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In Which There Is One Last Hurrah

12/27/2023

Hi friends! This is one bittersweet-ass blog post to write on account of how it's the last ever one we'll be putting up while the taproom is open* but given the fact that it's kind of our whole thing to stay cheerful and live it up even when the shit's full-on hittin' the fan, we're gonna stick with what works and focus on the positives. Sound good? Of course it doesn't! But let's do it anyway!

And kickin' off the weekend is our trusty Thursday cask! We're revvin' up the beer engine one more time and there's no beer better to grace your glasses than Kelly!** This time around we zazzed it up a bit by tossing in a handful of oak chips that we'd had soaking in some ginger liqueur and that's a little more "offbeat" than we usually go with Kelly casks but we're pretty dang sure it's gonna be tasty as heck, but also that's gonna be up to you to judge so come drink some!

Oh! Also! We've got another new bottle release! Sure, why not? Anyway we went to dig out that keg of Pobody's Nerfect that we'd squirreled away when we realized that we actually had more of that beer on hand than we'd previously thought (on account of how several people who work here are maybe not great with the whole "numbers" thing) so we figured we'd bottle some off and have one more dang ol' bottle release and anyway it's in bottles right now and you should grab some!

Movin' on to what all we got goin' on this week(end), on Thursday we've got our art and hippo auction! We've already sold off a fair bit of the art that adorns our walls (on account of how it would be a terrible idea to auction off like 150 different things) but we've saved some select pieces for live auction (which has limited seating, so get on it if you wanna be a part of it) which is gonna be emceed by two people who really have no idea how to run an auction and there's gonna be some curios that are available in a silent auction (which is open-access) and also we're gonna be auctioning off all the hippos hidden around the taproom (though in true Bone Up fashion we have definitely overestimated the number of people who care and/or know about the hippos***) and also we're gonna have Bonetown in the house slingin' some tasty eats and Jazz Funk Pregame providing some tunes and we're not saying you have to get all gussied up for our ridiculous auction, but also it would be funny if you did.

Then on Friday we're intentionally not doing any kind of big things in the taproom - we're just gonna hang out and enjoy the vibes, so if you wanna come out when things are at their least chaotic then that's probably your best bet.

And speaking of chaotic, on Saturday we've got the first of two consecutive shows! We're gonna have Glacier and Girih and Stryga gracing the stage and as an added treat in case three awesome bands wasn't enough for you we're also gonna have Dregs Liquid Light show providing visuals for you and also Wild Fox is gonna be poppin' up in the afternoon before the show and the point is that it's gonna be hella fun and you should come out!

Then on Sunday we've got Wild Fox poppin' up in the afternoon again and then we've got another show at night! This time we're goin' for thrash, thrash, and more thrash with Goblet, Viqueen, Karate Steve, and Graviton and hot damn is that gonna be a lot of fun! Given all the circumstances surrounding this show, on top of the fact that we've got a completely stacked lineup, we're expecting this show to draw more of a crowd than our live music usually does, so we do suggest you come by on the earlier side if you want to make sure you grab a good spot, but also we'll be rockin' out for a while so come by whenever you dang ol' see fit!

And then... that's it. It has truly been an honor to be able to run this weird little brewery for the past seven-plus years; we've gotten to do a ton of cool stuff, and we've met a lot of amazing people because of it. We certainly hope you've enjoyed having us be a part of your lives as much as we've enjoyed having you be part of ours; Bone Up is the best thing we've ever done and at the end of it we're just glad that y'all were there to share it with us. So to all our staff and our customers and our friends and everybody who's been with us in any capacity over the years: thank you. We couldn't have asked for a better group of weirdos to spend our time with, and we're glad we got to know you.

P.S. Next weekend once all the dust has settled we'll be doin' an "estate sale" where we'll be selling off a bunch of stuff from around the taproom and/or brewery (stuff that's not really auction-worthy like games and glassware and seating and stuff) so keep an eye out for more details about that.

