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 years we’ve owned it.
Perhaps even more historical for the BARn, the dirt/manure floors are no more. This weekend, Brian and my dad completed the floor down the center of the building—putting in floor joists, removing just a tad more old dirt (including accidentally hitting and puncturing an old container of very stinky horse liniment), and laying a tongue and groove style plywood sheets.
After completing the insulation, we were able to run the wires for lights and electrical outlets. Although there’s still more electrical work to be done, we’ve got light and heat inside the BARn. The central boiler we put in outside also heats the barn, and a furnace blower and ducts for heating/cooling the upstairs and downstairs are in place.
Construction continues inside the BARn where we have created a separate enclosure for the brewery/public according to TTB regulation. Basically, we have to be able to completely lock the public out of the brewery.
We also have created a separate area for putting our skid steer and Ranger in a room of their own in the BARn along with other farm tools like fencing supplies, tools, etc. The wall studs are in place for that.
All of the downstairs walls will be covered with the old tin from the roof after the electric is complete.
We’ve been working with local artist, Brooke Hamilton of Grindstone Design Studio, to craft our logo. We’re using a simple version of that logo on our new Facebook page…please go there and tell your friends to go there and “like” us. Brooke is also helping us design our labels. Brooke actually went on a float trip on the Big Piney to get the complicated version of our logo “right”. And who said work wasn’t fun?
Work has also begun on laying a floor upstairs. We’re using the same type of tongue and groove plywood to level out the floor in the loft. You wouldn’t believe the way the corners of the building have sagged over time! No more illusions that you are falling down to the first floor (and that without consuming several beverages!).
We should hear from the state of Missouri regarding the status of our application with them; it is much less complicated and takes less time to process than the federal application.
Brian and I are still in awe that this whole “start up” process started just a few weeks ago….
Wow…it looks beautiful. A real history in the making. Congrats on all the accomplishments.