Faith

We are so close to opening we can almost hear those glasses clinking... but still no license from the ABC. The 7-10 days our investigator assured us have turned into 14-20 days. It has been a hard blow - as each day passes, we have to turn down customers and stare at the bills that are beginning to accumulate. It makes everything a little more tense and even challenges our faith... "Will we make it? Did we do the right thing?" But it seems these trials, and we have tackled many in this process, are just ways of showing us our strength and solidifying our desire to make it work and make it succesful. Resourcefulness is a must!

At the brewery, Tom has become a full-fledged, unpaid brewhouse partner.... putting in many, many hours a week after working at Harvey West Pool. He seems to know all the ropes now from milling to bottling, and we love having him around.

We had a private tasting on Saturday night with Mia and Dave Bossie and some of the members of a local brewers guild. We even had some official beer judges present for the event. And while we started out nervously, wondering what people would think of our little endeavor... it ended wonderfully. I remember after the guys had brewed their first batch at the brewery, Chad commented, "Those brewers will be proud of us... just look at this set-up... almost like being in a garage." And he was right, it seemed these brewers were proud of him. Plus, they loved the beer. The judges, strict in their assessment, gave him the results in two forms. One, strictly on matching to the style. The other, on drinkability and our ability to sell the beer to a large market. We are so thankful for the experience - exactly what we needed to pull us over this last hump until opening.

We are still brewing away, racking, packaging, and stockpiling beer. Several projects are ongoing - figuring out tap handles, putting final touches on the tasting bar and retail area, planning our opening party, preparing for the Monterey Beer Festival, and looking at signage and press releases. We have some good contacts already -

People have been joining our "friends" mailing list - on our website. If you would like to join the list too - just send email to us with your name and email, and we will sign you up. We send out notices about events we are participating in, private tastings, new beers, and brewery news.

We have bottles and kegs - ready for sale - and the labels are in the approval process so anyday now, look for our beer in grocery stores, liquor stores, restaurants, and bars. And if you don't see it where you would like to buy it - it never hurts to ask.. :)