* Don't worry, my faithful readers (both of you), we'll still be puttin' up updates after all is said and done - for one thing, we've been doing this every week for most of a decade and it's gonna be hard to drop the habit. For another thing, even if all is said and done, we're gonna have plenty more to say and do, so we might as well keep shoutin' about it. Plus we'll probably be doing some retrospecting once we can get over that proverbial lump in our figurative throats, so you might as well keep checkin' back for a little while.
** I know I always say that Extra Naked is the best beer to have on cask, but let's be serious. It's Kelly.
*** For those of you asking "why hippos," I just... I don't fuckin' know, man.

In Which We Announce the Sendoff Shows

12/20/2023

Well hey there! We're headed right into the heart of that ol' "holiday season" which means things are a little quiet around here on the old Events Front* but that just means we can be "free range" for the weekend or whatever and it's still gonna be a good time, so read on up on what all we've got goin' on!

First on up we should talk Holiday Hours and things ain't gonna be too crazy on that front but we should mention that we will be closing at 6PM on Sunday the 24th and we will be closed on Monday the 25th but otherwise it's smooth sailing for the weekend, hours-wise so come on by!

And on a moderately related note we should note that there will be no cask this week, partly/largely on account of all the holiday hullabaloo - sure, the Big Day ain't until Monday but we figure people are traveling and all that nonsense so everyone's schedule is gonna be all topsy-turvy and also we've only got one cask left and we want to tap it on the 28th (it's mostly that last part, honestly).

Anyway since we're already talking about Thursday the 28th, we should talk about what all we've got goin' on on the 28th and that's our hippo auction! For those of you who might not have any idea what hippos have to do with anything, the short version of the story is that we've pretty much always had hippos hidden throughout the taproom and it's turned into this whole thing with people not-infrequently gifting** us hippos to hide in the taproom and now there's quite a few of them and we thought it would be fun to auction them off and make sure they find good homes! We'll also be auctioning off some more normal stuff - some of art and/or stuff from the taproom walls, some other assorted paraphernalia, probably even a third thing, you get the idea. Anyway, we're gonna have some smaller-ticket items up as part of a "silent auction" which will be ongoing throughout the day and there's also gonna be a live auction that you have to rsvp for and at the very least it should be entertaining to watch us try and figure out how to host an auction on the fly, plus we're gonna have Bonetown in the house with some tasty eats, so come on out and buy some of our crap!

And then on Saturday the 30th we're rampin' up the first of two big ol' bittersweet events and that means a show! We've finally - finally, after years of trying - gotten Glacier to play a show at the brewery, and they're playing with Girih (who is also incredible and who was supposed to play the brewery over the summer but that didn't pan out) and Stryga (who has played the brewery several times in the past, and we are always hella stoked to see them) and we've got Wild Fox Pierogi in the house (2-6pm) and it *is* currently looking like we'll still have a decent number of beers on tap unless things get particularly buckwild over the next week AND The Dregs is going to be doing a sick light show during the sets but I digress because my point is that it's gonna be a killer show and you should come out!

And then. Lastly. As in, lastly lastly. We wanted to go out with a bang and Sunday the 31st is gonna bang one heck of a dang - we've got a night full of thrash planned for all y'all, with Goblet and Viqueen and Karate Steve and Graviton and they/we are gonna let it rip like there's no tomorrow! We've got Wild Fox in the house again from 2-6pm, and we're just gonna be goin' as hard as we can all day, so come on out and live it up with us!

* This is usually the time of year when we put up our Year In Review because there's not much else to talk about, but somehow we couldn't quite bring ourselves to do a thorough reflection on this past year? At least not yet? Weird, I know.

** We do feel kinda weird auctioning off things that were gifts, especially since some of them were handmade, but ultimately it comes down to the fact that a) we want to give people the opportunity to bring home a piece of the taproom with a fun story behind it, and 2) we absolutely do not have room for 24 hippos in our apartment. We'll probably keep The Tippo, but we gotta draw the line somewhere.

In Which Some Tough Goodbyes Start to Happen

12/13/2023

Hello again! We've got another week fulla fun times for all y'all (and also some full-on emo stuff, but we'll put that at the end), so read on up and check out all the cool stuff we've got goin' on!

Oh but before we get to all the good and/or tasty times we should mention that tonight (Wednesday) we will be closed to the general public for our last-ever mug club social. So if you've got a mug, come on out and raise it with us!

