BEHIND THE BREWERY | Construction

The AMA sessions on Instagram have inspired a new blog series, Behind the Brewery. You all have so many great questions, and I can’t always go into as much detail as I would like. So this series will share stories that come directly from your questions.

The plan is also to document the construction experience. It might be excruciatingly dull for some to see weekly pics of dirt and concrete, but don’t worry. The series will cover plenty of other juicy topics. Things like pay-to-play challenges and how we determine if a beer will be released. Spoiler…the decision must be unanimous yes vote amongst the three founders.

Now to construction. We waited so long for permits that there was zero lag time between the paperwork reaching our hands and the subcontractors getting to work. Even our GC made a comment about no time being wasted. Dude, we have beer to brew!

The hustle from our subcontractors has been a pleasant surprise. After experiencing the agonizing bureaucratic process for so long, it is inspiring to see how hard our subs work. Working with them gives us so much hope for humanity. Can you tell how much we dislike local government right now?

Now don’t get me wrong.  It’s moving quickly, but not without a whole new set of challenges. Our plumbing crew was scheduled to show up yesterday, but the concrete crew wasn’t finished with demo. Did they have excuses? Nope. They pulled more guys in and worked into the night to get the job done. I woke up at almost one in the morning and checked my phone like any technology addicted American, and I saw the surveillance cameras of the crew still grinding.

When plumbing showed up the next day, it was pouring rain. POURING. Into the warehouse. Did that stop them? Nope. They dug a trench near the door to stop the rain from flooding the fresh holes. And then the power went out. Surely that would end the work, right? No, again. They had backup generators and gas-powered equipment.

No excuses. The crews did what was needed to get the job done. Their tenacity has roused some self-reflection. Are we doing everything we can to make the best beer possible? Do we troubleshoot enough? What can we do better?