PRBC Blog

Two brewers (husband and wife), one big old barn, one river located just down the hill below the barn and an idea for something that may be a little work that leads to a lot more fun.
Bucyrus, Missouri–A Craft Beer Town The BARn

Bucyrus, Missouri–A Craft Beer Town

Bucyrus.  Pronounced "Bue-sigh-russ".  I know.  It doesn't look like that. Bucyrus is little more than a postal code.  In fact, Bucyrus is one of the rural post office towns that's on the post office chopping block.  But we'll get to keep our name. A whole bunch of good people live in Bucyrus.  I imagine that every single resident of Bucyrus has had the distinct pleasure of giving someone we don't know our zip code for a town look up only to receive complete silence while they try to figure out how to pronounce the town that just popped up. At…
Piney River Brewing Company
February 15, 2012
Craft Beer Shoot at the BARn* The Beer

Craft Beer Shoot at the BARn*

*There were no beers injured in the making of this blog post. There comes a time in every beer’s life where a professional must be called in.  In this case, the professional was once again Brooke Hamilton of Grindstone Studio. This time, Brooke brought her camera, a whole carload of “stuff”, and her mentor and teacher and our friend, Marian McKinney.  Here’s how it went down: The Star:  Piney River Beer The Professional:  Brooke Hamilton, Grindstone Studio The Assistant:  Marian McKinney, McKinney Forge & Design Studio The Beer Runner & Other Assistant:  Me (Joleen) The Beer Pourer :  Brian (while…
Piney River Brewing Company
February 9, 2012
A Doer, Not a Dreamer…Piney River Brewing Style Start up

A Doer, Not a Dreamer…Piney River Brewing Style

It started early in the week...we spent our evenings wrestling with white pine boards for the walls of the tap room at the BARn.  We knew we needed to just "take a day" and work non-stop on our construction work. My mom was coming in for a visit, and we knew that we would have a little childcare for Andy available.  I also shoved my regular five day a week job into four days this week and took Friday off. The Piney River Brewing "weekend" started on Thursday evening.  Brian, Andy, my mom and I went to the Midway Bar…
Piney River Brewing Company
January 29, 2012
The Barn in the BARn Tap Handles at Piney River Brewing Company Start up

The Barn in the BARn Tap Handles at Piney River Brewing Company

This blog post is long overdue...it started sometime last March when Brian and I were at the Craft Brewers Conference.  While looking at everything from keg collars to glycol chillers we picked up some information and talked to some companies that make tap handles.Fast forward to this past summer when a pressing need for tap handles was upon us.  We knew that we needed tap handles for our off premise sales.  We needed a handle that was distinctive, that said "PineyRiver Brewing", and that covered the bases of the various beers we offer.Covering all of those bases is pretty hard,…
Piney River Brewing Company
January 19, 2012
Charlie McKinney’s Sign and the PRBC Fermentation Vessels The BARn

Charlie McKinney’s Sign and the PRBC Fermentation Vessels

If you ever visited our friend Charlie McKinney’s blacksmith shop—McKinney Forge in Bucyrus—you would have noticed a large and colorful sign mounted high up on the wall in the shop.  The sign was pretty hard to miss…lots of words and color and pretty darn interesting to read. The sign was scavenged from a road side trash pile by Charlie and Marian somewhere down South.  Charlie and Marian were collectors of things for their shop, studio and home.  When Marian auctioned much of the blacksmith shop, the sign came down, and the brewery was deemed a great place to hang it.…
Piney River Brewing Company
January 8, 2012
2012 at Piney River Brewing Company Start up

2012 at Piney River Brewing Company

We ended our year at Piney River Brewing Company with over 80 brews on the Sabco Brew Magic, about 100 barrels under our belt on the new brewing system, Piney pint after Piney pint coming off the Wild Goose Engineering canning machine and several happy retail locations that can's seem to stock enough McKinney Eddy Amber Ale and Missouri Mule India Pale Ale. Here's how 2012 began at Piney River Brewing Company: Yes, you're seeing things correctly...that's a brite beer tank full of McKinney Eddy Amber Ale, a fermentation vessel full of Missouri Mule IPA and a fermentation vessel half…
Piney River Brewing Company
January 3, 2012
Rocking the Craft Beer Canning Machine & Other Stuff The Beer

Rocking the Craft Beer Canning Machine & Other Stuff

We have blog followers that are craft beer enthusiasts, that are in the business of craft beer, and that are friends or family members.  We also have several blog followers that have craft beer business aspirations of their own. Everyone asks questions about how we manage to "do it all"--work our day jobs, have a family life, farm and run a microbrewery on the side.  Today was a great example of "doing it all". Bright and early this morning, Brian rounded up our cows (the girlfriends) and their calves, most of which are almost a year old.  The calves will…
Piney River Brewing Company
December 11, 2011
Craft Beer + Guest Tap = General Craft Beer Fun at the BARn The Beer

Craft Beer + Guest Tap = General Craft Beer Fun at the BARn

To update you a little on the progress here at Piney River Brewing...we're brewing regularly in our 7-barrel system, especially Amber Ale and IPA for canning.  It will be a while before we meet the demand for our beer in cans.  We're sneaking in things like our Porter and our Wheat when we get a chance so we can provide the occasional keg of the "other" beers that we brew but don't can and so we can provide those beers on tap in the BARn each weekend. Speaking of the BARn, we began putting in the bar in the upstairs. …
Piney River Brewing Company
November 30, 2011
Our Craft Beer to the Customers Start up

Our Craft Beer to the Customers

The roll out of Piney River Brewing Company beers has begun. After canning our Amber Ale and IPA, we met with Grellner Sales regarding getting the beer "out there"...to you.  Since Texas County is our home base, and since the BARn was going to be closed on Thanksgiving weekend, we really wanted to get beer into Texas County retail stores for the week of Thanksgiving. We loaded our truck with cases of Amber Ale and IPA and met a Grellner truck that was making a delivery in Houston. Brian made the delivery.  Here's one happy Grellner truck. Piney River brews…
Piney River Brewing Company
November 28, 2011
Introducing Piney River Brews to Our Southwest Missouri Friends Start up

Introducing Piney River Brews to Our Southwest Missouri Friends

In the middle of all this canning and the roll out of our beer to our Texas County friends, we haven't had the opportunity to fully express how excited we are about this coming Saturday. A couple of years ago Big Brothers and Big Sisters of the Ozarks began "Ozarks Beer Fest", an opportunity for craft beer lovers to gather in Springfield to enjoy distinctive craft beers and great food.  To top off a great event, all the funds raised by the event go to a great Southwest Missouri cause--Big Brothers and Big Sisters of the Ozarks. When we attended…
Piney River Brewing Company
November 18, 2011
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