Brewing mania

We now have LIVE MUSIC most FRIDAYS too.  soon to be every friday... But still every saturday.  

On-tap beer schedule: ( not complete list, just additions )

RELEASED Nov 10th,   Nut Brown Ale
RELEASED Nov 10th,  Oatmeal Stout
RELEASED Nov 17th,  New batch of Hef
RELEASED Nov 24th,  Marzen
Dec 1st,   Amber Belgian
Dec 1st,   Pale Ale
Dec 8th,   Belgian Wit
Dec 12th,   Lovettsville Lager
Dec 15th,  Dunkelweizen
Dec 20th,  Nut Brown ale
Dec 27th, Patersbier

Open day before turkey day

The Brewery will be open this Wednesday (the day before turkey day) with LIVE MUSIC. So stop on in!!

Thur, Fridays, and beer release schedule

Thanks to everyone that came out for our first thursday and friday. From now on thursdays and fridays will be a part of our regular schedule.

This coming weekend we'll have on tap for the first time our Broadway Brown.  It is a nut brown ale that has come out great. We did super selective taste tests thing past weekend. And the reviews were great. We'll also have our Oatmeal Stout on tap.  And preliminary tastings show its gonna be great too.

On-tap beer schedule: ( not complete list, just additions )

Nov 10th,   Nut Brown Ale
Nov 10th,  Oatmeal Stout
Nov 17th,  New batch of Hef
Nov 24th,  Marzen
Dec 1st,     Lovettsville Lager

Expanding hours

This will be our first ever Thursday and Friday.  Expanding our hours beyond the weekend really makes this whole establishment feel much more legitimate.  It also means we really need to work on our processes and  procedures and get all of our internal workings inline.  So that's a lot of work.  But it helps a lot that we have gotten extremely lucky with having a great staff.  Thanks to everyone that helped get us this far. 

BEER STATUS:
We have about 300 gallons fermenting right now.  Right now we have a nut brown ale that has completed fermenting (contradicting myself here a little) and is starting conditioning.  I really doubt it will be ready by this weekend.  We are trying to slow down and do things correctly.  But definitely by next weekend.  We also have a oatmeal stout that will be ready by next weekend and will start conditioning this weekend.  And we have another Oktoberfest which just started fermenting. 
We will be making a light lager and also more hefeweizen this weekend. 

Sooo, stay tuned, same horse time, same horse channel.....

Late night brewing is lonely. Luckily there is no shortage of beer.

Brews, TV, and Music

Many people asked us the past two weekends, where's the tv.  We now have an answer. Its above the mantel in the dining room.  The TV has been mounted and looks great.  Hopefully by this sunday we'll be able to tune in some games for you all.

More importantly, at least to me, we now have our fermenters all full.  That means 4 new beers soon to be in our taps.  This coming weekend we'll have our famous hefeweizen. It will actually be ready and on tap.  This is particularly exciting because its our brewer's favorite beer.  Still in the fermenters will be a belgian ale, a trappist, and an IPA.  Give them 2-4 weeks and they'll be ready too.

Also this saturday we'll have the Short Hill Mountain boys.  So make sure to stop by and check them out.



Exciting times !!

Thanks - and news

I want to offer a special thanks to everyone that came out to our first day opening and probably our busiest day of the year during Lovettsville's Oktoberfest this past saturday.    It was a great time with live music thanks to Chris Vail and super fresh beer.  After having met about 300 of our new friends we're proud to be a part of Lovettsville. We still moving in and will be changing a lot of things in the upcoming weeks both in the way of decorations and beers but we're already having a great time.

COMING SOON

I know saturday was a lot of fun but we're just getting warmed up.  We have a hefeweizen fermenting now and will be making a belgian ale in the next couple days.  This weekend we'll be making a trappist beer (despite none of us being a monk)  and yes yes, by popular demand very soon we'll have a IPA and a porter.

NEW FEATURE

During our first weekend we received many many people asking,,,, where's the tv.  So yes, in the very near future we'll have a gi-normous ( is that a word ) giant TV.   It will make a great place to curl up and watch ,, well anything.

Furthermore

I guess I'm feeling talkative today,,,We were mentioned on the Northern Virginia Magazine website.  See below link:
http://www.northernvirginiamag.com/tag/mad-horse-brew-pub/

rock and roll

We are 100 percent approved to make beer!!!!!!!

