The brewery finally received its Certificate of Occupancy and Its Brewer's permit from the state of New Jersey! The final large hurdle has been cleared. Build out is finally complete and once we've kicked the tires and tested out the equipment a bit we can start brewing beer. We plan to have 8 beers on tap initially and once we've finished the 8th batch I will select an official date of opening!!!! The opening line up will be announced another time.
So What Happened? Why Haven't There Been Blog Posts for Almost a year?
In short everything. Construction delays, negotiations issues between parties, an unexpected retirement, a global pandemic, 1 short vacation, and mild hair loss. But what doesn't kill you makes you stranger.
As for the lack of blog posts..... it was bad news and uncertainty for almost a year. Everyday it was "it's going to take longer and cost more" and that was before Covid. Covid 19 will be its own blog post in itself. I really wanted to share what was happening with you all but everything was constantly changing so fast anything I posted would change or be misleading almost as soon as I wrote it. Also I was tired of being wrong about when the brewery would open and it was really becoming embarrassing constantly readjusting my estimate. I really loved people asking "when" as I am just as excited to get open (and so is my bank) but I really didn't have an answer.
So What Now?
Now we are selecting which of the many recipes to brew. The one benefit of this extra time has been Mike and I have had the chance to refine and tweak many of our recipes. I'm not prepared to revealing the opening line up at this time as we are reaching out to our suppliers to ensure the ingredients are available.
We are also beginning to turn on the equipment for the first time and figure out how it works. One of the drawbacks has been the manufacturer can not come to show us how to operate the machinery due to travel restrictions and the few instruction manuals we do have are in Chinese. It has been an uphill battle for almost 2 years now but we have finally arrived!
Meanwhile I'm focusing on the FF&E (Furniture Fixtures and Electronics). We need a new coat of paint for the back patio, table bottoms and chairs and we need kegs. Look out for facebook live postings regarding first brews. Of course I'll be announcing the official day soon so an eye out on social media. If you want to get a jump start on the competition become a site member. I have yet to utilize that contact list but they will most certainly be the first to know of the opening date and other perks.
"Every problem is an opportunity in disguise" ~ John Adams
Cheers,
Will Dodge