Well hello there, cats and kittens! Have we got (part of) some news for you! Now that we've got (some of) our permits and the snow is (largely) melted, construction has (more or less) really gotten underway! As you can (kinda) see from these pictures, we've finally got (most of) our walls put up, there are (partial) doors installed, and (some of) the plumbing is being installed as we speak. We've even got (temporary) lighting, which makes it (substantially) less terrifying to go there at night! 

Seriously though, we never expected that we'd be getting super amped about plumbing and drywall, and yet here we are. Our corner of this beat-up old industrial building is undergoing a pretty huge transition and it's hella exciting that we (mostly) get to watch it happen!

Now that our federal permits have been approved and we're one step closer to becoming a Real Brewery, we decided to knuckle under down to the brass tacks and storm our brains for some conceptualizations of the most important part to any Legitimate Business: the taproom!

We're applying for a Farmer Brewer permit, which means once our doors swing open we'll be able to apply for another permit that will eventually let us sell you beer by the pint. How exciting! More paperwork! At this point, by the time we're ready to make beer we might accidentally sign the mash tun in triplicate and mail it to city hall.  

But anyway, we've got some fun ideas for the Bone Up taproom, since everybody knows that a snazzy ambiance makes beer taste better. And nothing says snazzy like a former industrial laundromat! Seriously though, we've put a lot of thought into how we can best make our taproom the sort of place we would drink at, not unlike Orwell's The Moon Under Water (except that in pretty much every way it will be completely unlike The Moon Under Water). Check out some of our concept sketches below:

We fully expected that we wouldn't have any brewery news for you this week because all of our employees have been busy getting married. 

OK, that's technically incorrect, since "employee" implies that we're getting paid. And we also happen to be lucky enough to know some people who have provided incredible amounts of help and support without any expectation of payment (and who we cannot possibly thank enough), but we're loosely classifying them as "volunteers" (though you can feel free to substitute the word "family" or "suckers" as you see fit). 

But I digress. Jimbo and Jared are married now! And that's not even the extent of the huge excitement around these parts: our TTB Application got approved! We're federally recognized as being Legitimate Brewers!

Now, we're still a ways away from being able to make delicious beers for you, but this is a Huge Deal. TTB approval is easily the third biggest milestone on the road to becoming a Real Brewer (the first two are raising money and finding a suitable space to rent, and we've done those), so now the only big things standing in our way are state-level permits and some renovations! Building renovations are usually pretty quick, right?

Finally, we have something to talk about other than all the fine products that we have available for purchase in our very own online store! Well... sort of. We finally heard from the TTB! The TTB, for those of you don't know, is the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (formerly known as the ATF), and they're in charge of taking some of our money every time we make beer! It's a little more complicated than that, though - they're also in charge of making sure our brewery is fit to brew in, issuing our license, approving/rejecting beer formulas, and approving/rejecting beer labels*. It's been a while since we last heard from them, but considering the huge range of stuff the TTB does, we won't take it too personally (not that we have a choice).

Now that we've stopped giddily jumping up and down about the fact that the TTB noticed us, it's worth mentioning that they only contacted us to request a couple specific pieces of information. But hopefully that's all they need and once we collect our data and send it over, they'll approve our permit! Or, just as likely, this is the beginning of a months-long back-and-forth that will have us answering slight rephrasings of the same few questions endlessly! I believe I've used the phrase "whirlwind of excitement" to describe this sort of thing before, and I think it still fits.