Upcoming Beer Fests - August

Looking for a beer fest to go to this month?  We’ll serve up our latest creations at the following:

97X Craft Beer Experience

August 16th at the Mahaffey Theatre from 4:00pm – 8:00pm.

Over 100 different craft beers to sample along with live music and cuisine from local St. Petersburg restaurants. Check out the Mahaffey Theatre for additional information, you can also purchase tickets for the event here.

Liquid Desires

August 23, 2014 at the Salvador Dali Museum from 8:00pm to 11:00pm.

Tantalize your senses with craft beer and Dali’s Marvels of Illusion collection. General admission tickets are on sale here and include unlimited beer samples and food tastings.

Creative Loafing Beer Fest @ MOSI

August 23, 2014 at MOSI Tampa from 7:00pm to 11:00pm.

Sip on over 90 local and national craft beer selections and be entertained by MOSI’s exhibits and tasty grub from Jimmy Meatballs and the Cheesery. Click here for additional information and to purchase tickets.

Key West Brew Fest

August 30th on the Duval Street from 3:00pm to 8:00pm.

Try over 150 beers on Key West’s infamous Duvall Street. We dare you to still be standing after a weekend party like this in the Keys, all proceeds benefit local charities. Purchase your tickets here.

Brewery Update 19 – Countdown to Beer

Casey tries one more time to fix something before just smashing it with that big red mallet.

There’s no getting around it.  We hit a few more delays.  I could tell you our tales of woe – water got into our grain conveyor and turned our grist to glue on the way to the mash kettle, a batch of yeast decided to go on strike and quit, a burglar broke into the brewery one night and stole all our tools, then some pumps broke but we didn’t have the tools to fix them. (Don’t worry, we got plenty of video of the burglar and he was brought to justice AFTER he’d  already sold all our tools.)

I could go on about all the mishaps that have befallen us, but that won’t get the beer into your glass any quicker.  The bottom line is, we’ve been working through a few hiccups on the new equipment and we’re almost ready to start releasing beer.

Signage by SBC Signworks helps keep everything looking sharp but also helps you identify the tanks during a brewery tour. We want those things to be educational and fun.

Our latest schedule is as follows:

End of August: We’ll start getting draft beer out to local bars.

Also, we’ll open a small, temporary tasting room so people can gather for tours and taste the beer.

September:  We’re planning another free pop-up tasting and it’s shaping up to be the best one yet.  Keep an eye on our social media for details.

November:  We’re scheduled to open our real tasting room and throw a grand opening party.  (You’re invited.)

Dave. taking a big ol' yeasty swig of unfinished beer.

Also, in November we hope to start getting our bottled beer on a shelf near you.

In the meantime we’ll keep brewing on our small pilot system, and working hard to get the big system up and running.  We hope to see you at a local beer fest or tasting soon.

Cheers, and, as always, thanks for keeping an eye on us.

– Kent

Sneak Peek: Take a look at our tap handle designs

When you walk into a bar; whether it be your favorite spot on 7th Ave in Ybor or a new place you haven’t tried yet, usually the first thing after you grab a seat and say hello to the bartender is the eye scan of what’s on tap.

Some tap handles are elaborate with intricate details and ornate additions while some are simple with no frills at all.  No matter what they are each handle is a symbol of art, all representative of the brewery and the beer. We like to think that our handles fall somewhere in the middle… something pleasing to the eye with whimsical details but overall nothing too elaborate.  After all, we want the beer to do the talking not the handle.

Here’s what we have on order.  We can’t wait to get them in.

We hope you notice our handles as you glance around a bar near you – dark grainy wood, a thirsty shark, waves with coppery details. Hopefully curiosity strikes and ask your bartender “who is Coppertail?”   We can’t wait to get a glass of beer in your hand.  Our handles should start sprouting up around town later next month.  We’ll keep you posted.

– TRex

Beer and Loathing

Beer dude, Rob Larson, advises you to drink a few brews while Erin pours from behind the table.

Things got a little batty at the Beer and Loathing in Las Vegas event this past Saturday evening. The overall event was a huge success thanks to none-other than Veronica from the Independent in Seminole Heights. Guests were greeted with tasty beer and an eclectic fare from local restaurants.

Our resident beer dude, Robb Larson, became a bit of a celebrity. Dressed as Dr. Gonzo, he advised guests try the Unholy Trippel, and they did (some of them a few times!). Guests really enjoyed getting their photo taken with him, if you have a photo with our Dr. Gonzo, please send copies to us at info@coppertailbrewing.com or tag us on whatever social media you posted them to, we would love to see them.

The entire Coppertail Gang had a blast and we wanted to show our gratitude to all of the awesome breweries and local restaurants, to Veronica for organizing such a fun event, the Tampa Theatre for hosting and to all of the wonderful people who attended. Those of you who came by our table in full Fear and Loathing attire made our night and we appreciate all of the positive feedback that you gave us on our beers. Cheers to you guys!

Good bye to new friends, we’re almost complete and brewing beer.

