1. Oak-Aged Abominable Ale: A blend of our winter ale, aged in heavy-toasted French oak barrels and medium-toasted American oak barrels.
2. Universale: the intergalactically, world-famously tasty ale that begat the Empire of Fremont Brewing Co.
3. Interurban IPA: Perfectly balanced -- hoppy but not too hoppy.
4. Abominable Ale: roasty, chocolatey, malt flavors balanced by subtle hoppy spice. Warm up to it. Don't be scared to be Abominable.
We’ve doubled our capacity! Yesterday, Jim Uer of Interior Stainless delivered two brand-new 30-barrel unitanks that he made in his shop in Summerland, BC. We bought our first two used from Georgetown Brewery, also supplied by Interior Stainless. So now we have four identical, gorgeous, stainless steel tanks, all lined up and ready for action. Jim, his wife, and two daughters drove them down on a long flat-bed trailer attached to their family pick-up. These things weigh 2,000 lbs each and took some fancy fork-lifting to get into place. Jim’s a calm, tall craftsman whose primary clientele is small breweries -- which seems to be a lucrative and fun market niche (compared to, say, dairies or bio-deisel or any other industry needing stainless steel tanks).
Why is this major purchase such a big deal? First, some Brewing 101: beer starts by boiling grain, hops, and magic in water to make wort. Once the wort is ready, it’s pumped from the brew house into a unitank where it ferments for a week or so. After the fermentation stage, the beer is transferred to another unitank for finishing: the suspended yeast falls to the bottom, carbon dioxide is added and the beer’s ready to be put into kegs. They’re called “unitanks” because they do everything: ferment, cool, refine, carbonate.
We have a 15-barrel brew house and until now, we could only accommodate two batches of beer at any one time – one batch in the fermenter, one finishing in the other tank. Even if we brewed double batches, we’d still only have two brews (or 60 barrels max) in the pipeline at any one time. With two additional tanks, we can do more experimenting with recipes, produce more one-off specialty beers, and make more mistakes without worrying about having enough beer for our wholesale accounts and retail sales. So this is a major milestone in our evolution. Now we need to get our hands on about 300 more kegs and we can sit tight while the cash comes rolling in – until we shell out the big, big bucks for a canning line.
Reminder: we’re offering the Interurban IPA at cheap, holiday prices through December 31st: $3.00 pints at the Urban Beer Garden, $13.00 growlers (glass and fill), $6.00 growler refills, and two free FBC pint glasses if you buy a keg. Please check our holiday schedule to ensure someone’s here to take your money and check out our swanky new merchandise while you’re at it.
Holiday shopping got you stressed? We can help. We’ve got a whole new shipment of merchandise including hoodies, women’s, men’s and kid-sized long & short-sleeve T-shirts in a dizzying (but not overwhelming) array of colors and styles. Many items feature an image of one of our fermenters on the front, launching our “artsy” line of brewery apparel. We also have baseball caps embroidered with our logo. And then of course, there’s always BEER which makes an ideal gift and sure takes the shopping edge off! Scroll down for pricing or go to the “Schwag” section of our website for photos of selected items modeled by real beer drinkers (and taken by iPhone – classy!).
And speaking of beer, sidle on down to the Urban Beer Garden for SPECIAL HOLIDAY PRICES on our new Interurban IPA! Pints: $3.00, new growlers: $13, growler refills: $6. Or buy a keg of IPA for that Boxing Day party and get two free commemorative pint glasses! And, just a reminder, the UBG is open Thursday, Friday, and now Saturday evenings from 4:00 to 8:30-ish. We’re open for retail Monday through Friday during regular working hours and now Saturdays from noon until last call. The IPA special will last through this month but if I were you, I’d take advantage of our very limited quantity of bourbon barrel-aged Abominable Winter Ale – truly extraordinary (if you’re a whisky fan).
