and equipment selection.

It wasn’t all just work and technical talk mind you. I also managed to take in a Blue Jays game (sorry Boston but your kung fu was just not strong enough) and the Toronto’s Festival of Beers as a VIP guest of The Flying Monkeys. The three-day festival was located close to Lake Ontario and this year over 60 breweries were represented. There was also a number of musical guests and I was lucky enough to be a backstage guest of the Flying Monkeys for k-os, a Canadian born rapper/singer.

There were some really great beer offerings and lots of intriguing taste profiles (I actually took notes). It’s really fantastic to see and experience such a vibrant local craft beer community and for me underscored the enormous potential for craft beer in NOLA, Louisiana and the South.

I also ran into Ginger Johnson of Women Enjoying Beer, at the festival. It was good to finally meet her in person and I was able to collect on the beer she “owed” me for helping with some questions she had last year regarding the health benefits of beer.

Overall it was a great week of beer geek fellowship, beer tasting and incredible hospitality, many thanks to Peter, Andrea and the rest of the flying monkeys!

Lastly, Karen and I recently went to dinner at MoPho only to run into the crew from Yalobusha Brewing Company. It was really great talking with Andy O’Bryan, Tony Balzola and Amos Harvey, comparing notes, talking beer and finding out that the light at the end of the tunnel isn't a train.  Yalobusha's offerings that evening included their Miss-iss-IPA and River Ale. The latter is billed as a pale pilsner owing to the predominant role of pilsner malt in the grain bill and it really worked great with my pho.

Well that’s all for now. Expect more news soon as we move along with making equipment purchases, renovating our space (located at 433 N. Bernodotte) and refining recipes.

Till next time thank you for all of your support, inquiries and patience as we continue our progress.  And of course, please continue to drink craft, drink local and drink responsibly.

Cheers,

Mark