SCMB

Those are the initials of our new name! Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing. It's official. And we are an LLC. Look for our Fictious Notice in the Good Times for the next 4 weeks. We were having the worst time with our name - trying to figure it out and nothing seemed just right. What made us unique? What sounds good? What ties us to the community? Then one evening I was watching the local channel and saw a blurb about the Santa Cruz Mountain Art Gallery - and I kind of chuckled to myself - "that's a nice way of saying, 'Ben Lomond Art Gallery,' and then I thought - That is a great way of saying it!" We are all from the Santa Cruz Mountains and while Swift Street is a great location, Chad eventually wants to bring some part of the brewing back to the mountains! This is an amazing community up here and there should be no reason that we all have to leave the mountains to 'dine, drink, entertain, shop, move, etc.' But that is a whole other plan for another journal... :)

So much has happened - as usual. I should just leave that off since by now, we can all take that for granted. Chad got the LLC last week, and we have been meeting with the City Planners and preparing for our meeting with the ABC next week. So many permits and licenses, but everything for a reason and everything with a HIGH cost. But those are the breaks, I guess. A big chunk of the $$ arrived but I am waiting for it to clear before we open our business account. I realize that I need to hire a bookkeeper and an accountant pretty quickly - there is a lot to record and organize - not my strong points. Chad got us a phone number for the business and a DSL line so we are close to relocating our office out of our home and into the brewery. And I have been teaching myself Flash and Dreamweaver so that we can have a decent website.

We brought in Jake, as a partner, to do our artwork, logo, identity and label design. He will be moving into one of the office spaces and setting up his studio. The space is dark, but with enough light it should work for him. He began collecting ideas for the names of the beers - developing themes and brainstorming logo ideas. What makes the Santa Cruz Mountains as a location and a community, unique? exciting? distinguished? a beer town?

Sunday we had a meeting at the brewery and invited the Seven Bridges Cooperative and the Redwood Brewers Guild. Not hearing much from anyone all week, I figured either no one would show up or a whole big bunch would. When noon rolled around on Sunday, it didn't look like anyone would be showing up - so we proceeded with a meeting of the partners. When a tall, young man with a bold San Francisco Brewing Company t-shirt, and dreads down to his tailbone walked up, I knew we had a guest brewer! It turned out to be the most amazing guy and brewing resource we could have ever dreamt up. Dan, is a member for the Seven Bridges Coop and has worked as a brewer all over California and even Germany. He was so excited about our project and offered his support and services. We decided that this guy could single handedly be our Board of Advisors! While Chad was asking him questions about brew systems, grain handling and the coop, up cruises Mark on his bike. Another member of the Coop. The first thing out of his mouth, "Do you guys have the equipment yet?" Well, we haven't purchased anything yet, but we are pretty serious about a system in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Serious about everything except the crating costs and the trip out there to inspect the system! "Well, I have a 7bbl system - never been used, sitting in storage, ready to go," he exclaims! Is this guy serious?

It turns out he had a similar idea - in the exact same spot - Swift Street Courtyard, several years ago. Except he wanted to do a brewpub - with eating facility and bar. After negotiating with Mark Sanchez, they feel into unfavorable terms and the deal went sour. Since then, he has been leasing the equipment to 7Bridges in hopes that the Coop would one day, open a brewery. But several years later that dream is still on the back burner and he just wants to see his equipment dusted off and boiling wort!

We bounced ideas around and asked tons of questions, more excited than ever! They validated that Santa Cruz is ripe for the brewing market and let us know that they would do whatever they could to support us. It was amazing. And scary. It really is happening.

Scott told us about a great website, father's office, and few other ideas up his sleeve~ everyone has so many creative ideas... it is really wild to see the energies gel and move.

Nick and Chad are nearly finished with the office space - putting in some safety rails, etc. That is exciting. Chad and Scott met with beer buyer from the Crow's Nest last night and learned a lot about marketing and distribution, the value of a tap and how to get your beer served. Great information. The volume of beer that Crow's Nest does - is truly amazing. And patterns of consumers - it is a science of its own. We have a couple of ideas to give us a competitive edge - draught pulls, etc. We have lots to do this week. Braum, a high school friend is coming down tonight to look at the space and draw up the site plans, building plans, etc. that we need to file the use application. When you step back and look at all the community involvement and support in a project like this, it really makes you appreciative of the wonderful place that we live.

Cheers!