It was a bittersweet day at the brewery. The Coppertail gang said goodbye to Craig. Craig played a major role in making sure that we can brew beer, so while its a great feeling to be at the end of the road construction wise, it’s very sad to see Craig leave Tampa and head back home to Wales.

We said our goodbyes earlier today with a delicious treat of assorted cupcakes, including a Guinness cupcake, from Frostings Etc. in South Tampa, shared a few hugs, a few laughs and built a lifelong friendship that was formed over the last several months.

Beer infused cupcakes, made especially for Craig by Frosting's Etc.

We are so appreciative of the hard work that Craig and the rest of the crews have put into Coppertail Brewing, it makes us feel special to know that this little idea of a brewery has touched so many people. The Coppertail gang are all looking forward to the day when Craig and any of the other crew members can come back and share a pint in the tasting room.

Cheers Craig, we miss you already. Come back and visit the gang in Tampa soon.

-TRex

Label Sneak Peek – Night Swim Porter and Wheat Stroke Wheat Ale

We just got a couple more label drafts back from our artist, Evan B. Harris.  As I mentioned in the last article on this topic, working with Evan has been really fun.  It’s always exciting to see what he comes back with as a visual after we’ve communicated the idea behind a beer to him.  He never draws it the way we imagined it, but his way always turns out better.  (I guess that’s why he’s the artist and we just make beer.)

We told him that our porter is called Night Swim because something about it feels like a dip in the warm gulf waters at night.  I’m not sure why, but it works in our heads.  We hoped it would work in Evan’s too. Here’s what he came back with for a label:

A couple caressing a miniature boat in the water at night while smoking a hobbit pipe and pouring beer down a shark’s throat.  Makes perfect sense!   Somehow, it does seem to capture the right feeling.

And, finally, we asked him to work up something for our wheat ale, Wheat Stroke.  We mentioned to him that we thought it would be a great outdoors in the heat beer – the kind of beer you’d want after going running on the beach, or hanging out in the sun.

Evan’s interpretation:

One runner guy being refreshed by a conch shell wielding mermaid while a pelican with headphones serves as an impromptu ice chest.  Again, we loved it.  I’m not sure if that runner guy is going to sell any beer, but the illustration is fun for us to look at.

So that’s what our bottled beer will look like.  We’re working hard to try to get them on shelves near you this fall.  We hope you’ll recognize it when you see it.

On the brewing front, we are officially brewing on the big system now.  There’s a brew going on in the back as I type.  There have been quite a few hiccups (a leaky vessel here, a faulty part there) but it seems that we’re getting all the kinks ironed out of the system as we go along.  We still think we’ll have some kegged beer made on the big system out in the market by the end of July.

In the coming days we should have a pretty good idea of what our tap handles will look like, too.  We’ll get sneak peeks of those out to you soon.

Cheers, and, as always,  we appreciate you checking in on us.

– Kent

Label Sneak Peek – Unholy Trippel and Free Dive IPA

We’re on track for a first brew on the new equipment by the end of this week.  And we’re moving full steam ahead with bottle label development.  We just got two label drafts back from our artist and we’d love to share them with you.

We aim to create labels that stand out from the others on the shelf.  We really don’t care if they appeal to everyone’s artistic taste as long as they look unique and distinctive.  We wanted to find an independent artist who could create artwork that would complement the hand-crafted and off-beat nature of the liquid inside.  We found exactly what we were looking for and more when we linked up with artist, Evan B. Harris.

Instead of just illustrating what we’ve dictated to him, Evan has become a true collaborator on the visual identity of our beer.  Plus, he’s been great fun to work with.  We contact him with an idea like, “Our Trippel is a little too easy to drink and high alcohol, so we call it Unholy Trippel.  Can you create something for that?”  Then he comes back with illustrations like the one below:

Blammo!  One unholy looking monk-like figure complete with totally unrequested stowaway rat band and Coppertail sea-monster.  We love it and we can’t wait to get these on the shelf.  (We already put this one on T-shirts)

Our IPA clocks in at just under 6% alcohol with low bitterness and huge amounts of hop aroma.  It’s our hot day, out on the water IPA.  We call it Free Dive.  Here’s what Evan came up with:

One free diver with a lobster on his head sitting in front of an underwater TV, eating octopus, while a partying fish and puking seahorse hang out nearby.  Makes perfect sense, right?  Not sure why, but somehow, it feels right.

We should have early drafts of a couple more bottle labels by the end of the week.  Stay tuned for more sneak previews.  We look forward to getting these bottles on a shelf near you this fall.  Thanks for checking in on us.

Cheers!

-Kent

Brewery Update 18 – So close we can (almost) taste it

Where there is steam, there shall soon be beer.

2 years of hard work and we’re finally here: cleaning tanks, and testing the new system.  That means we’re close.  Real close.  Our first real brew on the big system is scheduled for next week.

When do we open?

That’s the question that we hear most often now, the question that haunts us in our sleep.  Here’s our current timeline:

Mid-July:  We’ll have kegged beer rolling out the door to select local bars.  (Remember to start asking your bartender about us.)

August:  We’ll open a small, temporary tasting room at our brewery to give visitors someplace to drink a beer and gather for a tour.  (Details on exact date and hours of operation to follow.)