PRICING:
Hoodies: $35
Unisex and Women’s long-sleeve T-shirts: $20
Kid-sized long-sleeve T-shirts: $15
Unisex and Women’s short-sleeve T-shirts: $15
Baseball caps: $20
Growlers (excluding IPA which is cheaper): glass + fill $15, refills $8
In case you’re wondering what to give those folks in your life who “have it all” (I don’t know anybody like that but I hear they exist), I wanted to let you know that we’ve got a huge new shipment of clothes for sale. Long and short-sleeve, men’s and cute-cut women’s, kids’ long sleeve shirts, hoodies, and soon baseball caps when Destee-Nation Shirt Co., our producer, gets them to us today or tomorrow. In addition to our logo, we have a new graphic of one of our big fermenters on the front of some of our items for the artsy-inclined on your holiday list.
Last night we threw a party (see photo) for our investors to thank them for making possible what was only last year a mere twinkle in Matt’s eye. We’re completely equity-financed (until some bank does what TARP intended and start LENDING MONEY with all that cash taxpayers fronted them) and a long time ago I said that I would extend a special thanks to them.
THANK YOU SO MUCH (in no meaningful order), Kemp, Matt, Eric, Shawn, Rob, Jerry, Michael, David, Colter, Ryan, Walt, and your spouses/SO’s for your generosity!!! You saw our vision and had faith in our ability to realize it. I believe the folks who drink our beer around town and enjoy the scene at the Urban Beer Garden appreciate your support as well. Cheers to you!
This morning I sampled some of our bourbon barrel-aged Abominable Ale Winter Warmer. Wow. Dark beer heavily infused with whisky -- yum. That's a picture of Matt Lincoln tapping a barrel for samples. Also, in case you haven't heard, we're serving (and selling) our Interurban IPA, FINALLY! As you know, I'm not a hop person but even I like this stuff. It's hoppy enough to be an IPA but you don't need a chainsaw to get through a glass. Check it out at the Urban Beer Garden this week (and buy a shirt while you're at it).
An Urban Beer Garden regular recently admonished me for not blogging since Oct. 29 – my, how time flies!* But during my silence, a lot of interesting stuff has been going on around here. First, I’m working with Ross Freeman who is the Sustainability Director for Stevens Pass to finally calculate our carbon footprint using the Seattle Climate Partnership calculator. Our hope is to calculate our footprint per pint of beer produced and then, over the next few months, make serious efforts to reduce that footprint so that we can eventually get to a zero carbon footprint -- a lofty goal but there’s nothing like a challenge to motivate!
Part of reducing our footprint will entail funneling our CO2 into greenhouses that we’re in the exploratory phase of building on our roof. We’ll grow hops horizontally and probably lots of edible greens. I’ve long been distressed that the fermentation process of beer produces a bunch of CO2 that drifts into the atmosphere and changes the climate – bad, bad, bad. Adding insult to injury, we actually buy a big tank of CO2 and inject it into the beer at the last stage – expensive! The ideal solution would be to purchase a CO2 recapture system that stores our yeast-produced CO2 in a pressurized tank and converts it into a form we need in the finishing process. Big, commercial breweries do this because it’s cost-effective and they can afford the big bucks these systems cost (plus, they get carbon credits). But a system to fit our scale of operation would cost about $700,000 which is way, way, way out of our range. (If there are any rogue engineers who’d like to design us a system for less, get in touch!)
So the next best thing would be carbon sequestration -- in this case, putting that CO2 to good use by growing plants. Remember kids: plants breathe in CO2 and produce oxygen and food.
Another exciting thing is that yesterday the owners of Carpenter Ranches in Yakima paid us a visit to discuss the possibility of establishing a long-term relationship to purchase their organic hops (in this photo from left to right: FBC owner Matt Lincecum, Carpenter Ranches owner Craig Carpenter, his son, Colt, his brother, Brad, Ron Britt, Entomologist -- pest control czar, and our Head Brewer, Matt Lincoln). The Carpenter family is the oldest hop-growing family in Washington. Seven generations have been growing hops on their land since 1868. They supply several big beer producers with conventionally-grown Cascade, Columbus, Simca and other hop varieties but they’ve been devoting increasing acerage to grow hops organically. They already have several certified organic acres of land and several more in transition. But growing anything organically is more risky and costly – requiring high-maintenance integrated pest management methods (primarily developing fungus-resistant strains and using aphid and mite predators), higher labor costs, higher-tech watering systems etc. So the Carpenter family approached us to see if we’d like to become regular customers.
