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In Which We Bring You Joy (and Pizza) (and Trivia)

5/30/2017

Howdy hoo, all o' you! We got another event-filled weekend lined up for y'all, full of good sounds, good tastes, and good times!

First up, on Thursday we've got our usual cask 'n' pizza shenanigans - featuring Extra Naked that's been extra dry hopped with a bunch o' Nugget from our friends at Four Star Farms! And adding to that excitement, Thursday is the first installment of Audio Triviality! And if you ain't in the loop on that yet, we partnered up with Nefarious Realm for a night of music-themed trivia, and this particular night is sponsored by the venerated Metal Blade Records!

Sassy caption

Then on Friday we're releasing The Joybringer, a beer we brewed to celebrate our one year brewing anniversary and also this festival we got invited to! Thassright, we'll be reppin' strong at the BeerAdvocate Microbrew Invitational this weekend! It's a festival focused on celebrating The Little Guy, so if you wanna drink beer in a room fulla gumption, you should come hang out! And if you ain't feelin' the fest on Friday, we'll have fancy pizza (from Sillari's, of course) back at home base!

That's some delicious golden joy in a glass right there

And since we're ringin' in a new month this weekend, that means we gotta reveal the winners of May's coloring contest! Look at them (and if you're one of 'em, come on in and claim your prize!):

Runner up:
@dorlizakapow

Runner up:
Hannah "From Maine"

Runner up:
@LindseyWallace

Winner (for this crazy tie-dye thing)!
@paulcdavey

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Cask and You Shall Receive

5/23/2017

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Howdy there and welcome back to this ol' blog where we gon' wrangle up a mess o' news tidbits and fun times to come!

And the first order of business around these here parts is cask beer. We started our humble lil' cask program a little ways back with some encouragement from John over at Maverick Cafe and some equipment we borrowed from Randy (which we rigged up via the time-tested method of nailing unused floorboards to our old kegerator), and we figured it would be a sort of niche thing that we did once a month (and largely for our own benefit/enjoyment). But we have been proven terribly, gloriously wrong as we discover y'all's (occasionally latent) thirst for hand-pumped beer! Long story short, we're gonna start throwin' two of those bad boys on every week (using our fancy new system made out of stained unused floorboards nailed to our old kegerator) in the hopes that we'll be able to make them last past midday on Friday!

And we can finally stop crushing Patrick and Josh and Rick's and Jimbo's dad's spirits

So for the first installment in our ever-increasing weekly caskblast, we've got the (surprisingly popular) Pounder (our single hop Green Bullet Pale, for those of you not "in the know"), complete with an extra dollop of Green Bullet! Then hot on its heels, we've got another cask o' Wasted Life, dry hopped with Experimental Lemon Zest (which, much like Experimental Stonefruit, is a confusingly-named hop as opposed to actual fruit), which will probably get tapped on Saturday (possibly as early as Friday if Pounder really flies outta here). So come on out and grab a pint to pound on the patio!

Speaking of patios, did you see that we have a patio now? Because we do! You can sit out there and drink beer and everything.

Productivity is down. Comfort is up!

And yep, it's pooch-friendly! (Provided they're leashed and you don't mind Jimbo ignoring the entire bar so she can play with your doggo)

And if that somehow weren't enough to entice you to make "just a quick stop" (for an hour) because we're "basically on the way" (ten miles in the wrong direction) to your mother in law's house, we've got some cool stuff lined up for this weekend!

We already mentioned the cask on Thursday, and we're gonna have some delicious-as-usual pizza to pair with it (and maybe some handmade chicharrones if we're lucky)!

And on Friday we've got Moody's Deli comin' through with all the meats and tasty eats. Check out dis menu!

We are particularly excited about Shut Up Kelly! burnt ends.

Then for Saturday we're rectifying a pretty big error we made recently. Namely, we didn't throw any kind of ice cream party to celebrate our anniversary, so this week we're bringin' in a whole truck fulla ice cream sandwich goodness! We're gonna have a Bone Up Special and everthang - chocolate orange ice cream to pair with the Love Doctor beertail y'all have been so fond of!

The first of many Frozen Hoagies installments this summer. It's been too long...

And on Sunday we will have donuts. Donuts are good.