Comin' up first and/or foremost is cask! This time around we took a pin of trusty-tasty Shut Up Kelly and we "goosed it up" with a handful of oak cubes that we'd been soakin' in some blackberry liqueur and we don't usually get all fruity with ol' Kelly but that don't mean this won't be delicious (it will be) and it's gettin' tapped Thursday so come getcha some!

And speaking of beer, we should probably mention that we released All The Critters Beers in bottles, like, just now. Moments ago, or maybe yesterday. And for those of you who ain't "old heads" who've been around this particular block a jillion times, the way we used to do our wild beers was a little different than it is now - we would take a bunch of beer and funkify it and then empty a barrel and serve that straight-up (well, we'd carbonate it first, but we didn't blend funky stuff is my point) and since these weren't always particularly large amounts of beer (take a 15 gallon barrel, subtract some loss to sediment, subtract more loss to the angels' share, you're left with an amount of beer best described as "not much, really") we wouldn't bother coming up with a name and a new label every time, they were just called "Critters" with a number attached. ANYway, emptying wild barrels took a bit of a backseat to the million jillion bottles that we needed to fill, and yada yada yada now there's like six new Critters beers! Mostly in bottles! And also one on draft (right now!) and one that will be draft only at some point.

But! Amidst all that hoopla, we did still find the time for one last big ol' brett blend and that's Wolf Pup! This one's extra-extra special on account of how it's our last-ever wedding beer and it was blended to celebrate the nuptials of friends-of-the-taproom Steph (who is a former employee, not to be confused with our current employee Steph) and Nate! Anyway that's also available in bottles right now (and will be on draft at some point) and you should come drink some of that too!

Alrightyroo, gettin' on to the Fun Times part of this here blog, we've got fun times! First on up is on Thursday and that's Simpsons Trivia! This time around Chris has taken it upon himself to make this the Extra Difficult Edition, which is certain to be interesting. And I promise I'm not trying to bring this up in every damn paragraph, but it is worth taking a moment to reflect on the fact that this is the last-ever Simpsons Trivia to be held here at Bone Up. It was an idea that we thought would have legs for maybe a few months but it's been going on every dang month for years and years - even after Chris moved away and quit bartending at the brewery - and we've had a lot of good times and a lot of laughs and a lot of hilariously terrible prizes (and, on the complete opposite end of that spectrum, one notable occasion when the prize was a signed poster sent to us unprompted by Matt frickin' Groening's office) and anyway as I've said a thousand times before, getting to do ridiculous stuff with y'all has been one of the things that has made Bone Up truly special and we're glad you got to be a part of it.

Anyway. Moving on. We've got even more cool shit lined up through the weekend and that starts in the afternoon on Friday when we've got our friends from Heads Up back in the house for some live screen printing! It's basically the same deal as what we do at the anniversary (only inside this time) - Heads Up is bringing four cool Bone Up designs and will be printing them on demand for the evening! They'll have blank shirts available for purchase, or you've got the option to bring your own clothes and get them printed (we recommend flannels, but hoodies are always a good choice too) so if you wanted one last opportunity to get some Bone Up apparel, now's your chance!

And then. Also on Friday we've got live music! This time around we're rockin' on out with Beneath Purgatory, Maidenhead, Dyhanna, and Vantablack and you know it's gonna be a hell of a time, so come on out! Doors are at 6:30, music is at 7:30.

Then on Saturday we've got even more live music because it turns out that hosting live music is a lot of fun? Anyway we've got a stacked lineup full of a buncha bands that have played here a time or two before (though never inside) and that's Sundrifter, Blue Manic, Ballast, and North Star the Wanderer (most of whom are anniversary vets) and the doors are at 6 with music at 7, so come on out!

And then next week we're "playin' it cool" on account of how there's some kind of annual celebration over the weekend next week (we'll be closed Christmas Day and I'm assuming we're closing early on Christmas Eve) but I might as well mention that the week after that is our Last Weekend so we're goin' out with a bang! On Thursday the 28th we're auctioning off all the taproom hippos (which I would explain here but this post is already 5,000 words long somehow) and then live music for two consecutive nights shortly after that with Glacier, Girih, and Stryga on Saturday the 30th then Goblet, Viqueen, Karate Steve, and Graviton playing on Sunday the 31st! And then after that we'll probably all need several days to let the ringing in our ears die down.