Boom

Good news.  We passed plumbing and electrical final inspections today.   I am so relieved.  Perhaps I'll sleep tonight.  Probably not.  I'll just think of something else to stress about.   No worries, we'll move through the rest fast and starting bringing you all great beer really soon.

Bar design

I have received feedback from the project team that our design is lacking some cohesive vision.  To that end, I am posting this architectural layout that it might better pull the team together.

Here is the high end artist rendition of the bar installation to be performed this weekend.  If you are a novice and aren't experienced reading architectural blueprints then this probably won't be helpful to you.  But for the trained eye this should be very helpful.

My favorite word

Progress...We got a good amount of work completed this weekend.  The bathrooms are looking good.  The kitchen and brewing area is starting to look like a kitchen and brewing area. And most importantly we finally have running water to all of the many locations necessary.  We're gonna try to get final inspections this week. We still have a long ways to go.  Still need health, fire, and ABC part 2 permits.  Still looking for employees.  Still have to install the bar itself.  But at least for today lets reflect on how far we've come.

RIP

Ladies and Gentlemen. It is with heavy heart that I come to you today.  I regret that I must inform you of a loss of a dear brother. You lived a short but meaningful life. The burden now falls to your brothers to carry on and fight the good fight.

R.I.P. hefeweizen test batch number 2.  May your sacrifice not be in vain.

Grand Opening Oct 6th

We have had some plumbing delayings that have cost us about three weeks.  So sadly our grand opening date has slipped a little to Oct 6th.  However, we do still plan on being open for Lovettsville's Oktoberfest which is Sept 28-30.  Which if you have never been to, is a really cool family oriented thing.  I've gone the last three years, even before we were part of it, and it is a lot of fun. 

At this point we are awaiting inspections before we can close our interior walls up.  All the electrical and plumbing have been done.  ie the hard parts are done and passed inspections.  Now comes the fun part.  Setting things up and getting ready to open the doors. 

We're choosing food vendors, hiring staff, and getting last minute supplies.  Despite problem after problem after problem we'll soon be open.

We look forward to meeting all of you.

Who wants a 64 oz growler with metal flip top ?

progress update.....
fermenter room is starting to look like a fermenter room,
interior walls are all up,
plumbing is going in,
ABC part one is done, part two is underway,

slow and steady wins the race. ( I really need to upload some pics of the construction.)

Busy, busy,,,

We're busting our butts.  We got our building permits, electrical permits, plumbing, permits, health permits, ABC part 1 permit,,,,, gees makes me tired just saying them all yet alone doing all the paper work.  and I probably even forgot a few permits in that list.  Each of the above permits probably require two days per permit just to do the paper work correctly.  Hence the title of this post, busy, busy.

Now we're starting construction which is not just busy busy but also sweaty sweaty.  A lot of this early on construction phase has included crawling around in a hot attic.  And with the weather around here lately, that has not been,, enjoyable. Its barely even survivable.   Luckily we have had some very generous and brave helpers(cough bryan thanks a lot! cough).  We have torn down most of the interior walls that were already there and have rebuilt walls to isolate the brewing and kitchen areas.  The large window to allow viewing of the fermentation room is already in place. That is really helping us to keep our motivation up because its finally starting to look like a brewery.  This weekend we also installed a large mantel in the table area that is made from huge and positively heavy reclaimed oak.  

So we're getting a little further a long every day... stay tuned, same horse time, same horse channel

Tanks are here !

Our tanks have arrived.  We now have a mash tun, brew kettles, and fermenters.  That look great.  Good craftsmanship, all polished up. Exciting times.
Below are the boxes as they arrived off the truck.  and to the right is a fermenter as one side of the packaging was pulled off.    and at the bottom is the brew kettle with one side of the packaging pulled off. 

TTB APPROVED

TTB APPROVED 

Actually, we got our approval about two weeks ago.  We got an email saying it was approved and then called to confirm. and yep. We're golden.   We're just about the shortest approval I've heard of.  It took us about 35 days.  Not bad at all.  

Time to celebrate.... and then get to work.  

We passed the Lovettsville Planning Commission unanimously !  So now its on to the Town Council approval.  Basically, We need these to change the zoning from a by right use to a special exception.  Thus far we have good momentum.  Just a million or more permits and approvals and we'll be ready. 

