What's On Tap?

I know there is a lot of chatter around the interwebs and/or water cooler about what there is to drink at Hess Brewing at any given time. There have been traditionally two ways to find out. a) Call us (619 887 6453), or, 2) Come in and find out.

But now, thanks to the inspired idea from Jeff and Melanie Gordon you now have a third option: TapHunter.com

More specifically our page on TapHunter.

So, if you find yourself thinking, "Self, I wonder if Hess has that awesome (insert your favorite Latin beer name here) on draught?", wonder no longer. Just check out TapHunter. We'll do our best to keep our tap list 100% accurate. And, if we run out or add something new to our handles we'll get it up on TapHunter minutes later.

And if that isn't crazy enough, check out this ridiculous-nutso video by TapHunter and our friends at WestCoasterSD.

We Fought The Law and We Won!

HUZZAH!!!!

This is some crazy stuff. We had starting to feel like we had inadvertently shut down all of the tasting rooms in San Diego last week - and maybe we did... Here's the story: When Mike got the 23 license from the State, our ABC rep said, "now go talk to the Department of Health." How were we to know that none of the breweries in San Diego operating tasting rooms had filed a plan with the Department of Health?

Meeting Time.

On Monday, after we met with the DEH (as our Facebook, Twitter and Blog followers know) we left there feeling that we were being held to a higher standard than all the other breweries we've ever visited - for Hess Brewing, the DEH wanted us to install SEVEN SINKS, self-coving floor tiles, floor drains, 8-10 foot high ceilings above all sinks and taps... it seemed quite ridiculous...

The Waiting Room - SD DEH

Well apparently on Tuesday they realized "Hey, we are not regulating ANY of the breweries in San Diego" and decided to go to both The Lost Abbey and AleSmith to hit them with Cease and Desist Orders until they could file a plan and get up to "code" (which included some nice fees, too!) On Friday, we got the news of the raids when The Full Pint reported that they had been informed that The Lost Abbey was shut down. Soon after this Tomme posted an excellent rant, which was unknowingly probably directed at us (even though we did not report any breweries; the fact we WENT to the Department of Health had the unfortunate consequence of letting them know that other breweries were not getting their plans checked through them). As you can imagine... we were crushed when his post hit. Later on in the day, AleSmith's Facebook page said that they too had been served with a C&D Order.

So now, besides realizing that Mike just didn't have the capital to come up to code to meet these overstepping and egregious requirements and were likely going to forego the tasting room, we realized we may have hosed our fellow San Diego craft brewers and drinkers. Unintentionally I remind you!

But now, we have some GREAT NEWS!!!!

Today, Mike spoke with State Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher's office, 75th District, to talk to him about getting an exemption for beer tasting rooms, just like wineries apparently are. His office thought it was an excellent idea and wanted to explore further writing up legislation to introduce at the beginning of 2011.

Not an hour later, just about 2:50 this afternoon, Mike got the best call - and most unexpected - he could have hoped for from the Dept of Health. Our new bestie, Jackie at the Department of Health called to say that because of the ruckus that we raised over the past three months and last week's activities (the raids and push back from the craft community) that she took it to the State for ruling. Can you believe this? The result? The county no longer regulates or has jurisdiction over beer tasting rooms in the county! This means we do not need the floor sink, three-tiered ware washing sinks and all the other CRAZY stuff we would have had to install to open up as a tasting room.

So to quote one of my favorite movies of all time which I feel is completely appropriate: "Just when I think you couldn't possibly be any dumber, you go and do something like this... AND TOTALLY REDEEEM YOURSELF!"

What's it mean? As soon as we get the new brewery up and running, we'll be filling kegs - and as soon as the kegs are full, we'll be filling your glasses and growlers!


Cheers!

The Tasting Area - Part 2

Baby on Board.

Luckily we had the brute strength of two lovely ladies and a baby to get this bar off of the truck. It was pretty darn heavy--probably 350 pounds +/- before the 360 pounds of concrete was even added! 

Melamine Forms.

Skillfully and calculatedly designed melamine forms to shape and transport the concrete countertop to San Diego from Redlands, CA. 

Fresh Concrete.

Five Man Job. 

Perspective.

Huzzah!

The bar is finished, and I have to say, it looks pretty good. Not bad for our first attempt anyhow. I just have to add a few more coats of Buddy Rhodes to the concrete and it will be ship shape. 

The Bar - Part 1

Safety is our middle name.

I headed to my hometown of Redlands this weekend to build a bar (I mean "Tasting Area" for our followers at the ABC.) Luckily one of my oldest and best of friends happens to a be a skilled craftsman. Without him and the help of many of my other friends I don't think we would have a bar as tough as this one. 

Nailed!

Stained!

The bar is almost finished. We are going to be pouring a concrete counter top for it this weekend, letting it sit for seven days and then bringing it down to San Diego. I cannot wait to test this bad boy out!