BYO Blogs

Not long ago, it was a special treat to find great craft beer. You could travel extensively without finding any craft beer and often what you did find was just OK.

Where I live every grocery store has been expanding their craft beer section. In some of them, the craft beer shelf space is now bigger than that dedicated to the large lager brewers.

The first thing people ask when you tell them you are opening a brewery is, “What kind of beer are you going to brew?”

Ever since I was little, I have been waiting expectantly for the day that I could be a crotchety old man. While I’m still not old enough to pull my pants up to my armpits and complain about everything, I do feel I should get some practice in, so I can hit the ground running -- or, you know, ambling, with the help of my cane -- when I am old. For best results, read this blog entry in a crotchety old man voice. 

Craft beer is too popular these days, I tells ya’. Why just this weekend, I tried to go the grand opening of the Jester King Brewery here on the outskirts of Austin, Texas and you know what happened? I got turned away! You see, the good folks at Jester King expected 1,000 to 2,000 people to attend their event, but 4,000 showed up! And the Haye’s County Sheriff’s Department closed the event down. 

I must say the toughest part about starting a brewery is coordinating all the little parts. Sure, the paperwork is enormous. I think I killed a couple of trees trying to perfect my TTB application.