Our First Crazy Week

This is hectic.

Last Sunday we finally got the keys to our new home at 26 Orchard Road, Brookvale and shit is now officially exciting.

Exciting and intense.

I really want to share some of the ups and downs, but time is at a premium at the moment. So please forgive the bullet points.

In no particular order, this is what’s happening:

• We’ve hired a venue manager! Scotty McKay, who comes from an amazing hospitality and craft beer background and has experience in setting up and managing venues, the most recent of which was Modus in Mona Vale. He’s an absolute legend that gets the vision and we’re lucky to have him. I confess I’m very much looking forward to his help!
• The tanks are almost ready and about to board the boat on their way from China, but the shipping industry is in turmoil and we’re getting proper fucked as a result. The long and the short of it is that our original quote of $12k, is now $31k if we want the delivered tanks before the end of the year… That’s $19,000 more than we budgeted for, and we’ve got no choice but to cop it. Fuck.
• The owner flipped his lid over our drainage trenching. I can’t say too much in the off chance he reads this, but the entire build is on hold until an agreement is reached on the layout and makegood obligations. Hopefully it’ll be sorted by tomorrow because we’re burning cash for every day that we’re stalled.
• We bought a food truck! It’s former life was serving delicious middle eastern cuisine around Wollongong, now it’s the Bucketty’s kitchen.
• The cool room, beer plumbing system and stainless steel bar are all being built ready for installation within the next fortnight.

Also, last Sunday morning, the moment we got the keys about 20 friends and family came down to help with the demo. At the end of it we celebrated with a few cold ones and toasted what’s to come. It was incredible to crack a beer inside our house of future dreams after a day of hard yakka cause that’s what it’s about after all.

I’ll be doing more detailed posts on the process of sourcing the brewery equipment and how we got the brewery approved, with stories of what we learned along the way, I just need to find the time.

If there’s anything else you guys are keen for me to cover in detail please let me know. It’s been wonderful getting so much positive feedback from many of you and I’m looking forward to continuing to share the journey until we crack that first keg early next year.