Sold Out

Yes it is true. We are out of beer. But it is only a temporary condition. Don't worry.

We sold out of bottles and kegs on Sunday afternoon - making it most of the weekend before selling our last bottle. We made it through Day of the Doon but many party-goes hit the brewery on their way out, buying cases of beer for the after parties. The combination of the Vintner's Festival, UCSC graduations and Day of the Doon made for a busy weekend at the brewery and even though we had beer for sale most of the weekend, we always have beer for tasting - which seemed to keep people pretty happy. Santa Cruzans and their appreciation for certified organic beer have blown our wildest expectations! Time to step up production and see what maximum capacity at our little brewery, really feels like.

We have a couple of batches fermenting and getting ready to be racked and kegged for this weekend. We have another busy weekend - with the UCSC Sustainable Development Conference and our usual tasting bar traffic - but we are planning to take Sunday off and close the brewery for Father's Day. Hopefully we won't disappoint folks too much - but the brewmaster/dad, Chad could use a day away from the brewhouse. Plus Tom is going to Lompoc to be with his dad - and nothing gets done without him... :)

We celebrated Lisa's birthday after the Friday Farmer's Market - danced the night away at the Catalyst to the tunes of Sambada. Happy Birthday Lisa!

On Friday I met with Dave at Community Printers and it looks like we may have our labels soon! He gave me a tour of the facilities and showed me samples of the materials that we will be using. Even though we are a tiny microbrewery with hardly any money left, it looks like we are going to have labels... that means you will start seeing us in grocery stores and liquor stores by the end of the month. For all you folks out there who have been appreciating our 'Sharpie' labeling system (we have been writing on the lids with either an 'A' for amber, 'P' for pale or 'I' for IPA) we may continue to sell unlabeled bottles at the tasting bar.

We continue to meet amazing people from all over - even having visitors from Canada, Germany and Russia. We've had visits from other brewers as well - Jason from Mammoth Brewing and Mark from Seabright. The brewing community is a tightknit group of folks and it is nice to be part of that new family.

We have a bunch of festivals lined up over the Summer - starting with Mammoth and SierraFest in August, and in September, the San Diego Brewfest and the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colorado. Lots of fun activities and a chance to get our beer some attention!

Well, better get back to work. Lot's to do if we are going to double our production - brewing, brewing and more brewing.