November:  We’ll open our permanent tasting room and throw a grand opening party.  (We’ll announce more info on this as soon as we know it.)

What kinds of beer are we going to make?

Thanks in large part to your feedback at pop-up tastings and beer fests we’ve finally picked four favorites out of our pilot beers to form our core lineup.  These are the four beers we plan to start selling to local bars next month:

Our first grain delivery!

1. Free Dive IPA – 5.9%:  A bright malt backbone paired with loads of citrusy hops.  Low bitterness with an intense Citra, Azacca hop aroma.  With alcohol under 6% and a super dry, clean finish, this IPA always leaves us wanting another glass.

2. Unholy Trippel – 9.5%:  Based on the classic Belgian Trippel originally brewed in monasteries but with a sacrilegious American hop character.  Fruity, funky notes from the belgian yeast combine with west coast hop aroma to provide a smooth drinking beer that packs a punch.  This has been our most popular offering at almost every beer fest.

3. Night Swim Porter – 5.7%: Rich and roasty with Cocoa nibs in the boil.  Bold flavor notes of chocolate and coffee.  Because sometimes you just need something dark and decadent.

4. Wheatstroke Wheat Ale – 4.8%:  Maximum use of wheat in the grain bill with hints of Florida citrus and a touch of corriander in the boil.  Designed for hot weather crushability.

If you’ve come to any of our pop-ups or fests, thanks for you input.  We hope you’ll find something you like in the lineup.  If you don’t see one of your favorites there don’t worry.  We plan to release a number of special beers throughout the year like our Oyster Stout, barrel-aged brett beers, etc.

Assistant Brewer, Derrick Gough, and his wife, Erin Gough, serve up beer at a local beer fest while some weird guy crowds into the picture (on the left.)

If you haven’t had a beer with us at a fest, yet, why not?  We’ll be at the Bad A** Beer Fest in Oldsmar June 28th.

Stay tuned in the coming days for some sneak peeks of our bottle label and tap handle designs in progress.

We can’t wait to brew up some beer for you!

-Kent

Coppertail Brewing Upcoming Tampa Events - June + July 2015

The Coppertail gang will be out in the Tampa area serving ice cold beers this summer. We hope that you are able to make it out to one (or more) of these awesome events where you can try a beer or two and tell us what you think!

Saturday June 14th, 2014 – Sour, Berliner Weisse & Lambic Festival

Time: 2:00 – 6:00pm

Location: Cajun Café on the Bayou

Tickets are $49.99, follow this link to purchase your tickets in advance.

Saturday June 28th, 2014 – BadA** Beer Fest

Time: 4:00 – 9:00pm

Location: Tampa Bay Brewing Co. new location (eastside of Racetrac Rd. one block north of Hillsborough Ave across from the Oldsmar Flea Market)

Tickets are $35 in advance, $50 at the door. Purchase your tickets here.

Saturday July 12th, 2014 – Beer and Loathing in Las Vegas

Time: 7:00 – 10:00pm

Location: Tampa Theater

Grande tickets are $45.00, Premium tickets are $70.00. You may find additional info and purchase your ticket option here.

Saturday July 19th, 2014 – Martini’s for Moffitt

Time: 7:00 – 10:00pm

Location: Tampa Museum of Art

Tickets range from $100.00 to $250.00 with proceeds to benefit cancer research. For additional information on ticket options, check out this link.

Coppertail Brewing Upcoming Tampa Events – April & May 2015

Mark your calendars. The Coppertail Brewing crew will be out in Tampa serving ice cold beers at the following locations for April and May. Come by and say hello, have a beer… or two.

April 19th: Creative Loafing is hosting Spring Hops and Coppertail will be serving a variety of beer. The event starts at noon for VIP ticket holders, general admission entry is at 1pm. Stop by Ybor Square for a cold one.

May 2nd: Free Pop Up tasting! Mystery location to be revealed soon, keep checking our Twitter and Facebook pages for the latest info on this pop-up.

May 3rd: Hey y’all, come visit us at the Spring Craft Beer Fest at Cajun Cafe on the Bayou. We will be pouring various beer styles from 2pm – 6pm. Come thirsty.

We hope that we have the opportunity to meet you at one (or more) of these early Summer events. Cheers!

Brewery Update 17: Brewhouse (nearly) Installed

The brew house, two months ago.

Two months ago I wrote, “Tomorrow the trucks will begin lining up.  Tomorrow there will be ropes and pulleys, chains and hoists.  Tomorrow there will be spitting and cursing, sweating and shouting.  Tomorrow we build a brewery.”

There were only two days worth of shouting, spitting, and cursing (mostly by Casey) and then, miraculously, all the equipment was safely tucked safely away in the brewery.  The successful load-in was due in large part to Derek, JT, Terry, and Randy from Superior Rigging.  (Thanks, guys!)  They brought in the heavy equipment and maneuvered our tanks delicately into place.  No one got hurt, and nothing was damaged.  I’d call that a success.

The brew house today!

Next a team of welders trained by the manufacturer descended upon the brewhouse.  They spent over a month diligently connecting piping.  (I was amazed by the amount of pipe that needs to be run.)

