Wayne and I got a last minute call that our tanks were on the way. I had been up all night the previous night so was sleeping when Wayne called to let me know they had arrived. Fortunately the shipping company just left the trailer and we were able to unload the tanks at our leisure. We snapped a few pics:







After we were done unloading Wayne remarked how every time we get new equipment in it seems a little more "real" to him. I agree. We are getting very close and it is nice to see all the planning and occasional hard work start to coalesce into something that will one day resemble an actual brewery. Though until I see CCB bottles on shelves and on tap at local bars it will remain just a dream. Anyway, I also want to say thanks to Frank for the fork extenders, that made the job MUCH easier. Also thanks to Hugh and Geiger for helping us clear the path last Friday. It made getting the tanks in a breeze. Thanks, guys.

We also had three guests today. First Filip Geerts who is touring Florida's better beer destinations stopped by. I wasn't able to meet up with him, but Wayne opened a few beers with him and Filip was kind enough to bring me a bottle of Westy 12. Yum! You can see pics (picture reports as Filip calls them) of some of Filip's past beer explorations here: users.pandora.be/filip.geerts/Beeryvisits/

Next Jim from Southern Brew News stopped by and sampled a few of our pilot batches. He also brought some of his home brew and we opened one which was a Pannepot-esque brew aged on bourbon soaked oak chips. It was damn good and I pretty much drank the whole thing by myself in spite of the heat. Jim's an accomplished home brewer and has brewed alongside some of the great Belgian brewers (including Dany Prignon at Fantome) so it was cool to get his take on Wayne's approach.

Here is Jim sipping on the Jai Alai PA


Here is Wayne talking malt and hop bills with Jim.



Just after Jim left, Andy from Mellow Mushroom-Citrus Park stopped by and we had a good conversation with him about the brewery and his future brewing plans. All in all it was a pretty nice day. We got 4 of our 6 tanks in and we had a few guests stop by to shoot the breeze and try our beers.  The only thing that could have made it better would be getting the permits in. I am past ready to rip the floors out!

Hopefully we'll have news on that front soon. In the meantime stay tuned for Wayne's weekly update later this week.

Cheers,
Joey Redner