Rip and pour

I tweeted a picture yesterday of workers tearing all the concrete out of the brewhouse area. Why would I do such a thing? (Hint: I like to keep everyone up to date.)

Well, I also need to install floor drains in the brewery, but why not follow the lead of Jackalope (and Yazoo, if I recall correctly) and only cut out and slope the floor right around the trenches? Certainly that would meet my needs and cost less.

Well, the architect discovered (after the lease was signed, obviously) that the floor in the brewery area was only about two inches of very old concrete over bare soil. That isn't nearly strong enough to support the equipment, tanks and all the beer Fat Bottom is going to make. We really need 4 inches of concrete over another four inches of packed gravel.

Since the whole floor has to be re-poured, we have the opportunity to slope the entire surface towards the drains, just like the big boys. All this work, demolition included, is just a few dollars per square foot and will be a big help once we start brewing, so I'm happy to have it done. We also ended up with some savings in other areas: the same pour will create a required ADA ramp from the sidewalk up about 8 inches to the taproom and we get to include curbs (as a water barrier) between the brewery space and public walkway.

Seeing the work done was neat. The crew just drove the loader you see in the pictures right through the front door of the building. The driver had it down to an art, cruising through with about three inches of clearance on each side. The crew around the machine was pretty casual too...the driver would back up and swinging the bucket around, with just a few inches of space between their legs and the bucket, and nobody seemed to notice.

(Side note: If you ever have a chance to rent or drive a landscaper like this one, do it. I rented one while building a driveway a few years ago, and it is probably the most fun I've ever had with a tool. Just don't stand to close when your buddy takes it for a spin.)

The demolition was done on Saturday and rough grading of the soil should happen Monday. Then the plumber can place the drains and pipes and the concrete team can come in to lay gravel and concrete later this week, and we'll be one step closer to opening.

Re: The problem with wow

A friend sent me a link to a blog post today, from Mystery Brewing in Hillsborough, NC. I encourage you to read the whole thing, but here is what resonated with me:

As soon as we open our doors and roll out onto the market, we graduate from pre-opening buzz. How do you keep that wow? [...] Will the anticipation built in pre-opening buzz live up to a blonde ale, even if it’s a great one?

While I don't have quite the same concern that buzz around Fat Bottom is going to outpace your enjoyment of the beer, this is a question that I kicked around this week. Fat Bottom and our neighbors at Broadcast garnered a snowball of media attention, triggered by a story published in the Nashville Post last Sunday.

I did (very briefly) contemplate turning down the interviews, for precisely the reason above...I did not want to take all the media coverage now and not get any attention when we open in a few months. However, every business, particularly those selling to consumers, has a marketing obligation to maintain interest in their products. At best, turning down media coverage would simply defer the need to find the next exciting thing about the brewery. At worst, I might see little to no coverage or public interest at opening, which is when you want it the most.

To quote Erik at Mystery one more time:

...the only thing we can do is just keep on making great beer...enough to keep us a little corner of the wow.

I hope you get try the beer soon and have a little "wow" moment of your own. For now, keep an eye on your preferred network: Twitter, Facebook, or Google+. We'll be announcing several pre-opening public events in the coming months where you can get your hands on a Fat Bottom.

Refs:
http://www.topfermented.com
http://twitter.com/topfermented
http://twitter.com/mysterybrewing

Brewery Neighbors?

I was excited to learn late last week that I'm getting a brewery neighbor in the Fluffo factory complex. Broadcast Brewing (splash page, twitter) officially signed their lease for another space in the same building as Fat Bottom.

This was not a huge surprise, but was good to hear. When I first met the landlords, they were up front with me that they wanted multiple breweries in the building. While Fat Bottom was the first to sign a lease with them, another brewer was in serious discussions with them, but ended up pulling out and putting their project on hold.

A few weeks later I was in the building to meet with the architects and ran into the guys from Broadcast. We went out for beers and dinner and talked about our respective plans. They're nice guys and now I will get to look out across the courtyard at their operation and maybe borrow a pound of hops occasionally.

Some people that I've mentioned this two pull back and give me a look that says "why do you want competition right next door?" I really believe that the more craft breweries there are in Nashville, the better we will all do, and I'm excited to create a brewery complex in East Nashville. Together, I think we can draw more people in, and at the end of the day Broadcast and Fat Bottom are both trying to create a packaging brewery, not a pub business.

Cheers to Nashville craft beer!

Design and construction update

Although we obviously had a break over Christmas, design and construction is moving forward.  Roof repairs (which I tweeted about two weeks ago) continue, though I think that some wet weather has slowed them down.

The last few meetings with the architects & engineer have been dedicated to all the final details before bidding and construction starts in earnest. I have never built or renovated a building before and the number of decisions to make is excruciating. Fortunately, the team at Powell is well organized and extremely helpful in working through everything.

I spent three hours last Thursday going over the final layout and finish details, which is everything from placing the fermentation tanks down to how wide I want the counter-tops to be. (In the northwest corner & 30 inches, please.) One thing that we discussed at length was the design of the tap room, how to finish the ceiling and walls, and how to handle lighting.