Then, specialized workers arrived to setup the grist mill.  They’re also working on getting glycol (cooling system) to the fermenters, connecting the boiler to the brewhouse, connecting air lines to the pneumatic valves, and getting all the electric stuff wired up.

We have water flowing to the brewhouse, and we expect to have electricity, gas, and sewage hookups completed any day, now.

Miles and miles of piping.

The bottling line arrived.

By the end of the month we hope to have the new brewery totally installed and ready for testing.  In early May we’ll test the system and do some brews with water and cleaners.  Also in May we hope to do some test brews with actual beer to see how the recipes are scaling up to the big system.

Which leads me to the most asked question right now:  When do we open?

We expect to open our temporary tasting room and start shipping draft beer to local bars in June / July.  We plan to have bottled beer on shelves and open our real tasting room in September / October.

Our newest team member, Teri, serving beer at an event.

Until then, we hope you’ll come see us at an event or at the next free pop-up tasting.  (I’m not allowed to give any more details on the next pop-up tasting yet, but watch our social media for an announcement.)  In the meantime we’ll be pouring at Creative Loafing’s Spring Hops.  Use the code  BREWCODE to get $5 off admission here: http://cltampa.xorbia.com/springhops

Cheers, and thanks for checking in on us!

-Kent

Kill the Big Beer Bill HB1329

My fellow Florida craft beer fans.  The craft beer community needs you.  You may have noticed that craft beer is growing at an amazing (or alarming rate) lately, while at the same time, sales are dropping for the mass produced industrial light lagers.  This trend has the big beer people worried.  So much so, in fact, that the big beer distributors have just convinced Florida House Rep Ray Rodrigues to introduce a bill (called HB1329) into the FL House of Representatives that would severely damage the future of our community.

House bill 1329, if ratified, would do the following:

• Outlaw the use of a 128 ounce growler and place additional restrictions on growler filling.
• Place restrictions on guest taps
• Require breweries with tasting rooms to intend to sell an undefined amount of beer through distributors.  (Goodbye tiny nano breweries with no distribution) -Eliminate tasting room only beers
• Eliminate the sale of any collaboration beers on at tasting rooms
• Impose a bunch of other restrictions on craft breweries too numerous to name.  (To learn more about HB1329 you can go here:  http://komlossylaw.com/bigbeerbill/, or here: http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/video?&clipId=9955427&autostart=true, or here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/03/16/3998610/beer-distributors-brewers-fight.html#morer

Overall, the bill seems targeted to squash the really small craft breweries that operate tasting rooms but don’t distribute much beer to bars or retailers.  This bill is bad for local small businesses, destroys jobs, and hurts tourism and our economy.

“That’s awful!” you say.  “I love the craft beer community here in Tampa Bay.  I wish there was a way I could help that would be totally free and take less than 30 minutes of my time.” You, my friend, are in luck.  Cause there is a great way to help.  Right NOW is a pivotal moment in the legislative process.  This HORRIBLE, craft beer killing bill is about to be reviewed over the next week by an important committee that has the power to kill this bastard, demon spawn of a bill before it has a chance to draw it’s first breath.  If we all act NOW we can help convince the committee reviewing it that they should kill it.

Here’s what we all need to do: (Free, less than 30 minutes, effective)

First, Call the leaders of the committee and tell them to kill HB1329.  I just finished calling them all, and the staff members are really nice, so be polite to them.  You just tell the staff member who answers that you are against HB1329 and they make a note of it and pass along that info to their boss.  Or you leave your statement against HB1329 on the answering machine.  Easy!

• Rep. Debbie Mayfield, Chair (850) 717-5054
• Rep. Greg Steube, Vice Chair (850) 717-5073
• Rep. Darryl Rouson, Ranking Member (850) 717-5070

Step 2:  Follow that up with a quick e-mail.  Two communications counted = twice the influence.  Just push the “e-mail representative” button here:

• Debbie Mayfield
• Greg Steube
• Darryl Rouson

That’s it!  Three quick phone calls.  Three quick e-mails.  Suddenly the leadership of the committee reviewing the big beer bill will start hearing that voters hate this bill.  Our legislators really do listen to what voters want, but you have to tell them.  If you love craft beer please stand with us and help safeguard the future of the craft brewing community.  You can’t complain if you don’t make your voice heard, now.

P.S.  If you’re really fired up you can contact the entire committee that will be reviewing the bill here:

http://myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Committees/committeesdetail.aspx?TermId=85&CommitteeId=2723

-Kent

Brewery Update 16: D-Day

I write to you today on the eve of D-Day.  Not the invasion of Europe, but Coppertail Brewing’s Co.’s own D-Day, the Delivery Day for our brewing equipment.  Tomorrow, trucks bearing giant steel tanks and metal containers full of equipment to build our brewhouse will begin off-loading their contents whether we’re ready or not.  Our focus the past few weeks has been making sure the brewing equipment has somewhere to go.  The building has to be ready.  We needed new concrete floors, trench drains, a protective and sanitary floor coating.  We were even missing the basics: walls, a roof, and water and sewer connections.  We had serious doubts about whether it could be done in time.

