What a tank

We welcomed a new tank this week. This one, like the last couple, is a 60bbl fermenter. This tank will get our inventories up a bit and allow us to keep on track. After all, you're thirsty, and we understand that.

We're doing better getting tanks into the building. We piss off less and less people, fewer car horns and lines of traffic. This one was almost a little too easy, barely a ruffle.

It was only a few tanks ago that an eccentric gentleman screamed and honked the horn constantly for a solid five minutes before continuing on down the street with more screaming and honking till his noise faded from distance. There's always next time.

Have a solid weekend,

Half Acre Beer Co

Chicago, IL

Ambrosia

We brewed a beer called Ambrosia that will soon drop out of the tank.

Ambrosia is a wheat beer brewed with Hibiscus flowers and Oranges. This one has been on the docket for a while and finally hit it's launch -- 22oz bottles & draft, but not for a couple weeks....

We recently took over more space in our brewery -- the last bit to be had. We moved our offices into this space and made our old office a staff break room of sorts that is now home to a gaming system (pictured above). The original Nintendo was video gaming at its finest. RC Pro-Am blew minds. Anyway, we scored a Nintendo, then the gun, and are now on our way.

This Ambrosia label featuring our own 8-bit creation surely nods to the pixelated wizardry of old. Can't wait till the beer is done.

In addition: if anyone is holding a working copy of RC Pro-Am or Mega Man, we will pay you for it.

Much Obliged,

Half Acre Beer Co

Chicago, IL

Marty Stouffer's Wild America Barley Wine

As a brewery this is our first "tribute beer." A beer brewed specifically to pay homage to someone or something that we feel lent an interesting twist to life. With that we give you Marty Stouffer's Wild America, a barley wine in honor of wild life's quintessential badass.

Back in the mid 80's to early 90's, before nature shows were commonplace, you may recall a show on PBS by the same name of this beer. It chronicled Marty Stouffer romping through the North American bush with a camera capturing burly creatures existing in the wild. A lot of serious footage caught of some amazing things. Personally, I'd tune in with my dad and watch Grizzlies throw down over territory, bighorn sheep drive their skulls into one another, mountain lions take down mule deer and Marty raising one cute-as-hell baby critter or another. Good times.

We brew this tribute beer because 1. A bunch of us at Half Acre watched these shows as kids and really enjoyed seeing these things. And 2. Because there's a lot of paths you can take when deciding what to do with your time, and deciding you're going to chronicle yourself raising a bear cub is pretty awesome. "I was thinking after school I'd try to land an entry level job, but instead I figured I document my life with this Grizzly cub in the hopes that I can reintroduce Grizzlies to the Rockies." Path less traveled.

So, maybe you got to see Marty's footage after he spent many years trucking through the back country, maybe not. Either way, surely you can respect people that apply originality to their thought process then have the balls to get it done.

We thank Marty Stouffer for hearing us out, allowing us to do this and for sending a bunch of Wild America box sets for us to watch. One of these box sets will be given to a lucky customer the day of the release.

This beer is a month or so out, but we wanted to prime you for this special offering. 22oz bombers & draft.

Cheers,

Half Acre Beer Co

Chicago, IL

The Threads

Today we're launching a new online store for Half Acre gear. We're getting rolling with some of the basics, but hope to populate it with more rad items for you and yours.

If you have suggestions on items you'd like to see, then feel free to let us know. Enjoy superior shopping freedom on the world wide interweb.

Cheers,

Half Acre Beer Co

Chicago, IL

Baume' & Callow Knife

Today is the day for these two to ride with you.

Really happy with both of these......

We will begin selling both today at 12:00pm when the store opens.

Baume' will be available in 22oz bottles for $8.99 & growler fills for $15 ($19 w/ growler)

Callow Knife will be available for growler fills only for $14 ($18 w/ growler)

Callow Knife T's are $20

Alright then, lets move forward and get crackin'.

Cheers,

Half Acre Beer Co

Chicago, IL

Over Ale Cans & Poor Island Bastards

We mentioned recently that we're adding Over Ale cans to the line-up. Today we made good on that. You'll start seeing them pop up around town and hopefully gracing your glass before long. This beer is an unsung hero, and one you should partner with first chance you get.

I also wanted to mention that a select group of the Half Acre squad are now on the island of St. John. I don't know about you, but I feel awfully sorry for them. Today the thermometer on my porch said it was just below zero degrees. Yup, all that cold and they're missing every bit of it. Pictured above is a shot of one, Michael T. Carroll - resident Brewer & Troubadour, chewing the fat on a veranda with a freaking wine glass in his hand. My guess is there was some delicious food being cooked inside and each one had wallowed in crystal clear water most of the day. Suckerrrrrrrs! This is some of the sweetest winter we've had yet, and it's all ours.

Have fun in your tropical nightmare, ladies.

Our Best,

Half Acre Beer Co

Chicago, IL

Double Whammy

We've been under the gun moving the beer as of late. We pushed things this way and that way, but we're coming up for some special release air. Next Friday 2/18/11 we're planning to release two beers: Callow Knife Pale Ale (growlers only) & Baume' Chocolate Rye Stout (22oz bombers & growlers). One is a new beer that's late to the game, the other a yearly release that we brew as an anniversary beer. Both should land in a winter sweet spot for us all.

You may have noticed, winter has been powerful these last couple weeks. There's been much said of it, but that storm was awesome. I went out to wander the streets with the dogs that Tuesday night, a little after 11pm, when things were coming down hard, the drifts had formed and the lightning and thunder were in force -- it was a ghost town. It was great to see our city stop. Stopping is good sometimes.

Nature is king.

Cheers,

Half Acre Beer Co.

Chicago, IL

Doom

We've realized that the storm barreling down on our community is far too great to work tomorrow. Working tomorrow would be placing ourselves in harm's way. As a result, we at Half Acre will be forced to take shelter in our homes, the Devil's drink in hand, and wait this out.

Neither our brewery or store will be open tomorrow. If you need beer, come tonight. Open again on Thursday.

Hopefully you too can take nature's nod and use this opportunity to enjoy some pause.

Happy Snow Day,

Half Acre Beer Co

Chicago, IL