We're cranking out a brewery this week: process piping, electrical, tavern plans, a front door...so much going on. Things that may seem mundane like, "Will the glycol chiller's amp draw work with our electrical service?" and "Where to put the power drops to the brewhouse?" and "How will we auger the grain?" All these questions -- and hundreds more -- must come in to place perfectly before we can open up a brewery.
SOON AND SOFT
Speaking of opening up a brewery, we have decided on a soft opening once our brewery is ready, hopefully in mid-to-late May. But our Super Poobah Happy Times Grand Opening will be Friday, August 13th -- which just happens to be the five-year anniversary of Pop The Cap. Super poobah happy times!
Does this make sense to you, dear reader? Basically, we want to ease into production - get comfy with the system, iron out our kinks, sell at some farmers markets, distribute to select restaurants and bars, and open up the tavern a few days a week. We figure after a few months of experience, we'll be ready to rock for an epic celebration on August 13th.
In the meantime, we're working hard on building a world-class brewery. You should see it!
THREE WORDS
Do you remember when we asked you to describe Fullsteam in three words? This was to help with a presentation on social media for the Craft Brewers Conference this past week in Chicago. Thank you to the 75 Fullsteam fans who helped with this project. Here's how you described Fullsteam in three words (clicky to embiggen):
I bet you didn't know this, but just before asking you to describe our three words, I had (finally) determined what ours were. It took nearly a year for me to be able to say, "yep, them's our three words."
Your contributions helped shape a presentation on our panel "Storytelling 2.0: Social Media is a Conversation." Beyond the presentation, I was very curious to see how much overlap there was between our words for ourselves and your words for us.
So here are our three words...at least as we see it. Our goal as a business: for all that we do to be an unexpected Southern adventure.
- unexpected: defying conventional wisdom. Zigging when they zag. Celebrating our eccentricities. Getting away with posting videos of cheesy 1980s personal assistant robots. Showing "The Room" to frightened and enthralled audiences. Unexpected beer: from the ongoing effort to make beer from kudzu, to the success of beers crafted from paw paw and persimmon., to the unexpected pleasure of a sweet potato beer that is more subtle than spicy.
- Southern: embracing the South's rich agricultural traditions. Brewing with local, seasonal ingredients. Incorporating Southern food traditions as a bridge to craft beer.
- adventure: full steam ahead in a spirit of fearless optimism!
(Before ya get snarky: please note that this is an exercise in uncovering our "unique value proposition:" all breweries strive to be "high-quality," "fresh," "innovative," and "award-winning." We're no different. The three word exercise is about exploring what makes us different.)
Once again, many thanks to the 75 of you who contributed to this exercise! We hope you and countless others will join us in the unexpected Southern adventure. And if you're starting a new venture or heading up a business...what are your three words? What words do your fans use to describe your venture?
Visual word maps courtesy of Wordle.net. Check it out!