Lastly, as though we haven't gotten emo enough for the entirety of this blog, we've got to say a couple bittersweet goodbyes. Firstly, today marks our brewer Ben's last day here at Bone Up.* He's been a part of the Bone Up family since spring of 2017 and he's been here for all the highs and all the lows we've gone through over the years - back when he started we were fermenting in plastic tanks and carbonating kegs one at a time (it was terrible and I will not elaborate on that) and thanks to some... questionable information we'd received on the power available in the building it would be several months before we were able to use those shiny new tanks that we needed so badly.

Since then, we've not only increased the amount of beer we can/do make but also added a barrel-aging program and a bottling line (which was originally just a single-head homebrew bottle filler, which was also terrible thank you for asking) and we expanded within the building (which definitely didn't come with a mountain of bullshit from the city, that's for sure) and added another barrel-aging program and then covid happened (which, somehow, also involved a mountain of bullshit from the city**) which indirectly meant we had to get and also learn how to use a canning line and Ben's just been back there making beer and learning with us this entire damn time. I got a little sidetracked there but the point is that the dude's a Fixture around here and he will be sorely missed*** and it's hard to find the right thing to say when we're sending off somebody who's been here the entire damn time (and who has stuck around during some pretty low times) so instead here's a smattering of our favorite pictures we've taken of him over the years. We love you Ben! Thank you.

And finally, we're saying goodbye to Extra Naked. That's right, the perennial best beer on our menu has been laid to rest and all of our lives are poorer for it. We've shared many a good time with ol' XN over the years and even though we may have periodically gotten distracted by the newest thing on tap (because there's always something new on tap), Extra Naked was always there - the beer that we were never not in the mood for. It's a deceptively simple beer, recipe-wise - just two row and corn and a dash of hops from our friends at Four Star Farms - but that really just embodies the "simple done right" ethos we've always tried (sometimes unsuccessfully) to imbue into most of our beers (it's also one of the easiest beers to make, but that's not why we love it). I could keep waxing poetic about this beer (and at some point I probably will), but for now there's a crossbones-shaped hole in my heart and I'm gonna go see if I've got any cans or crowlers kicking around in the back of the fridge.

* He accepted a job at another brewery, and we're genuinely glad to see him land on his feet. Hell, we're the ones that told him to apply to this other brewery.
** The head of the building department threw a tantrum - about us specifically - so hard that it made the newspaper.
*** It's less likely that we'll miss all the ska he tends to play on the production speaker, but you never know.

In Which Liz and Jared Host Their First Trivia Night

12/6/2023

Howdy do, friendaroos! We may not have any logo-themed holidays for you this week or any big ol' musical events, but we do have a whole buncha cool stuff lined up for you nevertheless so let's get right to gettin' to all the cool stuff we've got planned for y'all!

Before we get into any of that jazz, we should start out with a brief note to all of you who have reached out about buying the taproom art (also, thank you to everyone who has reached out about buying the taproom art!): we are not selling the Dr. Orpheus painting. Enough of you have inquired about it that we feel the need to bring this up. It was a gift from a friend for our first anniversary - she also made the full-body Horatio and Henrietta plushies and did Jared's Horatio facepaint one year and also she's she unofficial third person who's not allowed to win the coloring contest because she would win too often and anyway if you're looking for some cool Venture Bros themed art you should probably holler and see if she does commissions.

Anyway let's get back to business and that business is beer! More to the point it's our trusty Thursday cask and this week we're goin' "back to basics" with Shut Up Kelly! Truth be told, the next, um, all of the casks will be ol' Kelly, but we're gonna have a different variation every week and this week we're goin' with the proven-quantity straight-up no-nonsense regular ol' Kelly on cask! Anyway it's delicious as hell and you should come drink some, especially if you want a basis for comparison against the other cask variants we'll be tappin', but especially if you like tasty beer and want to drink some.

