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Now that our Kickstarter has been funded, it’s time to spend lots of money.

On cool stuff, though!

Firstly Kickstarter. The stickers and coasters are done, and now we’re focusing on the glasses and growlers. They’ll take about a month to produce, so we’ll likely be waiting on them before everything is ready. If you missed it, last week’s update has the design that will be on the glasses and shirts. The growlers and hoodies will have the CBW shield.

It looks so imposing, doesn't it? In a good way.

After that, well, we need to make beer, right? Unless we’re going for sex-in-a-canoe beer we’re going to need hops for that. The thing about hops is that they’re a crop. I’d say they don’t grow on trees, but they do grow on bines (vines with a cold) so it’s close enough to not be a good analogy. They are a finite resource. If you care about the hop character of your beer, as all craft breweries do, you need the specific kinds that you need. Saaz are not Northern Brewer are not Cascade. As such, we’re ordering hops now so we can actually, well, brew beer.

So then we’ve made beer. Great. We probably need something to put it in, right? Like, say, kegs. Kegs would be good to have! We’ve ordered kegs. As we’re a nano, and thus smaller, brewery, we’ve ordered 1/6 barrel kegs instead of 1/2 barrel. And, since we’re into trying interesting things, we’ve ordered from Plastic Kegs America. Sixtels, as they’re known are pretty much the size of five gallon corny kegs used in homebrewing.

Finally, where are we going to keep they beer we’re making? Coolers! (here you scream real loud)

No glass ceilings here! ...okay, that was a terrible joke, even for me.

This weekend was another cooler-fest down at the brewery. We’re getting close to the end: the three small coolers now have ceilings! All that remains for them is to put the same material on the walls and seal the floors and we’re good to go. The large walk in cooler was a bit more problematic, mostly because of the 11 foot ceiling. Whereas it only took two people to do the smaller room (or three if we wanted to make it easier on ourselves, or one if you’re Dave and crazy), the single panel on the ceiling of the walk in took four people, and five would have been even better. I believe I made a “how many brewers does it take…” joke but then I wasn’t holding the brunt of it.

We also have a shiny new solar powered hot water tank, which is currently neither solar powered nor filled with water. It will be!

And finally, there’s a short concrete pedestal that our brewing station has been moved to. It seems… regal.

And Ethan looks like Aslan.

Let him first be shaved.

Building coolers yourself is hard work.

It will be worth it in the end, especially because I’ll be able to say “Hey, see that? I helped make that.” As someone who does not self-identify as “handy,” this is a nifty proposition. (It is worth noting, however, that I received a wet-dry vacuum from my wife for Christmas. So I’m like halfway there, right?)

Sorry it's blurry. I guess I was either cold or shaking with excitement at the thought of getting my hands on the upcoming Tyvek sheet.

Tuesday we met to install a layer of Tyvek on the walls of the cooler rooms. Tyvek, I learned, is a paper/plastic-like material that comes in rolls. It acts as an air and water barrier, so we were putting it on top of the insulation to further isolate the chambers.

You might say that Ethan's a staple of our brewery.

Ethan remarked that it was like wrapping a present. Which it was: an exceptionally big present, which for some reason needs to only be wrapped on the inside, and with staples instead of tape because we wrap like assholes.

From here we took the sheets into the chambers and stapled them to the beams. Working with the Tyvek in this way involved a lot of moving it around slightly, and as such I can report back that Tyvek is apparently made out of the same material as Sun Chips bags. I’m pretty sure The Who could have shown up and started playing a set in the brewery and I wouldn’t have noticed with the loudness of the crinkling as I stoically held up some Tyvek for Greg to affix to the ceiling.

There’s still work to be done, cooler-wise. For one, we figure there should probably be doors on them. That seems like a good idea. We also have to put up the final layer of wall material and install the Coolbots to actually cool the rooms.

We’ll have some time, as the construction we aren’t involved with should be wrapping up this month, and there’s still the SLA to contend with. On that front, we’ve confirmed that they received our additions, so we’re progressing nicely!