Yus

And for future times, we've got things locked down for that music-themed trivia night we were talkin' about a few weeks ago! The long and the short of it is, the first Thursday of every month we'll be teamin' up with Nefarious Realm to throw on some tunes and have some trivia-related good times. We're calling it Audio Triviality and the first installment (starting June 1st at 8PM) is sponsored by Metal Blade Records!

Holy hell I don't know how we got them on board for this but it's pretty friggin' rad!

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Dang on a Thang, Has it Really Been a Year?

5/16/2017

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Well hey there! As we mentioned last week, we recently had a bit of an anniversary around here, and like most big occasions around these parts it passed a little unceremoniously* (not unlike our first brewday, though that was for legal reasons) so we're gonna "pick up the slack" and "navel gaze" a little bit because that's the "sort of thing" we "feel the need" to do every once and again.

Because starting with this...

And transforming it into that...

... has felt pretty dang good.

Now then. It's been a year. A dang ol' friggin YEAR. And our big achievement during that time has been taking a small, cramped, more-or-less functioning brewing space and making it *way* more crowded. But seriously though, this past year has brought us from a semi-legit weird little brewery run exclusively by two very tired people, to a full-speed-ahead good-time-havin' weird little brewery run by two very tired people and some hella great staff both front and back of house. You could say we've come a long way, but you'd barely be scratching the surface of that ol' molehill.

Honey 'n Hops, batch no. 0001.

This time last year, we had just finished getting through our water brews (which we did to test our brewhouse) and we decided that the metric for success should be "nothing caught fire and nothing melted." This, as you might imagine, made for an interesting first brewday. Admittedly, nothing did catch fire or melt (except for that one thing. And also that other thing), but even so (and we didn't feel the need to mention this at the time), our first brewday was a disaster. The specific details are largely "inside baseball,"** but suffice to say it was one hell of a learning experience.***

Unfinished beer has never tasted so good (good in the way only a freshly born brewer could love)

More to the point: we did it! Beer resulted from that hectic, confused scramble of a brewday (which currently ranks as the second worst brewday in Bone Up History. Don't ask about the first) and three short weeks later we were enthusiastically hosted by our new (at the time, anyway) friends over at Maverick Cafe! It was a thrilling experience seeing people drinking our First Ever Beer - though it was made slightly bittersweet by the fact that said beer tasted almost nothing like we'd intended (we're a little better at that now) - and we managed to sell out before the sun went down! We'd done it! We made beer and people were drinking it! On purpose! Things were looking up.

There were no words, just shit-eatin' grins and all of the thumbs were up (when pints weren't being tilted back)

Except we weren't able to open our taproom at the time, so the summer that followed that auspicious occasion was mostly filled by Jimbo riding around on a bike laden with full growlers (Jared still had a day job at the time), bringing them to bars and restaurants who usually showed their support for the New Kids by saying things like "you're from which brewery? I've never heard of you" and then losing interest entirely (there were, of course, a few notable exceptions - in addition to the aforementioned Maverick Cafe - such as Mystic Station in Malden, who has been incredibly supportive since basically day one).

That's some space age virgin equipment right there!

And when we weren't making awkward sales calls or brewing or renovating the taproom or working our day jobs or taking naps in the park while we were supposed to be at our day jobs, we took every opportunity to do popups and tastings and events where we got to meet the few people who had heard of us (many of whom work here by now) and repeatedly answer the question of "when is your taproom going to open?"**** (and of course we had no idea).

Though it did give us time to acquire a variety of banners and potted plants (at the city's request)

But we persevered! And, more importantly, we kept on pushing towards gettin' that dang ol' taproom open so we could serve beer directly to you! And then one day, more or less out of the blue, we got the permits to do so and holy shit were we unprepared.***** Opening day was thrilling and exhausting and chaotic in the best possible way and we just couldn't believe the turnout and the positive response and holy hell people were waiting in line just to drink our beer (honestly that part still blows our minds). And amidst all that, we realized that we had to re-figure almost everything front-of-house because we'd been wrong about pretty much everything up to that point.

For example, how to make signs.

But that (somehow) ended up being okay! We learned, we adapted, we fixed what we could afford to fix, and now things are pretty durn good! We've got events and games and food and casks and a sweet-ass pinball machine and every now and then we run into somebody who's actually heard of us and we're just gonna keep on keepin' on for as long as people like comin' out to our weird little brewery!

Cheers!

And speaking of things being pretty durn good, we've got one hell of a weekend lined up for y'all:

This Thursday we've got Shut Up Kelly! showin' back up on cask, and a little while after that glorious debut the ladies from Jaju Pierogi are comin' by to fry up some delectable delights!