Got the control panel a couple days ago and have been playing with that.  So that's been interesting.  The more I look at it, the more I'm glad I went with this vendor instead of some of the others.  The features of slow ramping heating elements, countdown timers, timers, water tight, and mainly the versatility are the main selling points in my mind.  Some other control panels are setup so its basically their way or the highway.  But what if you want to brew something using a completely different process.  This system is simple enough, or as I prefer to say versatile enough, that you can use it to fit whatever you want to do.  At least I hope.  When I start brewing here in,,, ummm,,, ( gees don't want to jynx us),,, Sept I will find out if it really works. 

We are gonna change the name to Mad Phoenix Brewpub cause we're rising from the ashes.

(okay that was lame sorry)

Started working on the bar top this weekend.  I got two huge and awesome wood slabs, approx 30"x12'x4". Spent all day saturday and sunday sanding them down, since I don't have a 30" wide plainer. (and really who does)  One is pretty well poly'd now and looking good.  Its starting to get exciting seeing it come together.

Got a delivery of 24 firkin 1/2 bbl kegs friday.  I figure they'll be perfect for on-site cask storage.  The firkin side port will allow for easy cleaning.  We figured that storing our beer in kegs would be a more flexible option then using brite/serving tanks.  By storing in kegs we can keep the beer closer to the tap and don't have to use a line chiller.  There is also less waste because you don't waste all that beer in the line when the keg goes dry.  And if in the future we want to start distributing then we are set.

Also,,, ( yes a lot has been going on)
I found the article in the Purcellville Gazette announcing that our Change of Use request will be considered at the upcoming town hall meeting in Lovettsville.  So that's,,, exciting,, scary,,, anxious something like that.  Lovettsville is charming little town that really fits our style.  So lets hope things work out.

Ladies and Gentlemen,,, drum roll,,,,,,,,  

After several days of gathering documentation,
After several months of reading,

We have officially submitted for our TTB permit. 
( that means craft-brews are coming ) 

I know this is just another step of many many many in the process.  But this is a critical milestone.  It means if we get the permit, according to the feds, we can produce beer.  It took a lot of work to get to this point.  There is a sense of great relief and accomplishment.  There will definitely be some celebrating going on this weekend.  

---
for kicks and grins, ttb's website right now says 51 days to process. starting today.
sooo,,, Predictions:   ( feel free to submit your own predictions too, if you predict correct, we'll find some prize for ya )

ttb says,   July 1st. 
I say,       Oct 1st.
  ( my prediction comes from what I have read. and the average other breweries are seeing. about 90 days ) 

Wish us luck !!

Its official !!!!!!!!!!!!  A Brewery (effective 7/1/12 ) in Virginia will be able to selling its beer on-sight.  No, they couldn't previously.  This is a massive break through for Virginia.  It is a start towards leveling the playing field between wineries and breweries.  Now a brewery can sell its products in a tasting room on-sight where you can check out the brewing equipment just like a winery already does. 
The governor signed the bill SB 604 today.  Congrats Virginia brewers !!!!!

Craft Beer is on the rise, Mass produced is on the decline

According to the Brewer's Association the craft brewing industry saw a 5% increase in 2011.  It has seen an increase over the past few years but 2011 was even higher.  All this news is made even more amazing given that the beer market on whole has seen a decline.  In my non-humble opinion it just shows consumers are getting wiser about what good beer is.

Brewers Association Article

Location coming soon...

We are one step closer to having a location. I would estimate this time next week we'll be announcing it.  ( I'm sure saying that just jinxed the whole thing )

Will it be Lovettsville, Purcellville, Leesburg ????? Stay tuned.....same bat channel...

Hurry up and wait.  We are gonna rename the brewery that.  Its been a roller coaster of excitement and let downs.  Just when you think you found the perfect place, bam, something is wrong with it. Not enough parking, fire code problems, zoning issues, corpses in the walls, you know the usual things.  We're currently in negotiations with three different potential locations.  Choosing the right location is the most important decision.  And its a stressful one. We're more concerned with a location that matches our character than a high traffic area.  I know that sounds like a bad decision.  But we don't want to be just another store in some plaza.

Mad Horse Brewpub
The horses are in the gates.

Past:
- Filed for LLC in October 2011.
- Ordered 3bbl brewing equipment in Feb 2012. We're getting a mash/tun, kettle, and two fermenters right now.  We will be getting much more soon.
Present:
- Researching locations.  Currently we are interested in a location in Lovettsville, VA.  But there are some zoning issues that need to be taken care of first before we can sign a lease.
- General stressing about everything I don't know enough about but should