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!