You might think there’d be enough organically-oriented breweries to provide a fairly steady revenue stream but, as I learned, a beer only has to have 95% organic ingredients to be certified organic and hops only contisitute about 3% of the total ingredient load. Therefore, if the grain’s organic, they don’t have to fuss with organic hops. Given the volatility of the hop market as a whole and organic hops in particular, many beer producers are reluctant to build recipes around an ingredient they can’t be sure they can get every year. And without a stable customer base, hop growers are reluctant to invest in the higher costs of organic production. But the Carpenter family is one of a handful of hop growers who are starting a non-profit organic hop association in order to share the resources needed to develop a diverse line-up of pest-resistant organic hop varieties – spreading the risk and increasing supply. Again, the beauty of the Collective!
More on all of this later. BTW, check us out at the Winter Beer Fest at Hales this weekend and we're providing the beer for a Seattle Climate Partnership event tomorrow, hosted by Unico. And we're also providing the beer for Councilmember-elect Mike O'Brien's campaign debt-relief part on monday, Dec. 6, ditto for Mayor-elect Mike McGinn on December 14th. google these events and drink up!
* By way of excuse, first there was the last push of the campaign (Richard won by almost 80% and received more votes than any Seattle candidate ever, including mayoral and unopposed candidates.). Then, on the Monday following the election, I reported for jury duty and was, despite my best efforts to get rejected, empanelled on a jury for a civil case that was to last about 3 weeks (Matt was not pleased). I served 2 days (fascinating!) but when I went to the doctor to deal with a cough I’d had for 2 weeks and the fever and muscle aches that I’d been experiencing for a couple days, I was diagnosed with swine flu and dismissed to convalesce (after likely infecting everyone in the jury box). Then there was Thanksgiving break, etc.
Our Urban Beer Garden continues to draw a fun, eclectic crowd.* My favorite offering tonight is the Gilded Marmot Belgian Golden Ale, superbly crafted by Matt Lincoln. It’s light (in taste and color, not alcohol) yet complex and refreshingly un-hoppy (but then, I’m one of those IPA-hating philistines). Don’t take my word for it, c’mon down!
Despite the craziness of the campaign trail (Election Day’s Nov. 3 – don’t forget to vote!), I finally managed to add content to the “community” section of our sustainability page and I added another: Community Involvement. It’s important to remind ourselves that one of the things that gives us so much satisfaction is being part of a thriving community, meeting new people, making connections, becoming part of the fabric of the social life of Fremont and beyond. Easy for me to say since I don’t actually make our beer and thus derive satisfaction only from drinking it.
But really, when Matt considered the perils of opening a small business amid a recession, one of the things that drove him into beer-making in Fremont was the desire to contribute something of value to the Greater Good. Whether or not beer, however sustainably-produced, is the right something is admittedly a matter of debate (insert long digression on the dangers of alcohol abuse). But providing a place to get together with friends, meet new people, cruise for dates, or just sit alone in the company of others is important. (Cafes serve this purpose too but -- and maybe I'm just going to the wrong ones -- nowadays it's sort of creepy how everyone's hidden behind their laptops.) Because places where one can re-create oneself and connect with others sustain community and provide refuge from the alienation and anonymity of these hyper-speedy, teched-out, economically-precarious, weird times. End of sermon.
Cheers, Sara
*Last Friday, a local PEPS group rendez-voused here – not to scare the child-averse among you. The typical flow of folks is as follows: 4-5:30, parents returning from picking up their kids from school, thirsty Bikram Yoga studs, and various drinkers convinced it’s beer o’clock somewhere (like Montana maybe). From 5-6:30 it’s the after-work crowd, from Fremont’s many large (i.e. Adobe, Getty Images) and small businesses (i.e. Bjarko/Serra Architects). These folks come to meet up with friends or have a bite before their main gig of the night. Then from 7-8:00ish it’s people like me who consider going out for a beer the big event of the night.
