Just a few pics to illustrate the goings on at cigar city brewing. The first pics are plumbing blueprints which show where our trench drains and out flowing pipes will be placed:



The next pic is our unassembled walk in cooler. Wayne and I were lucky enough to get to carry these in by hand. By way of scale the ones laying on their sides on the floor are 16 ft long, plus the foam packing. While not crushingly heavy the sheer volume of them and their awkward shape made getting them in the brewery a very sweaty and aching job. I wonder if all the exertion had anything to do with me throwing my back out 4 days later?

On the plus side the chiropractor says, cold not heat is good for my back and I'll now have a really cold room to sit in for my "therapy" which will include great beer. The chiropractor didn't mention beer as being part of my therapy, but I assumed that it went without saying.



The following are the compressors that will chill the cold room. We are kicking around the idea of releasing our Imperial Stout in August (yes, just to be contrarian). We figured we could hold the release party dinner in the cooler, tell everyone to bring their warmest winter clothes and serve hearty Russian-inspired fare like Red Army Soup to help ward off the chill.



The following are pics of some of the pilot batches we have brewed as they actually look in the glass. Hey if you can't taste it, then ogling is the next best thing. The first brew is the Imperial Stout aged on toasted cedar. We don't have a final name for the base Imperial Stout yet, but I am playing around with the idea of calling it Zhukov's Imperial Stout in honor of Georgy Zhukov one of the best, yet mostly unknown, Generals of WWII. It's brewed with twice the yum:



Next up is one that is quickly becoming a favorite of those that have tasted it so far. I admit to not being head over heels for it myself, but that is more of a style preference on my part and I can't deny that Wayne knocked the concept out of the park. It's a Belgian-inspired ale that sees a secondary on fresh Guava juice and it has been dubbed Guava Grove and if people keep telling me they love it every day look for it to be a year round offering:



The next pic is of the Double Nut Brown Ale and as an all around mix of flavor intensity, drinkability and just general enjoyability it is my favorite of the pilot batches thus far. If the key to brewing success is to brew what you'd like to drink then we've already had some success. Because I freaking love to drink this beer:



The last pic is the Patio Pils. Wayne thinks of it as a pre-prohibition lager with a modern twist and that is an apt summation. I'm very pleased with how this beer has come along. It's approachable to the non initiated yet doesn't lack anything in the flavor department. Working in a hot warehouse where the temperature often reaches 100 F I can promise you, it is both refreshing and intensely flavorful:



I hope to have more pics up next week along with Wayne's Weekly blog entry.

Cheers,
Joey Redner
Cigar City Brewing