When our construction started, Greg sent everyone at CBW an email. He warned us that it would be a slow start, but that it would pick up and the big changes would come. He’s an architect, so I figured he knew what he was talking about. Sure enough, the first week saw little visible progress (although things were indeed being done). Then there were holes in the ground. Then there was a drain where a hole had been.

We’re in the thick of it now.

I walked in tonight to find the skeleton of a mill room. Our mill room! Other walls and wall-like areas were there too. The frame for what will become one side of our customer service area, where folks like you will be able to come in and get growlers filled. It’s really coming together. You can be told that this will be a brewery, and you can believe it, but it’s an entirely different feeling when there’s a bulldozer in the space and holes in the ground and walls being built. It’s real. And it’s great.

Or is it... a CAGE?

We’re not leaving all the work to the professionals, though. We put out the call and you answered, and this past Saturday the space that will become the entrance to the aforementioned customer service area had sledgehammers taken to it. It was a ton of work. Or so I assume: I wasn’t there at all, having familial obligations, and so while I was literally eating scones the rest of the crew were hauling large chunks of concrete around. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Paul, Tim and Nate. You guys are awesome. e-hugs all around!

That was last Saturday. This Saturday? Horsefeathers! We’ll be at the grand opening of the community market from 5-10 pm. We’ll have t shirts for sale (show everyone your commitment to embeering Buffalo!) and will be doing a brewing demo the likes of which you ne’er have seen! That may be overselling it a little. But come say hi.

Finally, I know it’s been a while, but do remember that we have a mailing list! I’m past due on sending another digest out, I know: next week, most likely, full to the brim of construction and Horsefeathers photos. Before I do, don’t you want to sign up?

I’ll be honest with you: if you sign up now, and not at Horsefeathers, I won’t have to type your name and email in myself. So I’d really like you to sign up now. That would be grand. Please.

This Monday, the largest ever gathering of the CBW family convened at Santasiero’s. Five owners, three wives, four sons and one daughter managed to take up the entire back room, and we supped on spaghetti, eggplant parmesan, pasta fagioli and other Italian delights.

It looks so... empty.

To what purpose? Monday, September 19, 2011 the construction on our brewery started.

It doesn’t look much different yet. CBW’s resident architect, Greg, made sure we realized that Rome wasn’t built in a day. Seriously, he used that phrase. But the process has started. Soon it will be in full swing, and the empty space guarded by a motion activated frog that I’ve known for the past year will become nigh-unrecognizable.

While we’re looking to the future, it’s also time to wrap up a loose thread from the past. CBW’s Words With Friends Invitational is finally done! Congratulations to Josh (JoshTheBrute) for unseating the then-undefeated Elizabeth (econley) and becoming the champion! (for reference, pronounce that “champ-een”).

(direct link)

It started January 13. Yeah, so eight months is a bit long. But it was fun, right? I hope so. If we do this again — more on that in a minute — it will be faster, I assure you. Although, to be fair, this was not some high octane sporting event: it was online Scrabble. I don’t think it necessarily needed to be thrilling. But that’s just me: participants, what did you think? Did you enjoy yourself?

More importantly, would you be interested in doing it again?

Words With Friends is now available on iOS and Android, which it wasn’t when we started. Were we to do another WWF tournament, the too-cool-for-Apple crowd could participate as well. On the other hand, we’ve done one of those already. There’s also that I’ve been sick of “n With Friends” recently. That’s also true.

Of course, I’d prefer we play iOS Carcassonne or (dare I dream) Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer. Those are both pricey and iOS only, however. Maybe Disc Drivin’? Tournament participants Alex and Eric have had games of that going with me for a while now, and it’s fun and free. Still iOS only, but, y’know… Just buy an iPhone /troll

No matter what, if we do this again — and that is contingent mostly on you all saying you’re interested, right now — there will be time limits on games. Nothing strict; I mean, this is for fun after all. But I promise to do a better job of keeping it moving.

Next week: more excitement!

Happy new year, everyone.