Although we have spent much of our time and energy on the tasting room the last few months, we have also been working on a few other projects since obtaining our building permits and passing the many inspections required for construction.
Since we promised you a play-by-play of the whole process, here are a few of the other things we have been doing including framing, plumbing, insulation, and drywalling. Even
though this really has nothing to do with beer or brewing, we still find it fun to report this news to you because it’s all the tiny pieces that will lead up to the brewery.
While demoing the building we decided to leave a few rooms for offices. The smallest of the offices was chosen to be the brewers’ office. And by office we really mean “closet.” It’s not the most spacious of rooms, but it’ll serve its purpose. Besides, why would we need a spacious office anyway…our office is the brewery! (Bonus: we cut out a window/viewing panel so we can keep an eye on the operations while we are in the “closet”).
Brewers’ Closet with window to the brewery.
A view from inside the closet.
Brewers’ Closet with drywall.
We also had a storage room built. It might even be bigger than the brewers’ closet.
Storage Room
Brewers’ Closet on the left, storage room on the right.
In addition to the brewers’ work space and the storage, we’ve also been working on another very important set of rooms! We have finished the plumbing, insulation, and drywall in the restrooms! Yes, they are important, just ask anyone who’s enjoyed a few beers, especially the ladies!
Doug had a good point when he said the restrooms absolutely needed to be comfortable,
nice, clean, and spacious…especially the women’s restroom (Travis’ wife and Doug’s girlfriend agree).
Remember that picture we shared of Travis so kindly helping us envision where the urinals would be? It’s too good to not share again…here’s a reminder:
Thank's again for posing for this, Travis!
We now have the actual plumbing in place so no need for demonstrations (though we have to say it was more interesting with Travis posing for us).
Men’s restroom plumbing.
Women’s restroom plumbing.
Once the plumbing was completed and the concrete was poured, we were able to move onto the insulation and drywall.
Hallway between restrooms.
Men's Restroom.
Women's Restroom.
You may remember from our previous blog posts, Facebook, or Twitter how we found Coors cans behind the wall during demolotion. Well, before we finished putting up the drywall we decided to put them back and gave each can some friends.
The Wanderer & 2011 Black Tuesday.
Salvation & Batch #1 Oude Tart.
With the cans and new beers in place, the drywall was able to be completed.
Hallway into Men’s Restroom.
Hallway into Women’s Restroom.
Women’s Restroom with Drywall.
Now that the plumbing and structure of the restrooms are complete, we are working on the floors and painting the walls before adding the tiles and fixtures. We feel that many times bathrooms are an afterthought in retail locations and we want to make sure ours are designed and built with the same integrity and high standard that we are putting into every aspect of this brewery.
In addition to the work inside the building, we have been preparing the perimeter for some of the equipment that will be outside. If you follow us on Facebook or Twitter you probably saw the post about our Boiler arriving. It will be installed outside the building along with some other equipment and we had to make space to accommodate it. The support for the lean-to (aka awning) has concrete reinforcements that go down four feet…you’d think we lived where hurricanes and tornadoes occur (this is why we like to
joke that, “engineers pay double [for beer]”).
Boiler Awning.
As you can see we have been busy, and we didn’t even show you all the things we are saving for opening. We are so thankful for the support, encouragement, and understanding from our friends, family, loved ones, and especially all of our fans and followers that we know are patiently waiting to try our beer.
Spring is just around the corner! We can’t wait to share all our hard work, and beer, with you!
Cheers!
Liking the insulation, especially the use of cans and bottles. I am hoping for a few more comforts in the ladies room?
That’s awesome putting some craft brews in the walls. There’s always beer in the brewery now. You could paint a bottle on the wall to serve as a marker too! Should you expand to a new building in the future, the new owners will have a gift awaiting their rebuilding project. I’d love to find some bonus beer awaiting me during construction.