Andy is first to try out the new water line in the BARn.
Andy grew up in a brewery. You can ask him, but I don’t believe he has a memory when we weren’t making beer–from our stovetop to cleaning out an old barn and turning it into The BARn. Andy listened to us talk about beer from taste to style to beer names for most of his childhood. After school, after dinner, on the weekend, Andy would sit on kegs or pallets of grain reading books while we brewed. Sometimes Andy would help–turning levers, moving items, “brewing”–because we have always been a hands on family that works on projects together.
Andy on the New Belgium Brewing Co. tour.
All of the family vacations included travels to the local breweries. I’ll never forget our first tour of New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins, CO where Andy was captivated by the aroma of beers in the foeder room. “I have to try that beer,” he whispered to me as I sampled one of the sours.
Winner, Winner! Now it’s time to put that root beer into cans.
And if you know the Piney River story, you know that Andy wanted to “brew a beer” and we convinced him that brewing a root beer for the kids was a worthy endeavor. Andy’s Root Beer was born. Then, Andy began asking us to put that well loved Andy’s Root Beer in a can, so we sent him away to a business camp where he had to develop a plan and a pitch, and in his first tie with a handful of notecards, Andy pitched that root beer in a can plan and won his age group, coming in second runner up to the 18-year old winner.
Beer names and the stories behind them were always of interest to Andy, too. He knew the “crankbait” in Crankbait Cream Ale was a nod to one of the best smallmouth bass fishing lures in the Ozarks. Andy was no stranger to the mystery of the “Old Tom” bearing the name of our porter. Raise A Ruckus? That’s an old African American folk song covered by many musicians, and we love the version by Old Crow Medicine Show. It was Andy that suggested that Piney River have a “Honky Tonk Hardwood Floor” beer after hearing Chuck Mead cover the Johnny Hinton tune many times.
Andy with his barrels of Honky Tonk Hardwood Floor.
In our family discussions about the yet-to-be-brewed Honky Tonk Hardwood Floor beer, we all agreed that the beer needed to be something that was barrel-aged. In February 2025, a beer prayer went up when we put some of the 2025 Mule Team Imperial IPA in two J. Rieger & Co. whiskey barrels and set them aside to age…a possible Honky Tonk Hardwood Floor in the making. We realized that around the time the beer would be ready would also be the same year that Andy turned 21. As beer time would have it, Honky Tonk Hardwood Floor Barleywine Ale was ready to be packaged in late summer 2026. Andy was 21, and “his” beer was named and on tap at the BARn.
Andy & Brian brewed a batch of Old Tom Porter headed to the Great American Beer Festival. It was Andy’s first time to brew beer!
Truth be told, Andy’s more of a Black Walnut Wheat guy than a barleywine guy, but it’s still pretty cool to finally get a chance to step on to the brewhouse and brew a beer (with your dad) that you can drink. In fact, the Old Tom Porter that Andy helped brew will be poured at the 2026 Great American Beer Festival, and there are a few luck people out there that can actually enjoy an Old Tom Porter at GABF poured up by Andy himself.
If you are someone that enjoys sipping on a barleywine, Honky Tonk Hardwood Floor is on tap at the BARn. It’s a perfect beer for a a fall day in the Ozarks.
Honky Tonk Hardwood Floor Barleywine
