February 2024

Building

We’ve mentioned a few times that Derek has been pulling up floorboards in the building. He’s sorting which we can re-use when constructing the future tasting room and which are too far gone. Underneath the floorboards is a lot of accumulated dust from over 100 years of use, and sometimes some treasures. Check out this 1927 coupon for $10 worth of bowling at the Dillon Bowling Alley. 

Our building permit was approved by the state of Montana. Since we submitted it back in late December, we’ve been working with a civil engineer and our architect to see if we can bring the floor down to street grade. Doing so would mean people could walk in the front door and the forklift could drive in the side door. When we pin this decision down, we’ll amend the approved building plans, then be ready to start construction.

Business / Community

Katrina has been talking point-of-sale with a company called Aryyved. Beaverhead Brewing uses their system and Jenny says they’re really happy with the software and the customer service. It looks like we’ll be able to use Arryved as a simple and streamlined way for customers to pay, whether they’re ordering at the walk-up window, from the tasting room, or online. On the back side, we want a system that synchronizes inventory from in-person and online sales and provides robust reports (Katrina is a spreadsheet nerd). 

Distillery

Derek has been setting up a visit to Davis Valley Distillery in Rural Retreat, Virginia. Rusty Cox, the owner and head distiller, uses three different stills also manufactured by Affordable Distillery Equipment (one of them is over 2,000 gallons!). The visit, likely in June, will give hands-on training and advice for working with our key piece of equipment. 

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