The building, one month ago.

A moment ago I stood in the new brewing building and surveyed the slightly tacky, still drying floors; the block walls with black, wet mortar; the new steel paneling that’s still missing a few pieces; and I’m pleased to report we’re ready.  (enough)

And it’s a good thing, too.  As I’m writing this one of the D-Day trucks has arrived early.  It’s evening and we can’t unload the truck until the heavy rigging equipment gets here in the morning.  The driver, Rick, has parked his flatbed tractor trailer bearing one of our bright beer tanks behind our warehouse where he tells me he’ll sleep until morning.

A bright tank shows up early!

Tomorrow the trucks will begin lining up behind him.  Tomorrow there will be ropes and pulleys, chains and hoists.  Tomorrow there will be spitting and cursing, sweating and shouting.  Tomorrow we build a brewery.

I’m glad Rick can sleep tonight.  I’m not sure I will.

Wish us luck this week.  We’ll need it.  We’ll keep you updated on how it’s going via twitter @coppertail and facebook.

-Kent

Brewery Update 15: Our Erection

We’ve seen some exciting progress over the past couple of weeks.  First of all, the groundwater problem that had brought the project to a halt was fixed after we had some super smart engineer guys come out and tell us what to do.  Several days and several thousand dollars later we were clear to pour our footers for the new brewing building as planned.

Pouring concrete footers.

Shortly after we started pouring footers a truck showed up with our new boiler on it.  The boiler will generate pressurized steam which will be piped into the steam jackets on our brew house for use in boiling wort and mashing grain.

Casey, a large human, stands in front of the boiler to provide perspective.

It was terrifying to watch the delivery people hook chains and ropes to this expensive and delicate piece of equipment then hoist it off the back of the truck into the air.  There were a few agonizing moments when our new boiler was swinging and wobbling around, but it eventually landed safely in our warehouse where it will wait for the building housing the brewery to be finished (when it will be hoisted and swung through the air one last gut-wrenching time.)

A view of our building from Adamo.

With the footers for the new building poured, the erectors showed up to begin working on the erection of the steel building that will house the brewing equipment.  I’m amazed at how fast those guys work.  Next time you drive down Adamo past our site, you wont be able to miss the sight of the steel going up.

As our steel erection progressed, though, we took a close look at the calendar and realized we just can’t have the building ready by our originally scheduled equipment delivery date of January 20th.  We need time for concrete to set and protective floor coatings to dry.  Luckily, our equipment manufacturer was able to push the delivery date back a few weeks.  We’re now planning on a February 10th delivery date and a target opening date in April instead of March.  Delays are no fun, but we have to accept what we can’t change.

Wort kettle loading.

Speaking of equipment, Rolec finished building our brew house and snapped a few photos as they loaded it up for it’s long voyage across the ocean to Tampa, bay.  (If you like brewery equipment pics you can see more here.)  Soon those steel tanks will make beautiful beer in Florida.  Let’s all hope for calm seas and smooth sailing.  (Part of Lagunitas’ new brew house was demolished during shipment not too long ago.)

The ship with our first load of brewing equipment began it’s voyage on Dec. 25th.  The birth of the christ child and our brewing equipment heading out into the world on the same day?  Sounds like a good omen to me.

A group of good samaritans helped us drink up our extra beer at the pop-up tasting.

And, finally, we hosted a surprise pop-up tasting at our place the other day.  We announced the event 24 hours ahead of time on Facebook and wondered if anyone would show up.  We were thrilled to see so many people packed into our offices drinking beer and eating burgers.  I estimate the number of attendees through out the evening at 200+, although our accountant, Dave, says it was more like 80.  (You can choose which of us is better at counting things.)

Thanks to all who came out.  We had lots of fun meeting new people, and we appreciate hearing your thoughts on the beer.  We intend to continue to give our Facebook and Twitter friends special access to events and merchandise in the future.  Keep an eye out on our Twitter and Facebook pages for announcements.  We’re already planning the next pop-up tasting.

By the time I post my next update the building should be almost done.  (cross your fingers we don’t hit any more delays.)  As always, we appreciate you checking in on us.  May the new year bring you glad tidings and good beer.

– Kent

Brewery Update 14: The Lost City of Atlantis

Now that we have our permit in hand we’re scrambling to get our building ready before our brewing equipment shows up in mid-January.  (See above for photo of our almost ready to ship brewhouse.)  Currently, our brewing area is a concrete slab in desperate need of walls, roof, drains, and utilities.  There’s lots of work to do, but over the past week or so we’ve seen some progress and maybe even a setback.

Our new steel building arrives.

Our first good omen was when trucks loaded with metal beams, walls and roof started lining up outside our building.  Our friends at Buck Steel hit their delivery estimate for our new steel building on the nose, helping to keep us on schedule.  But won’t it take months or years to build a new building?  That’s what I thought.  But it turns out these new steel buildings go up super fast.   Buck Steel was recently clocked putting one up in only 3 days!  Here’s a video showing how they do it.  

Trench drain, coming soon!

