Monday Night Recap: “Not as funny since Jonathan is not writing it” edition

I’ll start with a disclaimer that this post will not be as funny as Jonathan’s recap, nor will you find any links to incredibly attractive pictures of me.  What you will find is a fact-based dissertation of yesterday evening’s events.  Finally.

1. Jeff was there the whole evening. For those of you who come on Mondays you’ll know that Jeff usually returns from his “day job” around 8pm, he strolls in, mumbles something about “attenuation, mash efficiency, blah blah blah” and then proceeds to mingle with people while Jonathan and I brew the beer.  Yesterday Jeff was actually the first one there and while our gravity did end up closer to where we needed it, he successfully violated every SOP (that’s Standard Operating Procedure for your artistic folks) we’ve ever had in place.  It was great to have you Jeff.

2. We fixed our chest freezer. OK, so since we didn’t find a chest freezer that fit our exact size requirement we had to go with the next best thing – which meant the new one was 6 inches too long.  But no worries, I had a plan all along and when recent MNB attendee Andrew showed up first he went to town on the knocking out modifications with me. Within about a half hour our new fermentation chamber was fully operational (although not quite symmetrical).  Basically we filled in the last 6 inches with some foam insulation and we’ll use the existing top for the time being.

3. We harvested our hops. I think we sat a new record for actual work being done by our Monday Night attendees (usually they just get in the way and drink our beer).  Rob, Justin, Andrew and David (albeit in a more “supervisory” role) did an amazing job pulling down vines and plucking the pure goodness from our organic hop vines.

Rob adds value by harvesting hops. Kurt adds value by talking and watching.

4. We did a marketing survey. Yeah, we figured the least we could ask in return for free beer would be some marketing insights.  So….we put our two versions of the Belgian Peach Dubbel on tap next to each other and asked for votes.  This pic is from an early tally but I think the final ended about about 3 to 1 preferred “B” which is less peachy.  We originally brewed something that was about 3x the “more” amount and it would have been called “too much” (although Jonathan and all the single ladies LOVED it…but I think Jonathan was lying to win the single ladies approval).

Who wrote "needs more body"? Our response: "So does your mom"

5.  We brewed beer. Shocking.  Who would have thunk we could do so much in an evening.  We brewed a batch of our drafty Kilt scotch ale – the last two that were in the fermenter had to be dumped because it died on us.  We used on our sweet new brewmagic and safely placed it into our new fermentation chamber.  It better be good.

Photo credits: Jeanine

Black caps or white caps?

Jeff, Joel and I cannot agree on whether we should use black caps or white caps. And so, we bring our proverbial baby to you, the proverbial King Solomon, to decide for us. Either way, we will probably be imprinting a tie on each cap. Take a look at the pictures. Vote below. And know that your vote will influence history.

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Should we outsource Joel?

Jeff and I were discussing a little dilemma we’ve been having lately. Joel has been getting sick far too frequently. And his sniffles always coincide with Mondays, which leaves Jeff and I running around like madmen trying to get the brewing accomplished.

It’s not like Joel isn’t doing anything. He’ll send an email every now and then. Something like, “Guys, I hate to do this, but I’m still trying to get over this polio. I might not make it to brewing tonight.” And he’ll order supplies for us online, as long as we tell him exactly where on the screen to click. And Joel has actually been doing a great job not infecting us (or the beer) with his strange, sickly cooties.

But the bottom line is that we’re in a down economy. And would love to cut costs. There isn’t anything Joel is doing for us now that can’t be done remotely. We could easily hire cheaper overseas labor to not infect us. And to send us cryptic last minute cancellation emails. So we put the vote to you.

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Just kidding Joel, we love you. But don’t push your luck this Monday.

Forget the beer, what about the NAME?

We’re nearing closer to the time when we’ll have to decide on a definitive “launch beer,” since realistically we won’t be able to start with 5 different brews and a slew of rotating seasonals. With this in mind, we want to know which names are strongest. If you know our beer at all, forget the styles and tastes and even labels associated with them.

Just give us your honest opinion: If you heard this list of beer names, which would you be most likely to want to try?

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One beer. One vote.

We’ve started debating the question which has no answer: If we have to pick one beer to go to market with initially, which beer should it be? There are many factors at play here, including what micros are currently widely available (Sweetwater’s 420), what Georgia has a taste for, and what name/label is most likely to get people heading to the cash register. Obviously we want your insight too. You needn’t have tasted our beers to vote, but please keep in mind the following:

• What you like
• What the less sophisticated Georgian beer drinker likes (or could grow to like)
• What name is most intriguing
• What label is most compelling (see Brews page for our current label lineup)
• Any unfulfilled gaps in the Georgia beer market (if you know it)

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Happy Friday!