Monday, January 19, 2009

New Kettle installed, back in business!

We got the new kettle installed over the weekend, and are back in business! That's good news for all of you who are jonesing for the Hop Project and more new brewmaster series brews. Once we get caught up this week on production, we'll be brewing a big batch of Hop Project #10. Cheers!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Yazoo partnering up with the Nashville Sounds!

Hey all you Yazooligans, exciting news!

The new owners of the Nashville Sounds have decided they want our beer at Greer Stadium this year! We'll be partnering up with them on a lot of promotions during the season, including special prices on Yazoo pints during Thirsty Thursdays, after-party events after Thirsty Thursdays at some of your favorite pubs around town, and a special "Yazoo Friends" promotion towards the end of the season in late summer. The lucky winner will receive a trip for two to Denver for the Great American Beer Fest, with airfare, hotel, tickets to the GABF, and tickets to a Colorado Rockies baseball game! More details to come as the season gets closer...

We're excited that the new owners have committed to some extensive upgrades to the old stadium, and that we can be a part of a Nashville tradition. Go Sounds!

EDIT: The Thirsty Thursdays promotions will not be taking place this year, as the new management wants to create a more family-friendly environment. At first, we were a little surprised, but after some thought, we fully support their decision and are looking forward to helping them create that environment.

Should be slowing down but...

January is usually a slower month for most microbreweries. It's typically been the time for us to schedule some repairs or upgrade some equipment. Our kettle developed a steam leak last year, and after doing some research I decided it was better to replace it altogether than to try to weld up the leak. So we have a brand new kettle sitting in our back yard, and have been waiting for a good time to install it, hopefully before the old kettle's steam jackets gave out completely. And this is the week I decided to try to install it. We're going to shut down the brewery on Thursday and Friday to try to get the old kettle out and the new kettle in. It's going to be a tight fit, since we have crammed so many tanks into the brewery in the last five years.

We're also launching our beer in Knoxville next week. So the first part of this week has been non-stop bottling and kegging, building the order for our distributor in Knoxville. We're planning on a series of events in Knoxville next week, probably a pub crawl on Tuesday. I'll post more details as we figure out our schedule.

So for all of you hopheads that have been missing the Hop Project series - it's coming back, I swear. We have the hops to do a good bit this year, and after we get through the shutdown to install the new kettle, I plan on brewing a big batch of Hop Project and getting it out around town as well as our taproom. We also plan on bottling a limited run of the Hop Project as the next installment in our Brewmaster's Reserve series.