Universale is the Beer of the Month at Fremont’s Red Door, starting tonight! Not only is this great promo for Fremont Brewing, patrons get to drink our beer for cheap: $3.75 a pint or $13.50 for a pitcher.
Our Universale Pale and the Organic Berry Pale Ale (“Mystere de la Passion”) received top rankings at the Fremont Oktoberfest a couple weeks ago. Both were rated 4 out of 5 on the special iPhone app created for the event. No beer got 5 out of 5, making me question the ratings criteria. But whatever. Let’s just say the discriminating sophisticates who went to Oktoberfest thought we were pretty good.
Meanwhile, back at the brewery, the Urban Beer Garden is going strong. The Red Door’s old swanky furniture provides intimate little niches in an otherwise pretty industrial space. I brought in more toys to entertain the little ones accompanying the pick-up-from-daycare crowd so that’s good. On tap today: Nitro Portage Bay Porter (new), All Salmon IPA (new), Little Woody Oak-Aged Pale, and Universale. Reminder: the Urban Beer Garden will be closed next Thursday, Oct. 8 for a previously scheduled event (see below) but will re-open on Friday, Oct. 9.
If you haven’t had a chance to check out our Urban Beer Garden, I encourage you to do so. It's on Thursday and Friday, 4-8:00 pm.* Matt and his crew serve three or four beers, including Universale, Nitro Universale and a couple small-batch mystery beers they invent just for fun – last Friday featured Firelight IPA and Matt’s Creamy Steamy Porter. Patrons get to enjoy the fruit of our brewers' creative genius and we get the benefit of the community’s feedback for future recipe refinement. Pints are four or five bucks and seven buys you an FBC pint glass and a fill.
For most people, the attraction of the UBG is simply to have a place to hang out with friends on Thursday and Friday afternoons from 4-8:00 – to unwind after work or get loose before the weekend’s prime-time events. Since beginning three weeks ago, the news has spread among locals and folks who work in and around Fremont that it’s a relaxed, unpretentious (yet hip in its own way) scene where you can meet up with other friends, have a bite, or just hang with our crew.
We have one long family-style table made from wide-plank fir bleacher board and several swanky red leather circular booths and funky art glass tables inherited from the old Red Door that we set up for the occasion. We have menus from several local restaurants from which you can order delivery or take-out (if you’re not sated by the pretzels Aaron so generously shares). Kids of all ages are welcome – there’s chalk, a sturdy spring ridey-thing and other stuff to entertain them (with your supervision, of course).
Last Friday, there was a steady stream of people sampling the crazy brews, rendez-vousing with buddies, and enjoying local grub. Many stopped by just to pick up a growler and ended up staying until close. It’s that cool. Try it!
*Please note: on Thursday, October 8 the Fremont Brewing Company will host a party for Councilmember Richard Conlin to raise money for his reelection campaign (which I’m managing). So the Urban Beer Garden will resume the next day, on Friday, Oct. 9.
But please consider attending this shindig for Richard! It’s an open event aimed at people who aren’t your typical political junkies but who appreciate Richard’s work on behalf of neighborhoods, the environment, sustainable local food, skateboarding, the music scene, transit (pretty much the gamut of good causes) – or want to know more about what he’s done for them lately and what he plans to do in his next term if reelected. Basically, we’re expanding our base by appealing to beer lovers. In fact, YOU are very likely my target audience so come on down, drink some beer, eat some food (I’m looking for donations in this department), meet your councilmember, and get to know more about your city.
The facts: October 8, 6-9:00 pm. $25 suggested donation. RSVPs would be nice: sara@richardconlin.com.
To kick off the official end of summer celebration season, the Fremont Brewing Company is opening the Urban Beer Garden this Thursday. The UBG will be inside the brewery, very low-key/industrial in atmosphere (we turned some kegs over and put some old bleacher boards together for a table) and will be serving Universale and one-of-a-kind beers as they come to maturity. Hours are from 4pm-8pm Thursdays and Fridays until the weather turns cold, wet and rainy. PLEASE NOTE: Hop Fest is this Friday and we all have to be there, so the beer garden will not run this coming Friday but will resume the following week on September 3rd and 4th.
