Last weekend my mom was at the UCSF Hospital which was a big scare for everyone. Her scheduled surgery didn't go as predicted and she was left to the mercy of the modern day health care system which requires constant advocacy ~ unfortunately we found that out the hard way after my mom had been neglected much of the night and was in unmanageable pain. After that, my dad, his trusty notebook and his wacky personality got my mom the attention she needed (but not before my mom had cussed out a few of the 'baby' doctors). She is home again and healing , but the whole thing had all of us pretty nervous and my 75 year old grandmother took up smoking cigarettes. I don't know if it helped her nerves, but she mentioned it was a nice compliment to her beer.
Before the Nanci Griffith concert we received the most wonderful news for the Seven Bridges Cooperative!
"Dear Emily, Chad, and Everyone at the Santa Cruz Mountain Brewery Project
We, the Members of Seven Bridges Cooperative, are excited to hear about your plans to open and operate a fully certified organic brewery here in Santa Cruz California. We have looked at and discussed your proposals and we see several ways that we can work together for the mutual benefit of both of our companies..."
They made a great proposal for ways in which we can work together to support each other's businesses. They are going to lease their brewing equipment to us, sell us wholesale grains and hops for a very reasonable price and we will share cooperative marketing. We couldn't have asked for anything better. It is going to make this experience even more rich and rewarding. Almost since Chad began homebrewing, he has purchased all of his equipment and grains from Seven Bridges so this seems like a perfect fit. He is already so comfortable with their products and the way they operate. Plus it is just one more step in making Organic Certification that much easier. They have already been certified and have offered to support us in the process as well. We couldn't be more excited.
We met with the ABC last week and posted our notice of intent to sell/manufacture beer at the Swift Street Courtyard! Woohoo! We also filed our Land Use Application with the City of Santa Cruz, talked with the County Health Department and opened a bank account (which even has money in it!). We are almost finished with the Federal paperwork - by the end of the day that should be filed as well. It took me forever to figure out the federal tax on beer - since we are producing less than 60,000 barrels a year we get a reduced tax rate - $7/barrel... yikes! We met with a few graphic designers and Stokes Signs. With all of this dreadful paperwork, we both crave some creative projects, a logo or artwork - something! Getting tired of signing our names all over the place. Chad is heavily entrenched in the building, getting the equipment installed and figuring out the most efficient way to deal with these 500 dirty kegs! They have to be retrofitted and acid washed - quite a procedure, but for $8/keg, they were definitely worth it!
We have been fingerprinted and the Sheriff who took my prints really hit the jackpot with my right thumb. Apparently it has a smily face right in the center which to a fingerprinter collector is a rarity - and she promptly told me that she had struck
gold and would be publishing it on a website of the rare 'smiley face fingerprints' and naming it, 'the pirate print' since one of the eyes appears to have a patch on it. A little fingerprint collection humor - every job has their own version.
Chad is kegging his homebrewed lager - still refining his recipes. We had Lagunitas Pale last night with our rosted butternut/white cheddar enchiladas with peanut sauce. What a treat. We always eat well! Red beans and rice with Vertical Epic on Sunday. Too good! Our youngest son, Alden, nine months, has a gourmet tongue already - feasting on capers and leeks, but Ethan still prefers plain noodles and dry toast. The curse of 'foodie' to have a child who hates food. Oh well. He will probably grow into it eventually.
On Thursday night we started experimenting with 'beer photography' which meant that we had to pour several kinds of beer and therefore drink several kinds of beer in the same night. I don't know if this is going to work out or not. Once those beers start going down, the camera becomes a bit more difficult to focus.
