Friday, June 20, 2008

Our Friends Downtown


This will be a short post. It’s about zoning, city, state and federal licensing, label approvals, excise taxes, state and federal income taxes and banks.

Having a beer company is truly a great thing, but all of the above things sometimes make me want to hop off the roof.

We look at it as some sort of bizarre, tortuous filtering system the government puts in place so that you have to be really dedicated in order to get through the web of continual heartache.

Good thing we’re dedicated and we have plenty of beer to take the edge off.
Here’s to all the countless people that help us dance around these hurdles.

Gabriel
Half Acre Beer Co.
Chicago, IL

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Over Ale



We here at Half Acre Beer Company currently reside on the fourth / fifth floor of a converted factory on the near-west side of Chicago. Our headquarters is a modest loft-style space in the ICNC building; a building that hosts many companies doing their best to get up and going. We’re very fond of the space. It has tons of light, high ceilings and plenty of metal from the factory of old.

One thing it doesn’t have is air conditioning. We pay an extremely affordable monthly rent that far makes up for a little extra sweat through the course of our day. Either way, it’s hot. Really hot. We could install an AC unit, but maybe a little piece of us likes it or enjoys the challenge. Today our intern Chris looked like he was going to have a stroke before he left for the day.

When first getting into the business of selling beer, maybe a week or two in, I had a phone conversation with one of the head guys who helps to run the distributor we use. I call him The Oracle because he’s always dropping time-tested beer knowledge and letting out these humorous, sage one liners gained from working in the world of beer for the last 150 years. He asked “How you doin’ over there?” and I replied “Good, but a little hot.” It was August and I was virtually naked for fear of melting to my clothing. He paused and said “A man in the beer business never complains when it’s hot outside.” I, of course, realized his point and have made note ever since.

So, I’m literally dripping sweat as I post this to the blog, but I’m not complaining because, much like our customers, it will make it that much nicer to award myself with a cold and refreshing beer when the work day is “Over.” That’s a nice cycle to be part of. That’s also why our next beer to be released in just a few weeks is called Half Acre “Over Ale.” Look for it soon. I’ll let you know.

Enjoy the summer.

Gabriel
Half Acre Beer Co
Chicago, IL