On Tap for Thursday, August 27 at the Urban Beer Garden:
Universale Pale
Rye P.A. - this is what happens when you think about beer too much. We blended organic pilsner malt and pale malt, added some crystal malt, some crystal rye and a wee touch of Belgian aromatic malt and then dropped a bomb of Amarillo and other hops in the boil and stepped back after we dryhopped with Cascade and German Saaz. How does it taste? We want to know, too. Come explore this bold beer, on tap.
NitroUniversale - it had to be done. We added a nitro tap and put the Universale on for a little fun - creamy pale anyone? Mmmmm.
Coming Up: porters, more IPAs (oaked), blonde ales, Belgian wits, and more.
Come on down to the Fremont Urban Beer Garden this Thursday from 4pm-8pm and enjoy the creative side of beer. Also, bring yer cash because we do not have the credit card swiper running yet.
Thanks,
Matt Lincecum, Founder, Owner, Brewer
The big news is that although we’ve been on tap for about 3 weeks at (by now) over 25 watering holes, we’re finally doing a media event at the LATONA PUB next MONDAY, AUGUST 17 to celebrate our “opening.” Matt will be there to talk about Universale Pale and our experience launching a small, sustainable business during a severe economic downturn.
Why there? Why now? Because Matt has lived in Green Lake off and on during most of his time in Seattle, including the last nine years in our current home, and is thus a dedicated Latona patron. Because the Latona is famous for serving high-quality craft beer and nurturing the region’s microbrewery scene. Because the Latona was the first place to tell Matt they’d put his beer on tap if he ever got this thing off the ground. That covers the “there.” As for the “now,” because the promised tap opened up. Because it could have been sooner but I needed some time to get a news advisory out in hope of attracting media attention. Because the Latona turns 22 years old at midnight on the 17th. Because there’s no time like the present.
To witness the symbolic tapping of Universale at the Latona Pub, BE THERE BY 7:00 PM and stick around until midnight to sing “Happy Birthday” to one of the city’s best.
Acting on a tip from a volunteer, Matt talked his way into being one of three beers on tap at the Seattle Boat Show last weekend. They hadn’t planned on 3 but upon tasting Universale, they threw us on and ran through an unexpectedly high number of kegs. That exposure led to several requests for kegs o’ Universale at upcoming events and parties.
By the way, they’re draining our kegs fast at Leny’s Tavern (2219 N 56th St), another fine Green Lake bar (or Wallingford, depending on which Chamber of Commerce you’re talking to).
If you vote, remember to mail in your ballot by 8:00 pm on August 18th! I’m voting YES on Referendum 1.
I should’ve known that my pledge to blog every Monday would result in failure. My New Year’s resolution every year is to floss and drink more water and I usually bail on that by early February. Sorry if I let you down last week but I’m really trying.
So, major progress on the retail front! Matt has secured about 25 accounts at bars/taverns/restaurants around town, mostly in the north end. Find a source near you here.
If you were to stroll along 34th and turn north onto Woodland Park Ave, N., you’d instantly notice the striking blue (not navy, sky or royal blue but handsome “Honorable Blue”) building with a sleek, stainless steel-lined doorway on your left. The first thing you’d see upon entering is a handsome, antique (1936) wooden cooler. Matt bought that cooler at ReStore and, unbeknownst to him at the time, it was already connected to our family. Its previous home was Pies and Pints on 65th near Roosevelt (serving meat pies and cold beverages), which was owned by Vince Gallapega until he died suddenly in 2007. Vince was my very first boyfriend and my very first kiss (March 16, 1979, Arden Junior High, Sacramento, CA). He was a charismatic lover of food and beer and showcasing this old treasure is a perfect homage to his memory.
That cooler will contain growlers and (future) six-packs as soon as Mad Mike has finished refurbishing it once he has fully recovered from his crash returning from the motorcycle gathering in Hollister, CA last month.