Also, the trench drains that will run under the brewhouse have been cut.  And Salt Construction has started working on the new concrete footers for the steel building.  Here’s where the setback comes in.

Water oozing from beneath our existing slab.

As they were digging footers for the new steel building we noticed lots of water flooding one of the holes.  We have no idea where all this water is coming from but it greatly complicates the pouring and hardening of concrete.  We may have disturbed a pocket of groundwater or an old pipe somehow.    Either that or the excessive levels of dry hopping at our pilot brewery over-saturated the air with potentially destabilizing levels of free-hop oils, tearing a rift in the time-space continuum and opening a portal to the underwater city of Atlantis.  Either way, we hope to get the water issue resolved this week and start getting that building up next week.

In the meantime we’re still test brewing and honing our opening beer lineup.  Thanks for all the suggestions for IPA and Wheat names on social media recently.  We’d tell you which names we chose, but we’re waiting for trademark approval.  We expect to announce a pop-up tasting overFacebook and Twitter @coppertail soon, so we can share our hard work and get your opinions.

Also, we added some new T-Shirts to our store recently.  (Perfect for the craft beer lover on your list.) We’re still targeting late March for our opening.  We’ll see you there, if we don’t see you at a pop-up tasting beforehand.

Pacifying the Atlanteans with beer.

Thanks for checking in on us!  Wish us luck with the ground water situation.

– Kent

Brewery Update 13: Permit in hand! Brewhouse First Glimpse

11/26/2013

It’s been an amazing past couple weeks here at Coppertail.  Let’s lead with the most important development:  WE HAVE OUR CONSTRUCTION PERMIT IN HAND.  That’s right.  We’ve been working on our renovation plans since summer to try to get that permit, and we finally got it!

Around the time of my last update we thought the city was going to issue our permit any day.  Then they said they weren’t because city water and wastewater had put a hold on it.  We started sweating.  You can’t start a brewery without access to water and sewers.  We have equipment coming, we’re paying rent, we can’t handle many more delays.  Then, suddenly, they lifted the hold, the clouds parted, the angels sang and we finally got our permit to finish the renovations to the brewery area.

I clearly recall Joe Redner writing in his blog years ago about how permitting had tripped them up and to allow extra time for that.  I want to echo that advice to any future brewing entrepreneurs.  Getting all the info the city needs is going to take much longer than you think.  Allow lots of time.  Then multiply that by 2.  Or 4.

The other big news in the past couple weeks is that Casey and I were allowed a brief conjugal visit with our brewhouse under construction at Rolec in Germany.  We were asked to visit, double check the plans, and advise them if any changes were needed before shipping.  Traveling to Germany at first sounded like an expensive and unnecessary boondoggle, but trying to make changes to equipment after taking delivery sounded even more expensive.  So we decided to go.  I’m glad we went because we did end up needing to tweak a few things.

Casey spent most of his time at Rolec in serious concentration, pouring over obscure symbols on the plans and comparing them with the pipes, welds, valves, etc. on our system in the workshop.  He had to ensure everything was in the right place and installed to his satisfaction.  With no commercial brewing experience, my roll was less demanding.  I spent most of my time at the workshop walking slow circles around the brewhouse, gently caressing the sleek steel vessels and moaning softly.  It was beautiful, and much larger than the 25 gallon kettles I’m used to.  Soon that collection of lifeless steel vats and piping will find a higher purpose, making beer.  I can’t wait to get it here to Tampa and fire it up.  Delivery and installation is currently scheduled for mid-January.  We won’t have to wait long to see it again.  Until then, we’ll keep brewing on my 25 gallon kettles.

So, in summary, the last couple weeks have been great.  We have our construction permit.  Our brewing equipment is looking good and almost ready to ship.  Things are starting to come together.  Now we just need to stay focused on getting our building renovations done on a very tight time table.  We’re still targeting a March 2014 opening.  Wish us luck.

Thanks for checking in on us.  Have a great Thanksgiving!

-Kent

Brewery Update 12: Wet zoning / Feds / and more

In my last update back in October I whined about how we were still waiting on all sorts of regulatory approvals.  Our progress seemed frozen.  Right after that post the ice started to break.  I’m pleased to report we are now seeing movement on lots of issues that were slowing us down.

First, the day the government shutdown ended we received word that our Federal Brewer’s Notice had been approved.  That’s right, we are no longer just four guys hanging out in a warehouse and making beer.  Now we’re four guys hanging out in a warehouse making beer and paying lots of federal beer taxes.  According to the Feds we are officially a brewery.

Next we had to go to a couple hearings at city hall to ask them to ‘wet zone’ our warehouse.  Wet zoning is required any time a business wants to sell alcohol to the public.  Without the wet zoning we can’t operate a tasting room.  Without a tasting room our new brewery would be dead.

Approval was not a sure thing.   This warehouse is a pretty big area to zone for alcohol sales, and it’s in a part of Ybor where there’s currently no alcohol being served.  Maybe the surrounding homeowners and businesses would argue against us.  Maybe the city officials would decide there’s enough alcohol up on 7th in Ybor, and they didn’t want any of it spreading to the neighborhoods and industrial areas of southeastern Ybor.

