Big Sound Scotch Ale is pretty much done conditioning. We should get the labels on Friday (which is both Wayne's birthday and my 5th year wedding anniversary) and have 110 cases ready to release next week. Also next week we will be packaging 110K+OT Batch #2 which we have named I.R.I.S., which stands for India Russian Imperial Stout. Yes, that's right, we are just making styles up! I.R.I.S. is heavily hopped to begin with, but gets a further dry hop treatment with Mt. Rainier hops, which adds a nice licorice note. It is also aged on toasted Spanish Cedar, but at lower levels than what we normally use. We'll also be bourbon barrel-aging I.R.I.S. for a later release.

The tasting room is poking along. The toilets and sinks are installed and the electric was being run when I left today. Still hoping for a mid to late May opening. And I may have mentioned this before but the brewery is totally sold out of  Bolita Brown Ale. So if you see it on tap somewhere grab a pint, because it wont be around again till next year.

The next seasonal bottle releaase in the works will be Guava Grove Ale a Belgian-inspired brew made with guess which fruit. I've also got two draft only special beers nearly ready to go. The first is brewed for Redlight Redlight in Orlando. It's called First Account Stout and it was brewed to commeroate Redlight Redlight being the first bar to pour CCB on draft. First Account Stout was hopped with a single hop varietal (Centennial and lots of it) and then aged on Naviera #3 blend coffee, raw cacoa and toasted Spanish Cedar. It weighs in around 9% abv. And there is another limited brew that is nearly completed which I've yet to name but have taken to calling an Imperial Dark Mild. It's single hopped with as much Centennial hops as First Account Stout, but it weighs in at a diminuitive 3.25% abv. Not sure where this brew might end up.

We are also getting some custom tap handles made as we are pretty much out of tap handles as of this writing. We have the guys in the shop next to us whipping up some hand made jobs just to get us through until then and I drafted my mother to stain then and paint them. We really didn't anticipate our beers landing in so many places so quickly, I thought 120 tap handles would last at least 2 months. They lasted about 3 weeks.

That is all I can think of for now. Remember to say Happy Birthday to Wayne.

Cheers,
Joey Redner

p.s. Todd S. that cigar you gave me at the launch party was very nice, thanks!