By now you’ve received your mail-in ballot if you’re a registered voter. My guy, Richard Conlin, is not on the ballot because he has only one opponent so you won’t get a chance to vote for him until the general election on November 3rd. While I have a lot of strong opinions about the candidates on the ballot for the August 18th primary, I’ll spare you my thoughts on all but one very crucial ballot measure, Referendum 1. This is the Green Bag Fee and I urge you to VOTE YES. Because this is a beer blog and I already take considerable advantage of this soap-box for issues unrelated directly to our product (like domestic and civic politics), I direct you to my Facebook note to learn more about why.
Your opportunities to enjoy Universale increase by the day! It’s now available at locales as close as the Fremont Dock, kitty-corner to FBC (don’t knock the food – I can personally recommend the refreshingly un-mayonnaisey Cesar salad) and as far-flung as The Roanoke on Mercer Island. In between are the Pacific Inn Pub, The Dray, The Park Pub, Naked City, The Local Vine and soon Duck Island Ale House, the Latona Pub and where ever else Matt can charm his way into during his rounds tomorrow. See the Find Our Beer section of the site for links and more current updates.
The Phinney Neighborhood Association Summer Beer Tasting on Saturday was a lot of fun! The PNA and its “beer committee” (as fundraising gigs go, I’d say that’s got to be one of the funner ones!) put on a stellar event – great diversity of breweries, festive yet not yahoo scene, and tasty, alcohol-mitigating snacks. Too bad we didn’t win any awards. Thanks for the invite, Chardell!
It's weird to shift into the actual selling of beer. Every new account is a celebration and it was thrilling to deposit a thousand bucks today. Is this what writers experience when they finally see their novel on the bookstore shelf (that's me!)? For me personally, it's about our private life -- Matt's ambition, my hope, his talent, my fears – resolving itself in the public realm, that's the weird part. It's been like a season of Domestic Boot Camp, with early episodes including lines from me like: What do you mean you want to quit law? Um, who's going to pay for this? If I wanted to go into small business, I wouldn't have wasted my time being poor in academia and public service. I'm more into wine. I'd rather do something Meaningful.
Well, I've found meaning in this journey and Matt has followed his passion and this is our little IPO. This must be what it feels like to be in a bar where people know your name.
Cheers!
Assuming Matt can take a break from brewing tomorrow for deliveries, Universale will also be served at Naked City Brewery and Taphouse (Greenwood at 85th) tomorrow night.
Bottoms up!
They’re racking (that means filling) the kegs right now with the first edition of UNIVERSALE PALE! It’s a crisp, hoppy but not too hoppy, maple syrup & honey-colored elixir with girl-pleasing hints of malt. “Don’t say that!” Aaron yelled, as if pleasing girls weren’t a good thing to do in this heavily-populated craft beer market dominated by male consumers. “Say ‘well-balanced’,” encouraged Kemp. Matt Lincoln, our new brewer, noted the “light citrus nose.” I could try channeling Robert Parker and say something like, “classic Northwest blend of spice with a feminine malt roundness on the back-end (he’d probably say ‘finish’).” But beer is difficult to describe – you just know what you like. And I think you will.
Ta da! Monday, right on schedule. Photos forthcoming.
Greetings! Just a quick post to let you know that our beer will be available at the Fremont 5k and Briefcase Relay beer garden TODAY, starting at 6:00 pm at Adobe. We’ll be serving $2.00 pints of Test Batch Two – a precursor to the currently-being-tweaked Universale. A beta run, you might say. So mosey on over after work or pre-run and tip back a cold one. Comments welcome!
You might be wondering what’s up. Well, Seattle City Council President, Richard Conlin’s, reelection campaign Kick-Off BBQ on June 4th was a resounding success, drawing about 350 guests. The standing-room only crowd was testimony to the respect Seattleites have for the leadership he’s demonstrated over the last 12 years on the environment; transit, pedestrian, bicycle issues; and community-building. BTW, have I mentioned I was a policy advisor for Richard for six years and am now his campaign manager?
Also, the pair of swallows that made a nest on our porch last year, despite our 2 cats and 2 water pistol-wielding sons, returned last month and Momma laid three eggs last week.
