Re: Brickskeller Holiday Beer Tasting!

I will be there with a treat for the folks who like my Wee Heavy.  I have a small stash of kegs that are hidden away in a network of friends of Mad Fox Brewing Company cooler vaults that I had the foresight to establish while not having access to a brewery.  For the Brick I have a keg of the 2008 Wee Heavy that has been carefully ageing away.  This particular batch was boiled in the kettle for 6.5 hours to reach it target gravity of 20.8 degrees plato and the melanoidin character is quite pleasing.  For those of you able to make it this Wednesday evening, December 16th, to the Brick you can have the last of this beer on Earth.

Happy Holidaze.  Cheers!

More to come….Bill

Re: Bought the Farm, I Mean Brewery

Well, we finally buckled down and did it.  After months of searching for used brewing systems and driving all over creation to look at them.  After negotiating with folks who think their 1980’s  well used system is worth 75% of what it cost brand new (“well it is a JVNW and there are no barn finds any more these days”).  We did the analysis and finally decided that after a system were decommissioned, shipped, retrofitted and then recommissioned  the brewery would have to have a sales price at a maximum of 50% of the cost of new.  That just was not to be found as we were getting closer and closer to starting the construction of  Mad Fox and had to have a system in place.  As it is we have been making conservative assumptions on what would be installed into our location and we were getting to the point with the architectural drawings where a real brew house, tanks and serving vessels needed to be specified. 

So what did we put the down payment on?  After price quotes from four of the best manufacturer’s in the industry we chose Premier Stainless Systems based in San Marcos, California.  The owner, Rob Soltys, has been a pleasure to negotiate with and came in at a very affordable price for our budget.  We will have a 15 BBL direct fired Brewhouse with an infusion type Mashtun and stacked Hot Liquor combi tank with on demand heated water for double batching.  There will be six 30 BBL Fermenters that will allow for a minimum annual production capacity of 3120 BBl’s or 6240 kegs per year, well able to supply our location and maybe others.  We will have a 15 BBL Brite tank for kegging beer production and conditioning root beer and there will be an automatic keg washer for cleaning all those  kegs.  There will also be six 15 BBL Serving Vessel that will be prominently on display as folks come in the main entrance of Mad Fox Brewing Company.

Now we have our Brewery!

More to come, Cheers, Bill

Re: Great News from the Judges at the Great American Beer festival

Finally got the judges notes for the Great American Beer Festival that were sent out some time ago.  These went to Vintage 50 and I have not been able to get out there with all that is going on with Mad Fox Brewing Company.  Great News!  Of the five beer styles sent for judging, three went to the final round of judging.  The Catoctin Kolsch, Wee Heavy and Devils Due (Belgian style Strong Golden Ale) all were considered of enough quality to be sent to the final round of judging at GABF.  This news is not something I can advertise or really get most folks to be excited about, but considering the pool of fantastic brewers that my beer competed against, I am proud.  There are many very qualified and competent brewers who enter their beer into the competition that are not awarded any medals.  I am fortunate to be one brewer who entered and came close.  I am in good company.

Cheers! more to come, Bill

Re: We have submitted!

Just this past Monday I took our Architect, Lee McAllister, down to Falls Church City Hall to submit our drawings for permits.  We are getting closer to starting construction!  This process of review by the Director of Building Safety, Doug Fraser, should be smooth since we have had a number of meetings with him to allow him to understand what we are trying to accomplish with Mad Fox Brewing Company coming to Falls Church.  Fortunately for us there has been some precedence with other brewpubs having been opened in the surrounding area like Arlington with Cap City and Rockbottom etc.  Still it is a learning process for the City of Falls Church and it is our job to educate and help them to understand the brewery that will be a part of our restaurant.  The review should be no more than 4 weeks and during that period we will be answering questions and refining the architectural drawings to meet code.  At the same time we will be meeting with the architect to do more refinement on the interior design like color and fabric choices etc. which are features that do not need to be a part of the City’s review.  I look forward to “seeing”  more and more what the final product will be.

More to come, Cheers,  Bill

Got Permits?

Now we are rushing the Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing Engineers to get their drawings done so we can get the darn drawings done, sealed by the Architect and into the Falls Church City folks.  Its push, push, push and I am constantly trying to keep it all together between what seems like too many people who all need to do their jobs to get this accomplished.  During all of this I am reviewing  quotes for brewing equipment, structural reinforcement of the flooring for the brewery and the kitchen equipment.  On top of this I have to try and keep the General Contractor up on all of what is going on.  We have a big meeting tomorrow to update the GC and next week is our first Board Meeting which is exciting and daunting all in the same.  I am glad that I am not juggling four jobs at the moment having given up my work with AC Beverage, my brewing job at Vintage 50 and organizing the NOVAbrewfest.  Holy Crap though!  Still busy!

More to come, Cheers, Bill

 

 

Architects and Engineers

We secured our architect many weeks ago, Lee McAllister of McAllister Architects, P.C. located in Alexandria, Virginia.  We had interviewed about six different firms from large to small, high end to bare bones and all of them having restaurant experience on many levels.  We chose Lees firm for their experience having worked with local restaurant groups like The Neighborhood Restaurant Group which comprises Evening Star, Vermillion, Tallulah, Rustico and Birch and Barley.  Lee specifically worked on Rustico, Mango Mikes and some other local restaurants that demonstrate his abilities and we felt comfortable with his presentation. 

