Retrospectin'

Well hey there, cats and kittens! Round about now we're celebrating something of an anniversary here at Bone Up Headquarters. That's right! This week marks the one-year anniversary of this here blog! And, somehow, it originally managed to be even less chock full o' news than it is now. 

Since we spent our Weekly Blog Ramblin' Times last week talking about the way ahead (and since there's nothing new to report on that front except that our new floor is - for real this time - going in this week. Supposedly. Maybe), we figured we'd spend a little time looking back. 

Now, it might not seem like a lot has gotten done in this past year, but we've been doing a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff that, frankly, isn't very interesting. 

For instance: after spending several months looking at potential spaces, we found one that we thought would work (the one we're in now, in fact). But before we could even think about signing the lease, we had to get the zoning for the building modified. And that meant meeting with a handful of people in City Hall (no easy task, considering we had day jobs) and - of course - filling out paperwork. Once our paperwork got rejected,* we had to schedule a hearing with the zoning committee, which only meets every four weeks. Our first hearing was cancelled because not enough people on the committee showed up (in their defense, it was pretty nice out that day). That almost happened at the next hearing, but that one was merely delayed... until somebody could go get the only missing committee member they could get in touch with... the one who was recovering from eye surgery (he couldn't drive himself in because he had to wear dark sunglasses at all times). 

Riveting story, right? Now take that story and stretch it out over fifteen weeks or so, and it becomes substantially less gripping. That pretty much sums up our lives at the time. 

But seriously, we've had one hell of a year: this time last year, we didn't have our lease signed, we didn't have any of our brewing equipment (nor any of the handsome and elegant merchandise available in our very own shop!), and our impending TTB paperwork was just some gremlin looming off in the distance. Hell, our company didn't even have the same name at that time. So it's been a hectic year for us here at headquarters, and Jimbo put together this great infographic to illustrate our biggest milestones (both past and future):

Just as importantly, we've encountered a lot of great people over the past year. And we'd like to thank everyone who's given us support, information, advice, encouragement, and hops knows what else. We're lucky to know as many fantastic people as we do, and we're excited to join an industry with so many people that look out for each other and help each other out. 

We'd also like to thank you, dear reader, for reading this ridiculous blog (and, where applicable, giving us feedback**). We know you could be doing a lot of things with your time other than reading the news page for a brewery that doesn't exist yet, and we do try to make things at least a little entertaining because of that, but even so we really appreciate you checking back here every week. 

*Yes, it was a required part of the process to submit an application for the express purpose of having it rejected. No, I don't know why.

**Admittedly, a lot of the reactions we've been getting to the site have been along the lines of "... you guys are weird." And that's cool too. Ain't no law sayin' how high you gotta let your freak flag fly.