Regarding beer, the first batch (see blog post on May 23) had some kinks but is still delicious and ripening in one of the 30-barrel fermentation tanks. Matt brewed a second run on Friday, May 29 which will debut at the Fremont 5k and Briefcase Relay on June 12th. NOTE: this will not be the Universale Pale. Rather, it’s the second run on a brand-new (to us) system and Matt is still tweaking the process and recipe of our future flagship brew. I’d say one more batch and he’ll have it nailed.
We’ve got 200 growlers, 600 pint glasses, 130 limited-run commemorative T-shirts (also in cute women’s cut, thank you) and significant obstacles to overcome on the retail side such as, but not limited to:
1) We have no cash register, credit-card thingy or door into the retail space (but there is a big hole in the wall on Woodland Park Ave. where the door will go).
2) We need to beef up the stairs leading to the tasting room (with the future best view in Fremont). This is not a big job but we have no time.
3) We need to acquire some stools and install the 10” wide, Douglas fir, former Ballard High bleacher boards which will serve as the temporary bar looking out onto the afore-mentioned view.
4) And I want to punch 3 holes into the south wall of the space for big, openable windows in order to expand the view onto the ship canal, Aurora Bridge and Olympics. This is a big job. It will require some structural work and electrical re-routing, subsidized in part by the Fremont Dock Company. Thanks, Mike and Suzie.
Matt and his crew are consumed with production yet we’re both scrambling to create the space to enjoy our product as beer season settles over Seattle. So bear with us, donate a cash box, and sample our evolving blend at the upcoming Fremont 5k and Art Car Blow-Out – both sponsored by Fremont Brewing Company.
That’s right, folks. That delicious aroma rising from south-eastern Fremont and settling over the neighborhood on this gorgeous, windless day is not the transfer station. Finally, after a brutal week of tank-cleaning (man, those kettles were foul – c’mon, Red Lodge, ya could’ve cleaned the system after that last run!), final hook-ups, testing, fixing of leaks and jerry-rigging of equipment – FINALLY Fremont Brewing Company is, in fact, BREWING!!
I feel like a woman in her 43rd week of pregnancy on her way to the hospital. It’s taken a lot of blood, time, and sweat to get here. Matt hasn’t seen the kids awake in 4 days. He’s cut up (minor brushes with sharp things this time, his severed tendon is healing well), under-slept, and suffering terrible pain in his behind (not me; his sciatica) caused by climbing all over they brew house. Kemp had to take a welding class (!) to learn how to build the grain platform. Pumps have broken and pumps have been loaned (thanks Mike!). The pilot light on the water heater mysteriously went out yesterday afternoon. We would’ve been SOL at 4:30 on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend were it not for the grace of the owner of Ballard Natural Gas who came to the rescue and spent 4 hours here taking the thing apart and putting it back together again. And Rick’s been commuting across the lake from his real, paying job to stay until midnight helping out. Mike from Georgetown Brewery was here last night and again today, contributing some professional street-smarts.
This is but a sampling of the awe-inspiring goodwill that has made today possible. A future blog post will be devoted to acknowledging another fundamental piece of this enterprise: the generosity of our investors. So, today if you’re close by, take a deep whiff and smile that the dream is coming true.
I’m about 10 days late but while it’s still April, I want to draw your attention to FBC’s phone number: 420-2407. Get it?
Anyway, the last major piece of this project is falling into place today. The refrigerator guys are hooking up the compressor coils to the cold room. Which means we can hook gas up next week. Kemp is mounting the grain auger (interesting visual, huh?) to pull the grain out of the grain room and into the mash tank. By mounting, I mean he’s up in the forklift box and hanging the motor from the 28 foot high ceiling – precision work.
To pretty up the place for the 40th birthday bash tomorrow, I moved the piles of flotsam and jetsam all over the place and consolidated them into one room. Now no one can find anything! And today I get to mount the forklift box to wash all the tanks so that the ambient lights for the party will reflect off the gorgeous towers of stainless steel. Then I’ll have to clean the bathrooms –volunteers, anyone?
Meanwhile, 100 tap handles are in production and will soon be available to fine drinking and dining establishments across town and beyond.
