April 2024
Building
Our patio is coming along. Locals, you may have noticed the 10’ t-posts and 25gal gardening grow bags along the edge of our current loading dock. Derek planted the hops rhizomes last week and we’ll be taking good care of them in the months to come, training them up twine to give the patio some shade.
Derek has been carefully dismantling the floor joists on the Virginia St. side of the building. Next he will be cleaning out dust and dirt that has accumulated under the floors. This site work will prepare a firm base for pouring concrete in the manufacturing space. For anyone who has entered the building from the main entrance on N. Idaho, you might remember walking on linoleum before those three steps up into the office space - turns out that linoleum was protecting beech flooring. We hope to refinish it before we open the small tasting room.
Business / Community
We’ve started Phase 2 of brand design with Lindsay Jaeger. First up is helping us clearly identify our business on the outside and compliment some of the existing Williams Feed signage.
Derek found a great deal on 10.8gal stainless steel casks. We purchased ten of them and will use them for small batch ginger beer, aging eggnog, large batches of shrubs, and ample amounts of bloody mary mix. We have also been researching slushie machines (and recipes!) for the walk-up window.
Distillery
Katrina’s shrub taste tests are going well - she has been working on a grapefruit, honey, and thyme. This month she also ran a bloody mary mix taste test: friends reported back that the Tabasco version just barely beat out the Frank’s Hot Sauce version. Since it seems to be so close, we might just make a mild bloody mary mix and let people add their own hot sauce.
Derek and our friend Callie have been experimenting with recipes for different mash bills. Their research is laying the groundwork for our future whiskeys - including bourbon, wheat, rye, and single malt - all made with Montana small grains.
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