Building a Brewery: Weeks 20 & 21

As you may have seen on Facebook, David celebrated his birthday this past weekend, so naturally there was no time to compose a blog post between all of the beer-themed events going on in North Texas. It is in fact North Texas Beer Week, a regional event that highlights all of the efforts of North Texas craft beer and recognizes those who have made their mark on the industry. We hope to be up and running by next year so that we too can begin to contribute to the diverse and outstanding craft beer scene in DFW.

But first things first, an update on our brewery. We picked up the keys to the building this past weekend. We are officially IN OUR BUILDING!!! The next step is to get to work on a few things that will make the building into a brewery such as some paint, floor drains and treatments, some exterior touchups, etc. The major renovation items are on hold until our final funding becomes available, but there are certainly a few things we can work on in the mean time. Those of y'all willing to work for beer should take note!

Being in our building also means we can start using the space for things like parties and tastings! Again, since we won't be licensed to sell our beer for some time yet, every drop we painstakingly brew is free, and we'd love to share that free beer with y'all whenever we can. We would love to partner with our new neighbors at The Runner (a running store, duh) for a fundraiser 5K through Pantego ending with refreshments at the brewery, for example. We're also down for some barbecues, holiday parties, or whatever else we can do to raise a little money for New Main. If you know someone who might be interested in an event, drop us a line at newmainbrewing@gmail.com.

Our new website is now live! Before now, www.newmainbrewing.com would redirect you to this blog for our weekly update, but thanks to our dear friends James and Melissa, we have a brand spanking new website complete with the origin of our brewery name, descriptions of the six base beers we offer, and a section for our upcoming events. Make sure to check in once and a while over the next few weeks because we will hopefully be adding to our calendar of events!

We are about to launch back into production mode to fuel some of these upcoming shenanigans. Our last brew was our outstanding IPA which is currently finishing its dry-hopping stage before getting carbonated next week. Ten gallons of the good stuff should be ready by Thanksgiving, so we're going to try to only sneak a few quality control checks before y'all get a crack at it. We're hoping to schedule a tasting event with Whats On Tap in Highland Village (head brewer Kyle's neck of the woods), another home-field tasting at Dr. Jeckyll's, and maybe a tasting at Ron's Corner in Bedford to meet even more of you fine people in the coming months.

Keep an eye out on our social media feeds very soon because we will be announcing the details of our crowdfunding campaign and all the crazy good swag we are offering. We've been hard at work on a video that captures just a slice of the whole New Main Brewing pie, so when you see it, SHARE THE HELL OUT OF IT! Seriously folks, we all know how crowdfunding works, and it only takes a few extra shares to reach all the craft beer fans out there on the interwebs. We want every craft beer drinker to hear and see what we have to offer, and we want to make sure they can be a part of our story.

For those of y'all traveling this holiday season, please get where you're going safely, designate a driver, or offer to be a designated driver. We want all of y'all to be at our upcoming tasting events, so make sure to drink craft responsibly. Happy Thanksgiving!

Building a Brewery: Week 19

My father had a lot of sayings for us growing up, most of them from his own childhood on a farm in East Texas. One that has proved true every single time is, "Never announce your plans ahead of time. All of nature comes together to thwart it." While it's a little necessary to announce our overall plan of opening the brewery before we actually open for business, he was dead-on about announcing our location. I opened my big mouth and announced that we found our location before we had the deal inked and executed. Then, as nature is want to do, we were thwarted by uncommon, inconvenient, and unexpected hold-ups.

Long story short, yes we have finally signed the lease for the Marathon Street location, but let me tell you: the stress of overcoming the difficulties we experienced for the last 3 weeks have taken significant time off my life. I tend to break such experiences down into lessons learned, so painfully simple that I can't help but remember the anguish next time the situation arises. The lesson learned throughout this ordeal is not far off from dad's admonition, "DON'T SAY A DAMN THING UNTIL IT'S FINAL." And even then, wait a while just for good measure.

So it is with great pleasure that I announce our location has been secured. The month of October has been a blur of events, contracts, signatures, fund raising, and a merciful scattering of brew days in between. Throughout the process of starting New Main Brewing Company, I am so relieved to find that the days on which I get to actually make the beer you fine people drink come as a relaxing respite from the deadlines and stress that starting your first business can bring. I can still take solace in brewing, and the hobby has not lost any of its charm or appeal to me, thank God. 

Speaking of the month of October, let's take a look back and take stock of what we have all accomplished in the last 30 days:

• Viridian Farmer's Market and Craft Beer Experience went amazing. We ran out of beer about an hour and a half-in, but that's a good thing! All of the tips and donations we received helped us purchase all the ingredients to replenish our beer pipeline.
• First ever double batch, double brew day wherein I brewed 10 gallons of pale ale and followed it right up with 10 gallons of porter. I learned the true meaning of happy-tired that day.
• LUCK's 3rd Anniversary party was an amazing who's-who of area brewers, both newcomers and veterans. It's always a good day when folks like Michael Peticolas and Chris Rigoulot tell you they like your beer. Congrats and thanks again to Jeff Dietzman and his crew at LUCK, and good luck to our fellow DFW area brewery newcomers!!
• We finalized the paperwork and funding to secure our brewery location at 3533 Marathon Street in Pantego. It's the old location for Velociti Fitness League, right behind the Runner. For those of y'all unfamiliar with the location, we are a block north of the Pioneer Parkway (Spur 303) and Smith Barry Road intersection in Pantego.
• Martin House Boo-ery Tour was INSANE. By far the biggest crowd we've been in front of, and we got amazing feedback on our Pale Ale, Porter, and Witbier. We also want to thank everyone who logged our beers on Untappd as well. Your check-ins help others find our beer more easily, so if you haven't already logged Victory or Death Pale Ale, Friday Night White Witbier, or Runaway Scrape Porter, it's not too late! For those of you who asked for the secret menu item, Bourbon Barrel Aged Bigger NTX Stout, you can log that one as well (abbreviate to BBA Bigger NTX Stout).
• I finished up the month with a nice and easy 10-gallon batch of our IPA Sunday evening, and I can't wait to serve that up soon.

Throughout this entire endeavor, and surely not for the last time, I need to recognize the hard work of everyone on the New Main Brewing Team. First and chief-most, I want to thank my lovely wife Amanda for sacrificing our free time to discuss, brew, clean, prepare, and otherwise make this brewery happen. I love you times a billion. I also need to acknowledge the tireless efforts of Jason and Caitlin Tyree. You guys stepped up in our time of need and helped us at some of our most important events, and I am forever grateful for your time, energy, and smiles. Rohde and Lisa, you guys are our cheerleaders, our muscles, and our motivation. Kyle and Erin, y'all are taking on the Herculean task of helping us start this brewery while raising your beautiful first child, and all I can say is thank you for everything y'all are doing. I can honestly say without a support group like y'all, this would not be happening.

Okay, enough with the mushy stuff. Looking forward we have a little easier schedule, but no fewer tasks to complete. We are already starting to experiment with some of our special treatments to our six-beer lineup, so be on the lookout for these at our upcoming tastings. Soon, we will be launching a crowdfunding program in order to offer y'all some of the first New Main Brewing swag and benefits ever! Things like stainless steel growlers, VIP club memberships, brewers shirts, personal barstools, naming fermenters, all the way up to brewing your very own recipe on our system and sharing your brew with your friends and family! As soon as the campaign launches, each of these limited quantity items will be first come, first serve.

Get excited, and get the word out!  More details to come, so keep checking facebook, twitter, instagram, and of course this blog. Until next time, Cheers!