Oh, and speaking of tasty beer, it's worth noting that our menu is gonna end up looking a little "it's still Horatio Day" for... a while. We've got a couple things going back on tap once kegs kick (specifically Three of Cups, Blue Manic, and Wasted Life) but also we're almost out of Extra Naked (get it while it lasts! Because it might not be here next week!) so it's gonna be more like a brief dalliance into "not having a menu that's entirely strong beer" before going back to all the barreled stuff and then there's a good chance there will be a nontrivial increase in funky beers somewhere in there but anyway we figured it might be worth to brace yourself or whatever (and yes, this is an unintended and unforeseen but not unwanted consequence of all the... everything that's happening right now).

Anyway, gettin' on into the fun times for the week, the fun times for the week start on Thursday with Audio Triviality! And since it's Holiday Time (pretty sure Horatio Day already happened, but whatever, his heart's in the right place) Satan Claws is comin' to town! There's gonna be a night full of holiday-music-themed questions and also general merriment, so come hang out with us and get trivial!

And since the one thing we get asked for the least is "more trivia" we decided that Friday should have more trivia! This time around, Liz and Jared are hosting which definitely won't be a terrible idea and the trivia's all about Bone Up! We'll be dishin' up the brain busters about the best damn brewery around and there's gonna be some extra-special prizes* for the winners and we think it'll be hella fun - we've tried to make it so it won't be, like, completely incomprehensible to people who aren't here constantly (though we may not have the best perspective on what does/doesn't count as "esoteric" but we did at least try) - and also we've got Wild Fox Pierogi poppin' up in the taproom and it's gonna be fun as hell and you should come hang out!

Then on Saturday we're startin' off early with some Metal Yoga and then in the afternoon we've got our Krampusnacht Holiday Art Market! There's gonna be delightful offerings from Gate & Garden Herbal Apothecary, spooky ceramics by Clay Creep, Spicy Boy Jerky, and the horror/comic-inspired art of Theater of Creeps! We're also gonna have Seabiscuit poppin' up with a mess o' tasty pies, so come on out and drink some beer and support some local artists/artisans!

Then on Sunday we're hosting our last-ever sushi class with the delightful Chef Harold - it has been a genuine delight to work with him and we're sad to see him go, so if you see one of his classes elsewhere we definitely encourage you to check it out! And then pretty much right after that class we're closing early for our staff party.

And looking forward to next week, we've got hella fun stuff next week too! There's the "Extra Difficult Edition" of Simpsons Trivia next Thursday because Chris wants to go out on a frustrating note and then next Friday we've got live screenprinting AND a show featuring Beneath Purgatory, Maidenhead, Dyhanna, and Vantablack (screenprinting starts earlier so you won't need to shout your shirt orders unless you really want to) and then next Saturday we've got ANOTHER show, this one featuring Sundrifter, Blue Manic, Ballast, and North Star the Wanderer!

And then there's a bit of a lull in events due to some non-Horatio-themed holiday that's happening but we wanted to touch upon the stuff later in the month on account of how that's all of our "end of the world" themed stuff. On Thursday the 28th we're hosting an auction for all the hippos** in the taproom and also some art*** and other stuff (we're aiming for a combo of live auction and silent auction, with a live jazz element for added class), and then we're having TWO consecutive shows on Saturday the 30th and Sunday the 31st. On Saturday we're hosting Glacier, Girih, and Stryga (several of whom we've been trying to book for months/years) and on Sunday we've got Goblet, Viqueen, Karate Steve, and Graviton (many/all, of whom we discovered at RPM Fest, which is a truly excellent time as well)!

* I can assure you, we definitely know what those prizes will be, and have acquired them. They totally exist, don't even worry about it.
** Given the popularity of the Hippo Hunt, a surprising number of people don't know about it on account of how we never post about it (so you only find out about it if it comes up in conversation with the bar staff). So if you're not in the loop, it's pretty simple: we've got a number (currently 23) of hippos hidden in our main taproom, and if you find them all you get a sticker! We used to have a much more reasonable number (like twelve) but things kind of spiralled out of control and people kept giving us hippos and now here we are.
*** We're mostly auctioning off the bigger stuff. If you're interested in any of the smaller pieces, drop us a line and make us an offer! Just please don't try to buy the Dr. O painting. We talked about this.

In Which There Is One Last Hurrah

In Which We Announce the Sendoff Shows

In Which Some Tough Goodbyes Start to Happen

In Which Liz and Jared Host Their First Trivia Night

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