Then on Friday we're havin' another one o' them block parties y'all like so much, and - given the season - this one is prom themed for some reason! And to commemorate the occasion, we're bringin' in Bonetown Burgers (who - speaking of people who have been with us from the start - was there on our opening day) and we're rollin' out our (formerly semi-secret) beertail menu so's you can enjoy a "Love Doctor" or a "Go Home Kurt" or a "Tony Sucks!" So don your Sunday Best (or go on ahead and be That Guy in the Tuxedo Shirt if that's more your speed) and come drink some beers and eat some burgers!

And I don't actually know if we're doing anything out of the ordinary on Saturday (editor's note: nope) but isn't Saturday enough of an occasion on its own? Just come hang out. Fun times fun times.

* If I recall correctly, much of that day was spent swearing at inanimate objects. Just like old times!
** "Boring."
*** We find that "learning experience" sounds much better than "terrible day."
**** That question has since been replaced by a combination of "when are you expanding?", "when are you getting an outdoor seating area?", and "when are you going to start canning?" The answers to those - in order - are "as soon as we can", "as soon as we have a place where we can do that", and "probably never."
***** At the behest of our building inspectors, we actually had a one-night-only Unannounced Secret Opening on the day we got our permits. Nothing was clean or set up and we didn't have any cash to make change and that didn't matter anyway because we didn't know how to use the cash register. It was an interesting night.

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Celebrating a Year of Wearing Quick-Dry Garments

5/9/2017

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Hi hello how are you? We're simply swell, partly (but far from entirely) because we're celebrating the anniversary of our very first brewday this week! That's right - Sunday, May 14 marks one full year of beer production at Bone Up. While we're savin' all the real big hoo-hahs and hurrahs for the end of August when the taproom turns one, we've got three - count 'em: three* - beer releases this weekend! Plus a cask! Plus tasty treats!

Your humble brewers, in their humble onesies, casually posing for a photo our bank took of us.

Anyway, down to business: we got us some more cask action comin' right on schedule this Thursday startin' at three! This time around we're pumpin' out some Wasted Life, but we ain't gonna bring you no regular ol' Wasted Life, nosiree. Not on my watch. Instead, we had Mike - our behind-the-scenes bringer of power tool knowledge and racecar stories** - dig through our bucket o' weirdass, experimental, oft-unnamed hop varieties and he beelined straight for Experimental Stonefruit. So without a moment's hesitation we tossed a heapin' helpin' on in that cask and we'll just have to see what happens! We don't know how in heck that's gonna turn out but we've got some ideas and they're all tasty.

Very tasty.

Next on the docket - that very same day, in fact - we're trottin' out another single hop pale ale, and this time around we're focusin' on Green Bullet! It's a New Zealand variety (which is a tad unusual*** for us), and it's just ever so pleasant! If you were a fan of Come Out and Play, make sure you stop by and check this beauty out.

Green Bullet Pale = GBP. Get it?

And now for Long Story Time, as we ramble a bit about the beers we're releasing on Sunday. You've probably heard a bit about this if you've been within twenty feet of us within the past month or so, but the rub of it is that two Friends Of The Brewery are gettin' married this coming weekend and they'll be serving two beers that we made just for them! Well, not just for them - it turns out they didn't need multiple gallons of beer per guest at their wedding - which means we get to serve the rest in the taproom! But wait, there's more! These two beers were made to be blended at serving, making a wedding-themed beertail!

So what are these beers, you ask? Well first off there's a blonde, named Jodi (after the bride), that we brewed with orange and ginger and just a bit o' honey;**** next up we have a chocolate stout named Josh (after the groom); and combining the two gives us The Love Doctor (it should be pretty obvious why we called it that). So swing through on or after Sunday and grab yourself a glass!

Well, not those glasses. Those are for Jodi and Josh. Congrats, guys!

We've also got back-to-back treats goin' down this weekend! Friday, we're kicking things off in the tastiest way possible: with pie! Small pies. Delicious pies. These pies, specifically:

A multi course meal, no utensils required.

And as if that weren't enough bite-sized goodness, we've got the macaron lady back for round two in the taproom on Saturday afternoon! Boston Bonbon will be bringing between 6 and a hundred flavors of tiny colorful cookies for you to mix and match, cram in your facehole, or take away by the case. We don't judge. Anyway, come eat cookies!

