Five different towns in the Ozarks.
Three tap takeovers.
Two tastings.
Half price growler fills.
American Craft Beer Week is coming to an end, and our Ozarks style celebration is complete. Earlier this evening Brian, Andy and I sat on our patio in the waning daylight, Ozark fireflies blinking all around us, and we toasted to a great week. We covered some country. We had fun. We survived.
We can never thank all of you individually, but we do want to say a big thank you to everyone that came out and enjoyed a pint or four, tried our beer and patronized our hosts.
A big thanks to The Open Range Steakhouse in Willow Springs, Fisher and Brown Speakeasy in Rolla, Horseshoe Saloon Bar’n Grill in Salem, Hy-Vee and Brown Derby International Wine Center in Springfield. We really appreciate you allowing us to celebrate this week in your businesses!
Thanks also to our distributors, Grellner Sales and Heart of America Beverage, for their support of locally brewed craft beer. We couldn’t have done what we did without their support.
There were some funny moments…like at Open Range when the bar and staff were rather overwhelmed with Piney River Beer drinking customers, so Brian and I got a crash course in running their POS system. A BARn regular gave me some cash, and I rang up their drinks. “When did you learn how to use the POS?” she asked. “Just now,” I answered.
There were some GREAT moments…the opportunity to see a line up of Piney River Brewing tap handles. And even better and greater–Open Range, the Speakeasy and the Horseshoe are all planning to add additional Piney River taps to their draft line ups.
I didn’t have much time to take photos during American Craft Beer Week, but I did snap this photo from our tap takeover at The Open Range…several patrons signed the declaration of craft beer independence. It’s not every day you can add your John Hancock to a declaration of independence, especially one supporting craft beer.
For those of you that have been following this blog over the past year, you might recall May 18th, 2011. Brian and I celebrated 15 years of marriage with a float trip on the Big Piney River and Fat Tire and Buffalo Sweat in cans. We found out that day that our SBA loan for our brewing equipment was approved–a memorable day for us for the rest of our lives.
May 18, 2012 rolled around this year, and Brian and I were hosting simultaneous beer tastings at two different locations in Springfield. No idyllic photos of McKinney Eddy or Brian holding a Piney River bronzeback on this anniversary, but Scott Gargus at Brown Derby International Wine Center did snap this photo of the two of us shortly before Brian left for his tasting at Hy-Vee.
So we weren’t in a canoe on the river yesterday, but we did get to have lunch with Sherry at The Midway Bar & Grill in Mountain Grove. Sherry’s is proud to have two locally brewed beers on draft at her bar. Being in Springfield also gave us the opportunity to see our friends at Farmer’s Gastropub and enjoy a celebratory dinner with great craft beer. Stacy and the staff at Farmer’s are proudly serving Piney River beer, too. And those experiences make Brian and I think that the next 16 years are going to be more interesting and fun than we can possibly fathom.
Tonight on the patio we were already talking about what we can do to celebrate American Craft Beer Week in the Ozarks next year. So, let’s plan to celebrate again together next year, but don’t wait that long before you enjoy another Piney Pint!
Cheers!
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