PRBC Blog

Our friend Charlie McKinney hasn’t been here to offer his two cents on the renovation of BARn.  But there have been many times since we started our work that we have thought of Charlie and what he might say or how he would be involved in what we are doing.  In honor of our good friend and his love of the Ozarks, we have named our amber ale after McKinney Eddy on the McKinney family farm, not too far from the home, studio and blacksmith shop where Charlie and his wife, Marian made a home and living together for many…

When we first started brewing beer, we thought about how it tied in with the Ozarks, the Big Piney River and the sweet, limestone filtered water that we drink and use in our beer.   You cannot brew a beer in the Ozarks without drawing on the history of the water that has been the life blood of the people, plants and animals that have relied on our rivers for centuries. Many people have lived or visited the Ozarks and have enjoyed our rivers, including the Big Piney River.  We hope our beer helps them remember good times and great stories…

It's been awhile since I updated the PRBC Blog.  We've been doing this thing I lovingly term "burning the candle at both ends"--brewery, work, brewery, farm, brewery, eat, brewery, sleep, brewery, family, brewery, work with contractors, brewery, brewery, brewery.  The work of building a microbrewery in the Ozarks continues even if the blog posts have been few and far between. You’re not seeing an apparition...some lights have been hung in the brewery with care.  At some point in its 70-year history, this old barn had electricity, but we haven’t had any electric hooked up to the barn in the 14…

Tonight Brian and I popped the cork on a bottle of Three Philosophers (Ommegang Brewery).  After polishing that off, we sampled our latest and last home brew--what will be named "McKinney Eddy Amber Ale" when it's labeled. It's official folks, we've been approved. Two months after submitting our inches thick application to the Tobacco Tax Bureau, we have received approval to brew and sell alcohol from the federal government!  (Major kudos to Brian.  Our TTB rep told Brian that it was one of the most complete applications she's ever seen.) When we submitted our application, we were told it would…

We started with a beer fridge in the basement.  Smallish, stocked with cold variety. Our next step was a kegorator.  We wondered how we ever lived without the capabilities to keep beer on tap in our home. The most recent beer chilling tool is a first in the life of all brewer’s that intend to brew professionally—the walk-in cooler. This past weekend,with Mumford and Sons playing in the background, we snapped together our 9’X11’ ultimate beer fridge, placing it in the Northwest corner of the BARn. The walk-in cooler takes cool to a whole new level and in more ways…

There have been some aspects of this project that Brian and I have not been able to do on our own.  It's not that we couldn't buy a book on the subject or Google the topic to find helpful tips.  It's just that the tools required were too big. Intercounty Electric came out today and installed a double throw box that will allow us to shut off all power to our house and barn for easily and safely hooking up a generator.  We also had an ancient electric pole that was in the way of our view out the West…

They say that our eyes are the window to our soul.  The BARn windows are part of the soul of this project. We found our big windows online, a fitting tribute to the large holes in the upper ends of the barn where hay was ferried from end to end by horses according to old time tradition.  When I found those windows online, we felt truly inspired. Originally, at ground level the barn had four windows on the North side and two windows on the South side, tiny panes framed by wood.  The glass from those windows and even the…

We really couldn't have asked for better weather this October.  When it comes to a building project, we've had dry, mild days.  And despite the August heat wave, the fall color isn't too bad either.                 We have some grass growing where the trenches were dug to run water and furnace lines. The bottles have been restored to the hackberry stump by the greenhouse. And the BARn is almost completely enclosed.             The two holes next to the upstairs doors here will be large windows.  A giant deck…

This is McCall.  She's one of the girlfirends that lives at Piney River Brewing Company.  McCall is a locavore. Actually, all of the cows, calves and Papi, the bull, at PRBC are locavores.  We manage our pastures so that they have native grasses, clover and fescue to eat for most of the year.  And when they eat hay, it comes from just a few fields over. We take pride in the food our girls eat, and if we eat one of their calves, we are proud of the locally grown, grass-raised beef that graces our table.  And since we started…

In October, we celebrate the 200 year tradition that was born in Munich on October 12, 1810 with the marriage of Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese.  The five-day public celebration became what we celebrate today as Oktoberfest. Around the Durham household, October means several things.  If you're a 14-year old Dalmatian, you spend those Indian summer days running around outside and crashing on your pallet indoors. If you're a 5-year old, you spend part of October playing your heart out in soccer.     And 200 years after the first Oktoberfest, the future home of Oktoberfest in Bucyrus, MO received…