Some Thoughts About Stepping Out There Start up

Some Thoughts About Stepping Out There

If you've been to the BARn, you've seen a little saying we have tacked up on the wall behind the bar--"A Doer. Not a Dreamer." with the words attributed to Tom Asacker. Brian and I have been reading Tom's blog www.acleareye.com since before we dug a new well to build a brewery in rural Missouri in July of 2010. He frequently has great things to say to those in leadership positions, to entrepreneurs and to anyone who's interested in doing something that may seem a little crazy to everyone around them. Every week Brian and I are approached by people…
Craft Beer for Your Next Float Trip The Beer

Craft Beer for Your Next Float Trip

It was just about 3 years ago that one of our friends asked, “Are you insane?” when she heard we were starting a brewery in a barn on our farm. We said, “No, we’re not insane, we’re having the time of our lives!” And it’s true, this industry is a fun one. There’s great camaraderie among the folks that make beer and sell beer. It’s very rewarding to pour your heart and soul into a vision of crafting high quality beer that celebrates the Ozarks and to people snapping up your products as soon as they hit the shelves. (Thank…
A Craft Beer Thank You to You! Beer EventsThe BARn

A Craft Beer Thank You to You!

For our second Ale-iversary a friend gave us a card (and a really cool growler) that said the frequently used Benjamin Franklin quote, “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” Happy is really the best word to describe the 2nd Ale-iversary at Piney River Brewing Company. We’ve been working fast and furious for the past few months to pull this off…got the cherry wood floor down, added electricity to the South side of the BARn (for live music), got trim put up, added the other speakers we purchased for last year’s Ale-iversary, brewed up…
Craft Beer for the Ozarks in 2013 Beer Events

Craft Beer for the Ozarks in 2013

2013 has gone off with a bang. Our first beer tasting of 2013 took place at Homegrown Food in Springfield, a fun, locally owned grocery store that specializes in homegrown and local. Brad, Mary and the staff at Homegrown have a cool vibe going on, and we’re proud to be a “local” part of their endeavor. And we love shopping at Homegrown, too. We thought January, February and March were “slow” months for craft beer events, but had two beer festivals in February! Our booth at the festival. The first was the Midwest Regional Beer, Wine, Cheese & Chocolate Festival…
Crafting a Better IPA The Beer

Crafting a Better IPA

We love India Pale Ale. A fermentation vessel full of Missouri Mule India Pale Ale When we envisioned a craft brewery in the Ozarks, we knew that India Pale Ale, commonly referred to as IPA, would have to be part of our beer line up. In those first few months operating as a nanobrewery, we knew that IPA would have to be one of those beers that was packaged for distribution at the beginning. India Pale Ale gets its name from the time in history when the British colonized India. The Brits would travel to India by ship, around the…
Oktoberfest in the Ozarks Beer Events

Oktoberfest in the Ozarks

This fall we had our first real experience as a brewery during Oktoberfest. It seems like many, many, MANY moons ago, but this time last year we had just brewed our first batch on the big system. We still weren’t keeping the taproom open every Saturday because we couldn’t make enough beer. Fast-forward 11 months. With Piney River beer in many locations throughout the Ozarks, we had many requests for events, many related to Oktoberfest. As I kept adding events to the brewery calendar, Brian and I looked on September and October with some trepidation. We wanted to make sure…
Tap Room Tweaks The BARn

Tap Room Tweaks

Many of you were at the BARn last weekend. A lot of you were not here, but it was nearly standing room only. And there were so many empty kegs at the end of the day that we wondered what we would serve in the upcoming week. Even now, I am thinking of this person and that person that came in...and many of you stayed awhile, too. On a fluke, and since it was Labor Day weekend, Brian and I got some brats and grilled them to give away to those that came in, too. ; We had two new…
Craft Beer for Capitol Hill The Beer

Craft Beer for Capitol Hill

We've been doing the usual around here...making beer, canning beer, cleaning kegs, doing tastings, festivals and tap takeovers, and talking to politicians. Okay, so we don't talk to politicians every day.  In fact, we really try to stay away from most things political, but things have changed lately.  As members of the Brewer's Association, we've been diligent about contacting our legislators regarding our brewery and brewing legislation. At the Craft Brewer's Conference in San Diego this year we had the opportunity to talk with Representative Pete DeFazio of Oregon a passionate voice for craft beer on Capitol Hill.  Pete loved…
Craft Beer Lake Ozark Style Beer Events

Craft Beer Lake Ozark Style

We received a few flyers about the Midwest Wine and Brew Fest in Lake Ozark a couple of weeks ago. There were several wineries listed on the flyer, but there was only one brewery. Yes. You guessed it. Piney River Brewing. Really? The only brewery? No competition for craft beer lovers? Seriously? Alright! We knew we were going to rock the festival. The festival was in a large, spacious, carpeted room. We had three full size skirted tables to spread ourselves out on. There were silver trays with little packages of palate cleansing crackers and silver dump buckets. (I left…
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