After explaining the project and sitting through two different 3-hour hearings, however, our hard work and patience paid off.  No one argued against us.  The city council liked our plans. We were rewarded with unanimous approval of our wet zoning.  I think the city understands the good things local craft breweries can bring to a community in terms of jobs, tourism, and neighborhood pride.  Thanks, City Council!

Also in October, our brewmaster, Casey, was asked to judge the Great American Beer Fest in Colorado.  The four of us headed out there for a few days of beer tasting.  We sampled some delicious offerings from 7Venth Sun, Swamphead, Due South and others in the Florida section.  Some of the longest lines at the festival were in front of the tables for Cigar City and Funky Buddha.  Way to go, guys!  Cigar City took a gold medal in the Pro-Am competition for their Poblano beer.   Casey’s Octoberfest from his previous brewery took a silver medal.  It was an amazing experience to see so many great beers and talented brewers in one place.  We look forward to going back next year with some beer of our own.

Just after we returned from GABF we got to serve up some early prototypes of our beer at Richard’s Run 5k in Ybor.  Runners were given drink tickets and had the choice of spending them on industrial mass produced lager at one table, or Coppertail at our table.  Would anyone want to try this tiny new beer company?  A line quickly formed at our table and grew longer and more crowded as the night went on.  I was especially pleased to see the same faces several times as people scrounged for more beer tickets then waited in our line again.  We ran through all our beer and had to close down early.  We were sorry to disappoint the late comers, but it was thrilling to see people enjoying the beer.  We’ll keep you posted on where and when we’ll be serving next.  In the meantime we’re working on brewing up more.

Currently, our biggest obstacle is in getting the permits we need to build out the brewing area and tasting room.  For a couple weeks we’ve been told we should be getting the permits any day now.  We need to get started on that work immediately if we’re going to stay on schedule for a March opening.  The people at the city have been kind and are working with us, but I just hadn’t realized how slow this process moves.  Cross your fingers that we’ll get those permits in hand soon, or we won’t have anywhere to put all our brewing equipment when it arrives in late December.

Speaking of equipment, our brewhouse manufacturer in Germany has asked us to come look at the brewing equipment before they finish it up.  If any changes need to be made, it’s best to figure that out before it leaves their shop.  It’s a tough job, but Casey and I have agreed to fly over to Munich this week and take a look.  We’ve had this system on order since March and I’ve been dreaming of the day we finally get to see it.  I can’t wait.  Keep an eye on our Twitter and Facebook feeds for pictures and updates.

When I write my next update let’s hope we have our permits in hand and are working like crazy to get this old warehouse renovated!

– Kent

Brewery Update 11: A brewery is a state of mind

Over dinner with a friend recently I mentioned that we had just ordered kegs for the brewery. 500 stainless steel kegs delivered to our doorstep is going to cost us thousands.  (Take heed breweries in planning.  You need to budget big money for your own fleet of kegs, or use a keg rental service.  The distributors and bars definitely don’t provide those for you.)

My friend raised his eyebrows at our keg order.  “So you must have gotten your Federal Brewer’s License back.”

“No,” I said.  “Our application has been in for months.  Still waiting.”

“But you have your wet zoning?”

“Not, exactly,” I explained, “We got a unanimous ‘yes’ vote at the first hearing, but there’s one more hearing to go.”

“Well, you’ve at least got your permits to build this brewery, right.”

I shook my head.  “Not yet.”

His eyes widened.  “What the hell are you doing buying 500 kegs when you haven’t been approved for anything, yet?   What if they deny you? Are you insane?”

I had to laugh.  Anyone who starts a brewery must be a little insane.  Every new brewery spends months, sometimes years operating only in the mind of the lunatic start-up brewer while he or she advances huge sums of money and effort to make it materialize.  It can’t be done any other way.

Take the federal brewer’s license.  It’s illegal to have a brewery without one.  But you can’t get one until you have a functioning brewery.  You simply cannot get pre-approval.  You just have to build a brewery and hope for the best.

Similarly, you can’t ask the city council to wet zone a potential property just in case you pick that location to start your brewery.  No, you have to pick a space, ask nice and cross your fingers.  And you can’t get permits to renovate until you’ve picked a building and produced detailed plans of what you’re going to do, by which point you’re almost certainly committed beyond the point of turning back.

And once you commit to buying some brewing equipment it may take up to a year to arrive, so you’d better not wait until your space is totally ready before you make that commitment unless you want to be twiddling your thumbs and paying rent in your finished brewery building for over half a year waiting for your equipment to come in.

So, no.  We don’t technically have a brewery, yet.  But, yes, we’re ordering kegs.  And we’ve already ordered brewing and packaging equipment, and contracted for hops and other raw materials and signed a lease and done lots of other irrevocable stuff that’s sounds alarmingly risky to most sane people.  We’re still waiting on our Federal Brewer’s License, wet zoning, and construction permits, but we have faith that we’ll gather all the necessary paperwork over the coming months.

We’re inching closer.  This insane dream may soon become a reality.