 Now we are getting close to having a full set of drawings to go to Permit Application with the City of Falls Church and the next  part of the journey begins, dealing with the folks in City Hall (and they have been a great help and pleasure to work with thus far).  But wait!  The Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing Engineers have thrown a wrench in the gears.  They need information on natural gas flowrates on a direct fire burner on brewing system we have not even put a down payment on.  Crap!  This is where I am happy that we had the foresight to know my limitations and hire a consultant who is a brewery engineer.   Scott Zetterstrom of M.E. Solutions has been working with us from the start of design to be my second set of eyes in the brewery.  The name might be familiar to some folks in the brewery know in Northern Virginia.  Scott was once the Head Brewer in the formerly placed in Virginia brewery of Old Dominion Brewing Company.  Scott will get them the answer since I am not sure what the answer would be that the MEP Engineers need since I am not an Mechanical Engineer by training with just enough knowledge to be dangerous.  I am thankful that we built a good team to get Mad Fox running.

Cheers, more to come, Bill

New versus Used (Old)

Well got another call the other day from a fella selling a used brewery.  Apparently the folks who offered him a pot of gold for his 20-year-old brewing system backed out of the deal.  No wonder, how a system that has been depreciated  twice already can be bought for 2/3 the price of a new system is absurd.  What are these people thinking?  My lovely wife made the remark that when the system was built she was in Junior High and could not even drink beer then (at least not legally).  Somehow the idea that we are in a bad economy has not gotten out to the folks who are selling these old systems.  By the time you calculate the cost of removal, then transportation, retrofitting and recommissioning the brewery you had better of gotten a used system at a maximum of 1/3 the cost of new.

Now we have to see what the new brewery systems cost.  Got a quote from a European supplier and they are through the roof.  Beautiful equipment and very efficient but all that adds up to too many euros for our budget.  Asked for a quote from a Canadian manufacturer and they never got back to us, oh well.  Now we have a couple of possible American equipment suppliers that are of good reputation.  Gotta get a hold of them and see what new would cost.  It all needs to be within the budget.

More to come…Cheers, Bill

 

 

Pre-Construction

It’s been a crazy time since we selected Herman/Stewart Construction as our General Contractor. We’ve been meeting with Lee McAllister, our architect, and Steve Hullinger from Herman/Stewart working the design and construction budget and getting ready to submit our permit applications. I’m starting to really feel a time crunch – the loop between the engineers, the general contract and the architect to get the permit drawings completed needs to move faster. I think the 6 months to opening is going to go very fast.

The interior design does not have to be done for the permit drawings, but the conceptual design is very exciting. Mad Fox is starting to look like more than just construction drawings. We are meeting shortly with our interior designer and lighting specialist to work the look. We are also meeting with an expert in  millwork and wood finish for restaurants and bars to do some pragmatic value engineering to make certain that we can get the best looking bar and wood finishes that we can afford.

On the brewery engineering side, I’ve been looking at a bunch of used systems. I drove up to New Hampshire to look at a used JV Northwest 15 bbl system from Pennichuck Brewing last Saturday. It would certainly work well for us, but the price is too high once I factor in decommissioning, transportation, retrofitting and installation. I’ve seen a half dozen used systems on the market that have the same potential, but are not a good value. I’m working quotes from manufacturers of new equipment to see if this new is a better value than used.

I’m wrestling with the concept of value for a used vs. new system. Brewhouses have a functional lifetime of 15 to 25 years. We have a 15 year lease with two 5-year options. How much more is a new brewhouse worth than a used system? Once the buildout is complete, replacing the brewhouse would be a major renovation. New or lightly used looks like the best option for the long term.

More to come.

Cheers, Bill

Post GABF

Well, the results are in and Vintage 50 and my 5 entries did not win any awards… next year!!  I am in very good company with many really good brewers who did not get recognized and I cannot complain.  What I look forward to now is getting the judges written notes on how my beers came across and whether or not they made it past the first round.  When a beer makes it past the first round is still a bit of a victory but not one you can promote.  It still means alot to me.  One of the many reasons I decided to start judging  was to better understand the process that goes into the GABF and I can tell you now that there are many variables to winning a medal but it is in no way a crap shoot.  There are many brewers who consistently get awards and they are typically brewers who have been at their craft for a long time and or have been working at the very same brewery for a long time.  One fantastic surprise winner was local brewer Jason Oliver of the brand spanking new brew pub, Devils Backbone.  Now Jason did the all time incredible job of pulling off 4 medals with a brewery that he has been working at for just 10 short months! An incredible feat that I applaud him for pulling off.  Jason has been hard working for many years in this industry and after years of brewing the standard recipes at Gordon Biersch he broke out in a big way, kudos to him.  Another Virginia brewer did very well for himself as well, Nick Funnel, of Sweetwater Tavern fame.  Nick pulled off two medals which is also a great bit of work and for a brewer who has been working the same brewery for a very long time.  There were two other medals for Virginia this year.  One medal for Preacher Mark Thompson of Starr Hill in the Irish Dry Stout category (which he has won for a long as I can remember) and another for Chris Rafferty of Rockbottom in Ballston.  All in all Virginia pulled off 8 medals this year, congratulations to those brewers.  I look forward to having Mad Fox Brewing Company add more awards next year.

More to come.  Cheers,  Bill

Today is the Results of GABF

I am sitting here having finished judging yesterday and having let loose a little last night.  Just a little celebration due to the fact that I did not have to “work” today and keep my palate in good shape.  Just had breakfast at my favorite diner in Denver, Sammys #3, which I go to every morning on the day the awards are announced.  It is just a couple of hours away before they start the ceremonies and I am not nervous or anything just looking forward to the culmination of what started months ago.  From deciding which styles of beer to target,  to brewing them , then packaging them carefully and tracking my babies nervously until they were safe and in the hands of the folks who would bring them to the festival.  It’s the waiting now that has me a little anxious.  Well, I am going to get ready now.  Wish me luck.

More to come, Cheers,  Bill