Tuesday, May 19, 2009

What a weekend!

Well we all survived this weekends festivities! Saturday we attended the 2nd annual Great Tastes of Black River Falls fest. This year it was held outdoors complete with a 40 mph wind! Good food, good drink and great friends all around.

Sunday your favorite brew crew poured beer at the Wisconsin Microbrewer's fest in Chilton - holy smokes! 10 1/2 bbls of product were poured! Twas another successful event and it is always good to see the folks on the east coast of Wisconsin!

Monday - (which came waaay to fast after a two fest weekend - JUst to letcha know....) bottling started in the dark and early hours so we could get out our famous Sand Creek Hard Lemonade! That's right - The Lemon is on its way out to the markets as you read this! We shipped to East coast of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Madison, LaCrosse and all points between.

The rest of this week will consist of filtering, brewing, bottling and then collapsing for the holiday weekend!

We will be open this Friday for our usual fun (Im thinking Carl's Fish fry!)

We will be CLOSED this Saturday and Memorial Day.

A HUGE THANK YOU to Milwaukee Mike for fixing up our company ride on Saturday! May your goblet o Groovy Brew never be empty!

Last but not least - make sure you read a few of these reviews..Hail to the power of the wolf!

Friday, May 15, 2009

Beeeeer Fests

Lets see - its Friday - Its the 3rd weekend in May.

That means its a big Beer Fest Weekend!

Couple of great events coming up this weekend for you!

First - Tomorrow, May 16th is the Black River Falls Great Tastes Festival! The event runs from 4pm - 8pm at the Lunda Park. Advance Tickets are $25 and $30 at the door. Many of your favorite brewers will be in attendance and the funds from the event will help the local athletic booster club! Come on down and see the gang - we are bringing our beer wagon and will be pouring - One Planet, IPA, Oscar,Lemonade, Special Reserve , Frostop and maybe something else. Beware the Fat Belgian - muhuhahahahaha!

Sunday! Todd, Nate, Dangerous Dan and myself will be pouring beer at the 17th(?) Annual Wisconsin Microbrew Fest in Chilton. Great event lots of fun and beer. Yes its right after the BRF event but we are here for you and will tough out the grueling schedule! :)

We will be CLOSED the next two Saturdays due to the beer fests and the holiday weekend.

We WILL be OPEN this Friday for our usual fun and games.

'nuff said!

Friday, May 8, 2009

TGIF

Tis Friday - the glorious of days in which we all can recover from a week. I do have a few idle thoughts though so a little stumpifying first before we outline the activities of the upcoming week!

Last night my family and I decided that we wanted to go to the local pizza joint for a bit of pie. What we found is a business that is by all looks and appearances closed and heading out of business. We went in the back door and there was none of the familiar things on the wall, empty beer cooler (YIKES!), and pizza supplies bagged up. All the telltale signs that it was closed and for good. Its sad and I am hoping he is just packing up stuff for a remodel or something.

The decision was made to move on and my son and I ran up to the local store to buy a couple of frozen pies from another local vendor - Jan's Pizza in Alma center. Killer product by the way, highly recommended if your in the mood for a premium frozen pizza. (even better when you get there on pizza night and its fresh! - Jan's Place in Alma Center - Tell 'em Jim and Todd sent you from the brewery!)

On the way home to cook our dinner my 8yr old son complained that his favorite pizza joint was closed - we both agreed that indeed "it was a bummer" I asked him why do you think that happened? He replied, "too much stuff comes from China"

What? Wow! When I was 8 years old I was watching reruns of Star Trek and the Rat Patrol!

Anyway - this became a very pleasant and important discussion on the impact of buying local and how it is important to all of us. With detail placed on the money which stays local provides jobs, food, clothing, mortgages etc for people he knows. I am quite proud of my boy!

Growing up in Berlin Wisconsin I always wondered why my father would buy local rather than head over to the malls in Oshkosh - he didn't mind paying a bit more. And at the time the downtown commerce of Berlin was generally speaking quite sound. We had the five and dime stores, gun shops, flower shops, drug stores, clothing , movie theater, shoe stores and FOUR Grocery stores. When we had our sidewalk crazy days the downtown was PACKED with people! Now when I drive through Berlin - desolate no commerce. Ouch. We have ALL seen this happen in small town USA.

With the alleged demise of another local business, we have seen now 4 places in the Jackson County area close up - all of them food and drink related. Mollys, Nico's, Pizza Joint (to remain nameless till confirmed), Rustic Mill and who knows who else. Where am i going with this? You can guess, our economy is a mess, we cannot depend on the government for a small business bailout but we can help each other out! BUY LOCAL. Think long and hard about that next trip out of town to buy from a big chain. I do understand that one sometimes has to out of town just keep in mind that the perceived money you may save probably just got burned up in fuel! The money that you spend will stay local, create jobs, pay taxes, and buy pizza!

Ok - whats going on this weekend? Usual fun at the brewery tonight and tomorrow! Next weekend is our local brewfest from 4pm - 8pm at the Lunda Community Park. Tickets are available at the Buzz N Brew Shop, here at the brewery and at the CCU Co-op. $25!

Thanks for listening and have a great weekend!

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Saturday!

Well greetings fellow beer folk!

Its May 2nd and since it is the first Saturday in May it means WE ARE OPEN!! Yes, tour time at your favorite brewery! Our summer hours are from Noon til 4pm. Last tour at 3:30pm. I would also like to take a moment and welcome our two newest additions to the Sand Creek Brew Crew.. Chris and Brenda! Both of them will be handling the Saturday biz of tending bar and giving great tours!.

Let see what else is new.. Ah yes - there is a movement to increase the taxes we all pay on our beer. Representative RIsser and Berceau are spearheading the movement to increase the excise taxes on beer -
This bill would raise Wisconsin's beer tax (the third lowest in the country) for the first time in 40 years by 2.4¢ per 12 oz. bottle or can. Approximately $40 million in new revenue would be allocated to segregated accounts to fund alcohol abuse prevention and treatment programs and alcohol law enforcement throughout Wisconsin.


The actual information on the "propsed bill" is to go from $2 per barrel to $10 per barrel. Folks that is a 500% increase in tax. For your favorite little brewery that would be an additional $40,000 in taxes we would be required to pay irregardless if we turn a profit or not. It is a HUGE number.

You need to ask yourself - do you want another tax? To the sayers that say "oh thats not too bad" think again - you are being taxed (read punished) for drinking beer. If you want to curb drunk driving (which we ALL do by the way) put some teeth into the drunk driving laws. make the 2nd and on offenses FELONYS! Instead of the slap on the hand.

Excise taxes on beer would have a serious impact on jobs and economic development in Wisconsin, an area where brewing is an important industry. In the state, there are more than 32,000 beer-related jobs in brewing, distributing and supply and this number does not count the many thousands of people employed in our taverns, grocery stores and convenience stores selling beer. Nearly 34,000 more jobs exist in Wisconsin due to the impact of beer and beer sales. The excise tax increase under discussion would also negatively affect the total annual economic impact of the beer industry -- nearly $7.7 billion in Wisconsin. (information taken from Jensen/Madland opinion - captial times 4/17/09)
Help us beat this down- contact your local representatvies and tell them we dont need additional taxes - ESPECIALLY the way the current economy is running. Tell them we dont need to punish responsible drinkers nor an industry which is bucking the downtrend and is actually adding jobs and funds to the economy of Wisconsin.

Whew!