Building a Brewery: Weeks 22 & 23

You know, I think I'm noticing a pattern here. As plans and activities become more complex, I have less and less time to post to this blog to tell y'all about it. Funny, huh? That is to say we are up to our ears in planning for the brewery, so rest assured. We're not taking any breaks (what even are those?).

Layout Planning

We spent some time in the last few weeks getting to know our building a little better. We figured out which keys open which doors and took measurements for all of the available space in the main warehouse area. We even moved a few items of furniture into the brewery so we would have somewhere to sit and plan this whole shebang. We also fine-tuned our renovation list based on closer inspection of the facilities. We're still on track, but now comes the fun part of talking to the pros and officials that have to sign off on our plans.

City Meetings

As a Civil Engineer (at the moment, anyway), I'm quite familiar with the various city approval processes in place that new businesses and developers have to go through. In fact, one of the topics that came up quite a bit while I was interviewing other brewers this time last year about the difficulties of starting their breweries was unforeseen complications with the city. Don't get me wrong, even the best laid plans can go sideways on the clearest of days, but I've seen more than a few cases that have shown me the best way to try to navigate ordinances and building codes. 

That said, I met with the Town of Pantego this week to officially introduce New Main Brewing to the folks who would be reading our permit applications and submittals in the coming months. We were very pleased to learn that some of our friends from Dr. Jeckyll's had already mentioned us to them, and that they were looking forward to meeting us. I laid out the building improvements we're hoping to get done soon and talked a little about the necessary permits and fees that would be required. All in all, it was an illuminating discussion, and I feel we have a clearer picture for what we'll need to do moving forward.

Upcoming Events

Thanks to our meeting with the fine folks at the Town of Pantego, we learned what all we need in order to invite folks to the brewery for special events. Turns out our "work parties" are pretty much in the clear, but any other event that attracts more than a handful of people is a little more involved (but still possible). That means with a little bit of effort, we'd like to start hosting some events like barbecues, brew sessions, maybe a 5K with our new neighbors, and the like. We want y'all to have the opportunity to come help us warm the brewery up to being a fun destination while we work on the small details of actually starting a brewing company. If for no other reason, we could do with some moral support along the way!

We could also do with some cheap labor, as we've mentioned before. We'd like to do some of the small things ourselves to save a buck or two like painting, minor finishing and carpentry, and maybe even a furniture drive for our taproom tables and chairs. If we get more ambitious, we could even put together a crew of beer lovers to rebuild the deck out back and replace the dilapidated fences. Of course, the brewery building machine will run on free beer, so we can celebrate each finished work day with a pint and a story or two.

We're so happy that so many of y'all are sharing our blog posts, photos, and videos on social media. It means a lot to us who work so hard to get this fledgling idea off the ground. We love it when folks say they heard about us or that they're looking forward to trying our beer. Keep up the good work!