I almost forgot.  Progress update:

• We passed the first city council vote for wet zoning to sell beer on the property last week.  The second vote should be coming up in a couple weeks.  So far so good. 
• Our very own Dave Iwansky just turned 40!  Man, he’s old.
• Casey, our Brewmaster, just finished a collaboration brew with Green Bench that will go on tap in their tasting

• room, soon.  I hear it’s an IPA chocked full of Citra called Across the Bay IPA.

• A band called Stages and Stereos shot a music video in our tore up old warehouse the other day.  We had fun drinking beer with them before the shoot.  We wish them well on the new album.
• We’ll be serving beer at Richard’s Run 5k the evening of Friday Nov. 1.  Sign up now.  (You can even skip the run and just hang out at the finish line party with us.)

Casey, Khris and Steve enjoy wholesome refreshment after a long brew day.

That’s it for this update.  We’ll be heading west next week for the Great American Beer Fest in Colorado.  More updates soon.

-Kent

Brewery Update 10: Waiting is the Hardest Part

9/11/2013

That old Tom Petty Song has never seemed more true to me.  Lots of waiting goes on in starting a brewery.  

We are STILL trying to gather all the info the city needs in order to give us a permit.  As of yesterday, the last scrap of info they were asking for had to do with engineering wind and flood loads for the metal building that will house our brewing area.  We should get that info to them this week which means a few weeks after that we hope to get a permit.

The frustrating part is that the renovations to the building are all planned out, money has been set aside to make it happen, our contractor is anxious to get in there.  But until we get those permits in hand we can’t start turning the building into a brewery.  We’re still relatively on schedule for a Nov-Dec equipment installation and March opening, but the next few weeks will be crucial.

At least we’re seeing some progress on our wet zoning.  We’ve got our application in and a hearing before the city council this month will determine if we can sell beer on premises.  These signs recently popped up around the building.  Keep your fingers crossed for us.

In the meantime we’re focusing on what we can do to help this brewery along.  We served our first beers at a festival ever over the weekend at Tampa Bay Beer Week‘s Halfway There festival.  We served a prototype of our IPA and Grizacca, an american twist on a Belgian Grisette style that Casey brewed up in Maine with our friends up at Oxbow.

I was curious to see what kind of reception we would get, being the new guys on the local craft scene.  Would the more established breweries look down on us?  Would anyone taste our beer?  I shouldn’t have been concerned.   All the other brewers were super cool and friendly and the crowds kept our guys busy pouring until all our kegs were empty.  I loved both of the beers we served and they seemed well-received by the drinkers milling around, despite the fact that Casey accidentally named one of them after a villain from Power Rangers. 

We also got to taste some amazing and creative beers by the other local breweries.  There’s lots of brewing talent in Tampa Bay right now.  I love how everyone in this craft beer community pulls together and roots for one another.  It was amazing to talk to so many cool people and feel so welcomed.

Meanwhile we’re continuing to hone our recipes and work on beers using our 20 gallon pilot system.  We’re getting closer to finding our style as a brewery and narrowing down our opening lineup.  I’m still not sure what we’ll end up with but I’m excited about the direction we’re going.

We’re also getting started on our barrel program.  We’re working on filling them with beery goodness now.  With any luck, by the time we open in March we’ll have something good to drink coming out of those barrels. Since we got some shirts made we’ve been receiving cool pics like the one below.  

This one is from our friends at Granville Moore’s in DC, which is an awesome Belgian bar that was serving up Grizacca the other day. Keep the pics coming.  We love ’em!  You can send to info@coppertailbrewing.com

Thanks for following our progress.  We’ll update you again soon.

- Kent

Brewery Update 9: Demo, Halfway and Wazoo

The last couple weeks have flown by.  The most exciting new development is that the demolition portion of the renovations is in full swing.

There’s REALLY no turning back, now!  We plan to knock down part of the warehouse in order to build a parking lot for the tasting room.  After so many months of waiting and planning it’s super exciting to see some physical progress.  We’re still working on getting permits for the work we need to do in the brewing area (Installing drains, boiler, upgrading electic service, adding gas service) and the permits for creating the tasting room.

We’re also excited to report we’ve been invited to participate in the Halfway There beer fest at the Cuban Club on September 7th.  Come by our stand for the only kegs of Oxbow Coppertail Grizacca in the Tampa Market.

Also, in fun news, Coppertail just had it’s first sighting on a restaurant menu thanks to the Grizacca.

And, we had a great time pouring beer with the Brandon Bootleggers Homebrew club and talking beer at the Wazoo beer fest recently.

Lots of test brewing still going on as we hone our opening lineup.

And thanks to the demolition we got a sneak peek at the view from our tasting room:

So, in summary, we’re still mostly playing the waiting game:  waiting on construction, waiting on some permits, waiting on equipment delivery.  But, we’re still on schedule to be ready for our equipment to arrive starting in November.  And, in the meantime we’re busy test brewing beer and trying to get some of our beer out there into peoples mouths.

Oh, yeah, and our ONLINE STORE is now open.  We had lots of people asking for T-Shirts so we opened it up a few months early.  The brewery isn’t done being built yet, but you can help spread the word.

Thanks for checking in on us, and we’ll write another update soon.

– Kent