Hittin' all the food groups: orange creamsicle, maple bacon, Vietnamese iced coffee, salted caramel, key lime ginger...

We got so many other good times comin' up afterwards it's prolly easier to just list 'em off!
05.11 5-7pm CBC Fort Point Growler Pop Up
05.13 12pm Key Lime @ Beer & Cheer VIP Session, Topsfield Fair
05.18 6-10pm Jaju Pierogi Pop Up
05.19 5-11pm Fermentation District Spring Block Party
05.26 5-10pm Moody's Delicatessen & Provisions Pop Up
05.27 2-8pm Frozen Hoagies Pop Up

To end the blog this week on a heavier note, we'll be startin' up metal-themed trivia the first week of June! We've partnered up with the folks at Nefarious Realm to bring you n evening once a month focused on new releases, prizes, cool local art, and musical trivia (and obviously fresh cask ale and tasty pizza)! So far we've got Metal Blade Records signed on with more to come!

Check out God Dethroned

* Four if you count the fact that two of the beers are made to be part of a beertail.
** His job title is "Mike."
*** This is almost definitely the first time we've used a non-US-grown hop here. At all.
**** An actual bit of honey, that is. Not the terrible antique candy.

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In Which We Savor the Flavor of an Art Well-Colored

5/2/2017

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Howdy howdy howdy! We're back for more good times and this time around those times look a lot like a whole shitload of casks and southern food!

Thassright, we got the fine folks over at Porch swingin' through twice this weekend with a heapin' helpin' of delicious vittles! So swing on through Friday from 5-10pm or Saturday startin' at noon and get your grub on!

Alllll the fixins'

And a bit before that, we got some dueling cask action on Thursday night! Here at home base we're throwin' on Extra Naked with an extra handful of Glacier (grown by K & K Farms* out in Michigan), and out in the wild, we've got Shut Up Kelly! returning to Maverick Cafe in East Boston, with Jimbo at the helm of the beer engine!

Neither one of these stuck around very long last time we tapped 'em, so get in early if you wanna try some!

And if you happen to be a bit more of a "morning person," we got us another Fat Boyfriend Beer Brunch on Sunday! There will probably (definitely) be ham and several cheese-centric items for your faceholes to enjoy.

On Sundays we like to day drink and eat things with melted cheese on them and call it brunch

Speaking of things that are perfect for a lazy Sunday morning, we got us some winners for April's coloring contest! We had us some stellar entries this month, and after a little hemming and a lotta hawing, we picked us some winners! Check it out, and if you're one of them lucky guys or gals, come in and claim your swag!

Runner up - @martha_horton

Runner up - @miss_merc_

Runner up - @victorebello

Runner up - @tharris618

Runner up - @there_is_a

Winner winner chicken dinner! (Well, brisket and pork dinner if you come in this weekend)
April contest winner - @Jenabate33

But enough about all the fun things we have planned this weekend because we've got a docket fulla future goings-on and it's high time we started dropping a bunch of maddeningly vague hints about them.

Firstly, some of you may have noticed that our draft list is looking a bit more... sparse than we'd generally prefer. But never you fret, as there is a method to our madness. More to the point, this methodical madness is resulting in three dang ol' beer releases the weekend of the 12th! One will be on Thursday, as is our usual style, and the remaining pair will be put off until Sunday,** so keep your eyes peeled and your palates primed!

And that's all we're really allowed to say at the moment!

And a little further down the line, we're gonna do something we thought we'd never do around here: trivia! But this won't be your run-of-the-mill, off-the-shelf trivia, no sir. You can get that nonsense anywhere. Instead, we're partnering up with Nefarious Realm to do something that's a bit more, well, Nefarious. We'll fill you in on details as you get them, but currently it's looking like a monthly event on the first Thursday of the month (starting next month, of course), so keep an eye out for them sweet deets in the near future.

* We picked up some pretty cool stuff from these guys, so keep your eyes peeled in the coming weeks and months.
** Which also happens to be the anniversary of our very first ever Real Bone Up Brewday!

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In Which We Bring You Joy (and Pizza) (and Trivia)

Cask and You Shall Receive

Dang on a Thang, Has it Really Been a Year?

Celebrating a Year of Wearing Quick-Dry Garments

In Which We Savor the Flavor of an Art Well-Colored

BUBco Blog

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