SB0422 passes! 30-1 in the Senate! Next vote is Wednesday morning in the House!

Full votes next week on the Fix the Beer Tax bills!

The Senate will take up SB0422 during its Monday afternoon session starting at 5 PM.  The House will vote on HB0999 Wednesday morning at 9 AM.  If you have contacted your legislator to ask for their support of the bills, thank you!  If not, please visit www.fixthebeertax.com and click on "Contact your Legislator" for a quick and easy way to email your specific Representative and Senator.  Thanks!

Key vote tomorrow in the House and Senate Finance committees

The Fix the Beer Tax bills will be up for a key vote tomorrow in the Senate Finance committee at 8 AM, and the House Finance committee at 3 PM.  The bills passed through the Finance subcommittees last week with no opposition, so we are cautiously optimistic for their chances tomorrow.  Follow Linus at @yazoobrewmaster on twitter for live updates, or also @fixthebeertax too.  If we get the bills out of these committees, then the next votes would be the full Senate and House!

Hop Project #71 out in Bottles, 3/26/13

For Hop Project #71, we tried a new hop for us - Kohatu from New Zealand.  We blended the Kohatu with one of our other new favorites, Australian Galaxy.  In a new twist, we added most of the hops toward the end of the boil, shooting for more aroma and flavor.  Adding hops toward the end instead of at the beginning increases the aroma and flavor while actually decreases the bitterness of the beer, but this one is still plenty hoppy!

It was hopped at 30 minutes left in the boil with Galaxy and Kohatu; 5 minutes left with the same blend; and dry-hopped in the fermenter after day 4 with a blend of about 1/3 Galaxy and 2/3 Kohatu.

This recipe will get out to all of our current markets in TN, MS, and northern AL.  Grab one while you can!  Hop #72 is already in the works!

2nd batch of Hop Project #70 is being bottled today 3/4/13

We bottled the second batch of Hop Project #70 today.  This one is proving to be a favorite of people in our taproom and beyond.  It was brewed with Stella and Topaz hops from Australia.

We will be brewing #71 in the next few weeks.  On deck - Galaxy and Kohatu hops!

Talk about Beer Tax Reform tomorrow on News Channel 5+

Representative Cameron Sexton and I will be on News Channel 5+ "OpenLine" tomorrow, Wednesday Feb 13, from 7-8 PM to talk about reforming TN's beer taxes this year.  Rep Sexton is the House sponsor for our bill to reform the 17% beer wholesale tax, which has caused TN's beer taxes to grow to the highest in the nation.  It's a live call-in show, and we need you to voice your support for saner beer tax policy in TN!  Call in to 615-737-7587 between 7 PM and 8 PM to get on the show.

http://www.newschannel5.com/story/5372991/openline

Hop Project #70 bottled today 2/5/13!

Hop Project #70 was bottled today!  We brewed the first batch of Hop Project ever through our new 200 bbl fermenters, so there will be a whole lot of this to go around.  Which is a great thing, because we are continuing our love affair with Australian and New Zealand hops.  Seriously, if I ever disappear and no-one knows what happened, first check for a brand new hop farmer in New Zealand (if they would let me in the country - seems like immigration is pretty tough down there).

Anyway, we used a lot of Australian Topaz and Stella hops in this one, all the way through the brew and for dry-hopping.  It has a great aroma of ripe citrus fruits and a really nice pleasant bitterness.  Look for it in all our distribution area in the next few weeks!