Moving Day

Today is move day. The destination is the brewery and the cargo is our homebrew pilot systems. Each of our spouses are celebrating the fact that they will be able to reclaim the basements from beer equipment. Personally, I will miss the security of knowing that I can brew in my basement whenever I want.

The first stop was Eric’s house. There were a few minor obstacles (ie, getting the UHaul stuck in the snow bank), but it was an overall success. There is nothing like hauling a bunch of stainless steel, glass carboys, and burners, to make you feel like a man. After dropping the equipment off at the brewery, we went to pick up Jon’s system. The second time around, we were now a fine tuned moving crew. In short order, all the equipment was loaded in the truck and we were off.

Now both pilot systems at the brewery. Just a little plumbing and we’re good to go! Starting this Saturday we’ll be brewing every weekend until the big equipment shows up.

Cheers,
Lucid Brewing

What happened to 2009?

Taps at at Fitger’s Brewhouse - Duluth, MN

As one year ends and another begins, things have been quiet as far as the physical brewery goes. 2009 has been a year learning and making new friends.

Lucid Brewing – There’s a new Kid in Town by The Captain’s Chair

A few weeks back I chatted it up with Aaron Masterson of The Captain’s Chair.

Read about our conversation here: Lucid Brewing – There’s a New Kid in Town

Thank you Aaron for the article.

Beer Geek – Craft Beer Gatekeepers

A beer geek is often the first person to consume a new craft brewer’s beer. A beer geek can be a home-brewer, a beer blogger, a beer cicerone, a beer snob, all of the above, none of the above. If you are reading this, you are most likely a beer geek. Most of the feedback a craft brewer receives is from beer geeks. Beer geeks are at brewery events, at festivals, at tastings, at beer dinners, volunteering, talking your ear off, and so forth. It seems like beer geeks are everywhere.

 

Unfortunate for brewers, beer geeks are not everywhere. Unfortunately for brewers, the beer geeks are only a small fraction of total beer consumers. This is not a total loss. Beer geeks go out of their way to try a new or local beer. They have many social ties like home-brewer clubs, tasting clubs, blogs, magazines, and chat rooms. The best thing about beer geeks is they are passionate about beer and are constantly talking beer with friends, many of whom happen to be macro-beer drinkers. Depending on the craft brewery’s size and styles of beer brewed, you may need this connection to the macro-beer drinker. Why? As I see it, the macro-brewers are losing market share and the craft brewers are gaining market share, so these macro-beer drinkers are, in sense, up for grabs. Sooner or later, a macro-beer drinker will have a gateway-craft-beer experience.

 

I believe beer geeks are one of the leading factors in causing a macro-beer drinker’s gateway-craft-beer experience. Sooner or later, their enthusiasm rubs off on you and the next thing you know, you’re sitting at a beer bar ordering something goofy. And just maybe you like it. That’s kind of how my gateway experience transformed me from macro-beer drinker to beer geek. I used to seek out the on-sale beer, now I seek the new beer, the what-haven’t-I-tried beer and the what-did-so-and-so recommend beer.

 

As a fellow beer geek, I do my share of promoting craft beer. In a recent conversation with a macro-beer drinking friend about how Miller High Life Light taste like water compared to Miller Lite, I recommended comparing Miller Lite to New Glarus Spotted Cow Ale. Another friend asked for advice on some different sour ales. I recommend some to her that I like. Some she liked. Others she described as, “It taste like feet, sweaty feet that have been stomping on cherries and I’m licking them.” Either her experience wasn’t that bad or she has a foot-fetish as she continues to try more sour ales.

 

Beer geeks may not be everywhere. But they’re there when you need them.

Accountants, Lawyers, gold medal

I met with the tax and legal gurus for their wisdom on what type of entity Lucid Brewing shall be. The choice was basically between a Limited Liability Company (LLC) or S-Corporation. I selected LLC, for now. A LLC gives more options for potential investment situations, like this really matters, since this assumes someone or someones will want to invest in Lucid Brewing. Seriously, I am open to investors, so send them my way, please. Once Lucid Brewing is creating revenue, and under the assumption I have no investors, I will change the company to an S-Corporation. An S-Corp gives an owner more flexibility around income taxes.

This past Friday and Saturday was spent at the Upper Mississippi Mash-Out (see previous post) judging home-brewed beer and consuming large amounts of locally brewed beer, both home-brewed and professionally brewed. All beers were very good. I entered a couple of beers, my Cream Ale took home a gold medal. I will post some of the feedback from the judges when I receive my score-sheets.

This week I am finalizing the LLC paperwork and looking around for potential brewery sites. The equipment search is quite a learning process. It is tough, when looking at a brewhouse, to figure out what is included and what is not included. The business plan has quite a ways to go, but it looks like I will be going with a 15-bbl brewhouse, but a 30-bbl brewhouse in not out of the question.

I look forward to this weekend’s test batch, a Northern English Brown Ale. Nutty, caramel goodness in a bottle.

Drinking cask conditioned ale in St Paul

This past Sunday the entire family went to St Paul for some fun. First we went to the Minnesota Children’s Museum, where our son Liam enjoyed himself thoroughly. The ant colony room kept him running and crawling and kept Alyssa and myself spinning.

After the running and chasing at the museum, we strolled over to Great Waters Brewing Company for some food and cask conditioned ales from the beer engine. Great Waters always has a minimum of four cask ale on the engines at a serving temperature of 52 degrees Fahrenheit. I found their house ale and Mr. Smooth very tasty.

I will be sure to enjoy more of Great Water’s ales this upcoming Friday at the Upper Mississippi Mash-Out’s indoor pub crawl. Mash-Out is one of the nation’s larger home-brew contest, in which several Minnesota breweries and brew pubs bring growlers to quench the thirst of the volunteers on Friday night. I will have a keg on tap for the volunteers to enjoy between judging sessions during the day. Trust me, there is no shortage of beer or mead to enjoy at the contest.

Later this week, meetings are scheduled with accountants and lawyers for the business structure setup. Maybe, if time allows, some progress will be made on Lucid Brewing’s logo.