We are extremely close to our first batches on our 1.3 barrel system. Our kettles have come in and are just getting some final welds done at a shop here in town (Practical Fusion-they’re awesome!). Once we get those back we’ll be installing the heating elements, adding the ball valves, cleaning them up, testing for leaks and any issues, and then firing them up!

It’s going to be pretty crazy to brew a batch that large. The funny thing is most commercial breweries have between 7-30 barrel systems, with the real big boys having 100 barrel brewhouses or more. We’re definitely on the smaller end of that spectrum, however we will proudly be able to say that our beers are truly handcrafted.

Once our brewhouse is functional we’ll be constructing our bottling line and working out the kinks with fermentation and brite tanking. It’s during this phase that we’ll be starting our paperwork with the state and federal agencies. That will take 3-6 months at a minimum (possibly longer). Supposing that goes smoothly and we get our approval we will then begin our commercial production and be hitting the shelves at a bottle shop near you (so long as you live in the Portland area).

Cheers!