In Which We Find Ways to Keep Ourselves Busy

Ah winter, when a brewer's heart turns toward floor repair and thoughts of sand. Yes indeedy, we're taking advantage of the relative downtime* to "spruce up" the ol' place and "do at least part of a project that we tried to start several years ago." And sure, it may not sound particularly exciting to you (and in fact, we'd be a little concerned if it did seem exciting to you), but we ain't exactly get a lot of "planned downtime" around here and we've certainly levied more than our fair share of wear and tear on that poor floor, so we'll take our repairs when we can.

But anyway. That's not what you came here for (and again, we'd be confused at best if it were), so on with the fun stuff! And nothing's more fun than virtual events, right? R... right?

​Well we sure think they're fun! Especially now that weekend options are pared down to "virtual events," "watching Good Omens for the eleventh time," or "going out and mingling with the kinds of people who think it's a good idea to risk their lives (and their families' lives) for an Awesome Blossom." 

But getting back to the point (there is going to be one! I promise!), we're steppin' up** the ol' virtual event game and we're kickin' it off with our first "Beer with the Brewers" night this Friday! We'll be tasting Ginger Spectacular side-by-side with its barrel-aged counterpart Ginger Disco and we (Liz and Jared, and possibly some of our other brewers if they're not too busy doing whatever it is they do when they're not making beer) will go on to ramble about the beers and the production process and we'll probably tell some anecdotes (and there might be some stuff about floor repair if we're being honest) and it'll be a good time! There's no cost to join us past the cost of the beers themselves, so drop us a line at [email protected] if you need the link and come hang out!

It's also worth mentioning that we intended to start doing these "Beers with the Brewers" things every week on Fridays, but we had the good sense to start the week before several consecutive holidays, so the next few tastings will be on Thursdays (Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, respectively). It's also worth mentioning that, as always, we'll gladly keep going with events like this for as long as y'all are interested. And we're always open to new ways to mix things up (whether it be content, day/time, suggested guest stars, etc.), so if you've got suggestions let us know!

Oh! And! What with all the talk of sand and excitement about staring at our computers, we almost forgot to mention the new beer that's coming out next week! It's a double IPA made with a buncha local grains and also it's hopped exclusively with one of our favorite-ever hop varieties: MA-grown Rakau! And as jazzed as we are about this big lil' beer (Rakau is so good! So fruity!), it's a bit of a bittersweet time because we're using some of the last-ever crop of MA Rakau. Turns out it doesn't actually grow all that well around here and yada yada yada farming blah blah blah something about dirt. Anyway, we wanted to give this hop a proper sendoff and we're doin' so in the form of Treasure Hunt and it comes out this Sunday!​

* On a related note, though it's one you've likely heard 700,000 times this week alone, please support your local businesses in this most fraught of holiday seasons. 
** In this case, "steppin' up" essentially means "starting."