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

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.