New 120 bbl fermenters set to arrive this week...

We'll have two new 120 bbl fermenters arriving this Wednesday (if they don't get clipped by a low-hanging overpass). We'll be setting them up in the space in front of the window from the taproom, unfortunately cutting down on the view of the bottling line from the taproom (or, fortunately, depending on what's going on with the bottling line on any given day).

It's starting to get a little tight in the brewery again, kind of like it was at Marathon before we ran out of room. I'll post some more pics of the tanks and our attempts to stand them up later this week.

Here's a pic from Friday of the tanks being loaded at Newlands Systems in Vancouver. They always look smaller on their sides than once you stand them up, but they are 19' tall and about 9' in diameter.

Fortuitous time

Thank you to all of you who came out for the Fortuitous event. We appreciate each and every one of you! I hope everyone had a great time and that anyone who didn't win a ticket got hooked up by someone who did. I've never had so much great beer in my life, and thank you to everyone who brought out some special stuff to share. We will be doing something like this again in the future, for sure.

Fortuitous Release Saturday Feb 18th at the brewery

Fortuitous Ale release Feb 18th at 2 PM at the brewery

We weren't planning on having any release party at all when we finally finished bottling this beer and got ready to ship it out. But after talking with some of Nashville's fellow beer geeks at the 12th South Winter Warmer, who argued that we would be almost cheating them out of a reason to all get together, we decided to hold an event at the brewery to celebrate Fortuitous' release.

The main problem is that due to Tennessee's archaic beer laws, we can't sell high-gravity beer here (see my previous post from last year for the details of why).

So here is how we plan to do it: We will open up the doors to the brewery at noon on Saturday, Feb 18th. From noon until 2 PM, everyone who comes in will get a free raffle ticket. Then at 2 PM, we will raffle off the 120 special certificates that will allow the holder to purchase up to four bottles of Fortuitous at a separate location (not far from the brewery). Whatever is not purchased on that Saturday will be available to the general public starting the following week. (Or maybe I'll just keep it and drink it all myself - seriously, I'm considering it.)

We don't want people having to camp out or wait in lines outside to get this beer. As long as you get here in time to get a free raffle ticket, you will have a good shot at getting up to four bottles of Fortuitous. We want this to be fun, so come on down for a few hours and join us!

Sly Rye Porter out soon in six-packs!