The picture below is a rendering of one proposed design, looking from the brewery/street entrance to the bar. This might be a little heavy on wood, but it has the feel that I'm going for. Forgive the picture quality and water stain on the right, this is a scan of a printout that I took with me.

I'm also excited to post an architectural drawing of the brewery below. Main Street is to the right and 9th Street is at the top of this drawing. One of the recent changes that I think is pretty exciting is the addition of tables & bar-top seating open to the actual brewery.

We have another review scheduled this week, hopefully to nail down the remaining details and get the heavy construction started.

Third tasting was a success

The new logo...slick!

Per yesterday's tweet, I was pouring beers at Fat Bottom's third public offering (the first two were parties hosted by friends). The event was an open house hosted by the architect & contractor working on the brewery, Powell Design Studio.

Around 50 people showed up over the course of the evening and it was fun to meet folks, talk up the brewery and hear what they thought of the beer. I also got to unveil the final black-and-white version of the new logo, delivered just a day earlier. The designers are working on the color version now.

On tap were test batches of wheat ale, a sweet stout and a coffee porter. (I do need to figure out some better names for these brews.) Most people had the wheat, as the lightest beer, but architect and east-sider Manley was going nuts over the porter and making sure everyone tried it. The beer got lots of compliments and nobody spit it out, so that's good.

Thank you to Steve Powell and everyone at PDS for hosting and letting me share the beery love!

Starting the TTB Process

As you might imagine, alcohol production is a highly regulated industry in the United States. Breweries must go through a multi-month process with the Feds before beginning operations including background checks, inspections and a variety of tax registrations.

I started that process today, using the new Permits Online website provided by the Tax and Trade Bureau. "Sweet," I thought, imagining how easy it would be to use this brand new web application and thinking how much faster the process would be over filling out paper forms.

Yeah, right.

I don't doubt that they spent millions creating a clunky and pretty basic site that would embarrass most web developers. And only the Federal Government, in this day and age, would create a web application that only works on Internet Explorer. (Ever heard of JQuery? Scriptaculous? MooTools? They make cross-browser development easy and they're all free!)

My least favorite "feature": When you resume an application (which actually is a nice feature...start now, finish later), you must resubmit every page that you've completed so far, without any ability to navigate forward or back in the process. And the applications are long...some are 10 pages or more.

</rant>

To their credit, it does appear that the submissions work once you get past the browser issues and I'm sure the site will streamline the existing application & registration process. I guess we will confirm that once I am (or am not) brewing next spring.

PS- Dear TTB, please don't hold up my application for beer-making and tax-paying. I still love you, even if your web app is busted.

Brewery Preview

A month later, I finally have photos of the space.

View Larger Map

I announced on Twitter (but not here) that Fat Bottom Brewing will open up at 900 Main Street in East Nashville, in part of the old Fluffo/Capitol City Mattress factory.

The space that I've leased is the corner at 9th Street and Main, with the blue awning and small windows, about 5,500 square feet total. It sounds like a lot, but we are going to be packing it in pretty tight. I might have gotten away with a little less space, but not by much.

I've been working with Powell Design & Construction Studios, which has been great. They have worked on other brewery projects, are involved in design and build-out of other tenant spaces in the building, and are based in East Nashville. The team has great ideas for layout and have really helped me think about how the space will be used.

A few things like roof repairs are moving forward and we're close to putting the rest of the work out to bid. Before we begin clean up and construction, I wanted to quickly show what the building looks like today. The place looks like a mess in these photos (and it is), but you'll just have to imagine.

Tap room and courtyard

To the right is a shot from inside the tap room, looking from where the bar will be towards the eventual courtyard, which still has a roof over it.


To the left is the walkway looking from the tap room towards the brewery itself.

I should probably explain that the layout of this building is split across the middle with an old brick wall which that arched doorway goes through.

The whole Fluffo factory was an amalgam of buildings that went up over time. I have leased two (connected) structures in the oldest part of the complex. The brewery will be in the original building on the site, at the corner of 9th and Main. Packaging, storage, and the tap room will be in the next building back along 9th. I neglected to take any shots of the packaging and storage area, but it is just a big empty space.

The brewery

Finally, here are a few shots in the brewery itself. The first is looking toward Main Street while standing in front of the archway shown below.

The second is from the front doors on Main looking to the back of the building. Obviously all the walls and wires hanging down will go away.

Finally, this is a photo of a doorway in the brewery that will be opened up. This shot is looking toward 9th Street while standing next to the interior dividing wall mentioned above. This is an old building with a lot of architectural details that have been covered up over the years, which I want to restore where possible.

Note the brick archway (structural!) and the window to the right, which I'm also planning to replace. The window was just faced with brick on the outside...they didn't even bother taking out most of the glass!

The other cool thing in this photo, which I hadn't ever seen before, are the tile blocks that were used to the right of the archway. They're square blocks made of terra cotta (or something similar) that were used to build up the wall like we would use cinder blocks today. A lot of the walls in here were constructed like that and we will expose and keep as many as possible.

Once we've finished layout and the construction drawings are complete, I'll post a diagram of how it all fits together.