All this is happening in the wake of Matt’s surgery a couple days ago. Did I mention that he slit his wrist (accidentally!) cutting zip ties with a box cutter? Didn’t follow the constant admonition we give our sons to always cut away from themselves when chopping veggies with our Henckels. He severed the flexor minor tendon his left wrist. The surgeon made a two-inch incision to retract the tendon and stitched the two ends together with titanium thread – fancy! After six weeks of physical therapy which he’s sure to do religiously, he should be almost back to normal but his rock star career is shot. (Speaking of, if anyone has extra tickets to the Dead at the Gorge, let me know: sara@fremontbrewing.com.)
I’m about 10 days late but while it’s still April, I want to draw your attention to FBC’s phone number: 420-2407. Get it?
Anyway, the last major piece of this project is falling into place today. The refrigerator guys are h
ooking up the compressor coils to the cold room. Which means we can hook gas up next week. Kemp is mounting the grain auger (interesting visual, huh?) to pull the grain out of the grain room and into the mash tank. By mounting, I mean he’s up in the forklift box and hanging the motor from the 28 foot high ceiling – precision work.
To pretty up the place for the 40th birthday bash tomorrow, I moved the piles of flotsam and jetsam all over the place and consolidated them into one room. Now no one can find anything! And today I get to mount the forklift box to wash all the tanks so that the ambient lights for the party will reflect off the gorgeous towers of stainless steel. Then I’ll have to clean the bathrooms –volunteers, anyone?
Meanwhile, 100 tap handles are in production and will soon be available to fine drinking and dining establishments across town and beyond.
All this is happening in the wake of Matt’s surgery a couple days ago. Did I mention that he slit his wrist (accidentally!) cutting zip ties with a box cutter? Didn’t follow the constant admonition we give our sons to always cut away from themselves when chopping veggies with our Henckels. He severed the flexor minor tendon his left wrist. The surgeon made a two-inch incision to retract the tendon and stitched the two ends together with titanium thread – fancy! After six weeks of physical therapy which he’s sure to do religiously, he should be almost back to normal but his rock star career is shot. (Speaking of, if anyone has extra tickets to the Dead at the Gorge, let me know: sara@fremontbrewing.com.)
Kemp (see photo of Kemp trapped on the fork lift) and I then set about, with Devin's help, constructing decking for the glycol chiller and compressor, which were put into place yesterday. Today, Devin, Kemp and I picked up the antique refrigerator (see picture) from the ReStore and planned out her restoration. This refrigerator will hold our growlers for sale in the retail area and we are very excited to restore it to it's former glory. It was made sometime in the 1930's here in Seattle by Marine Refrigeration and was previously in use at Pies and Pints in the Roosevelt neighborhood. Coincidentally, Pies and Pints was started and run by one of Sara's childhood friends from Sacramento. You can also see in the picture below, Mike, our landlord, driving the forklift and hauling out the concrete blocks left behind from cutting the trench drains. Mike came early in the morning and worked all day, even providing the dump truck and driving said death trap to one of his lots where he is storing them for a future use. Thanks, Mike. Our hats off to Mike and the Fremont Dock Company (our landlord) for believing in what we're doing and for going the extra mile. We've also finished demoing (thanks, Devin) the area that will be our temporary retail sales room and will begin build out next week. Kemp is drawing up a material list and our friends at Bitters Co. will help with the design. With friends like these, it's easy to believe that this community will pull through these hard times. We're humbled. So, now the big news: the brewhouse is set to arrive on March 23rd and we're very ready to make some beer. Why? Because Beer Matters. So, a big thanks to Kemp for working in the trenches EVERY DAY through surgery, kidney stones and some really bad music; to Rick for picking up the ball on marketing and for digging, building and endless planning; to Devin for painting everything and not breaking too many of our tools, to Sara for holding down the fort, the blog and putting up with me and all this insanity, to Terry, Mike, Roger, Manny, and Bret for helping out with all the little questions that are a big deal and for allowing us to treat their company like a big brewery Costco; to our investors who have put their faith in our vision and to the many volunteers who have pitched in with a smile. We would not be here today without each and every one of you.
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