Two Heroes Public House

 Holy Moly!  It's been a while since the last update here.  I guess the excitement of the new build has us playing hooky from real work.   Exciting times, as we are just about to get a slab poured this week.  Kevin and his guys have been done framing for nearly a month now, and we are waiting on windows to be delivered, a slab to be poured and material for him to come back to our site.  The slab being poured will change everything.  The look and feel of the space will be completely different and we can start envisioning where the floor plan will lay out.  Prior to this point, we spent a long time making sure our under slab plumbing and electrical were correct, installing our slick "slot drain" floor drain system, and putting down foam and a vapor barrier.  A lot of work done just to be covered up by concrete! Once we have a the slab in place, we can frame the last of the interior walls and invite the trades in to start their rough in work. ...

 It's been a tough month to build.  Temperatures around zero F (with 15 days below zero in January), unstoppable wind from all directions, some decent snow fall, and supply chain shortages.  Incredibly, Kevin Lovejoy's 4-man team has pushed through, framing through the some of harshest weather we've had in years.  In under five weeks, the Lovejoy team has completed a large portion of the lower walls and roofs.  It has been very exciting to see the building take shape and the spaces inside become real.  We are so thankful for this dedicated team and their perseverance through this season. Despite delays in many materials, price increases across the board, and a still uncertain world of masking, and in-person dining and drinking, we are still very excited for this project.  They say nothing worth doing is easy, and we are living that reality right now.  We still truly believe this model will be one that can endure times such as these and become to b...

 Things have slowed down as we ended the 2021 year, delay in materials, cooler temps, you know the deal.  Thankfully, we were fortunate to start 2022 with a bang. Steel went up on what is now coined "Erection Day," even with temperatures in the single digits.  Monday, January 3rd marked the commencement of the steel erection with temps reaching a whopping 10 deg F.   Much of the steel went up the first day and erection was complete by EOD on Tuesday, despite windy conditions and temps in the teens.  CSE was the installation contractor and Calvin and his guys did an amazing job.  We look forward to framing starting on Thursday of this week.  Then, the 3D brewpub will really start to take shape! This is one of the best times of any project, seeing progress in real time, watching things take shape, and getting a feeling for the space.  It's getting easier to imagine what a day in the pub will feel like, brewing a batch of beer, delivering a plate of ...

 Well, nearly 4 years (or more) later, we are on our way to a Brew Pub in South Hero!  We were excited that Island Excavating was ready to go, and the October weather was favorable.  We scraped topsoil, dug the building, prepped for concrete and worked on the driveway and parking all in a few weeks.  Currently, we are pouring walls for the building!   We also are thankful that Passumpsic Bank, new to the area, was willing to take this ride with us.  Our banker has been very excited about this project since about June, when we starting working together.  She has made it a priority to break ground this fall, so we don't miss another building season. Now, we need to finalize all of our decisions, get materials ordered, and push through a winter build. We are feeling thankful for all the support in the taproom, from community members far and wide, and for all the contractors and planners in this project.  Raise a glass to the beginning of something re...

Well, that went pretty well! We opened our doors Friday February 12th, with three beers on tap for 750ml capped bottle fills. Turnout was excellent, a mix of local support and people hearing from social media. We could not be happier with the turnout, the support and the feedback. The beer response was good, better than we anticipated and we feel very humbled. Much to Daren's dismay, IPA sold 2 to 1 compared to both the stout and the pale ale. The IPA sold out by end of weekend 2, then the stout by end of weekend 3. Weekend 4, we will be closed.   We have been humbled by the support for this little business. It turns out there is still room for more beer in this island community. Therefore we have been brewing nonstop to fill our tanks, hit the ground rolling next week (Thursday 3/11) and plan never to run out of beer again. We have a brewing calendar established, plans for some specialty beers, and plans to begin canning. We are so fortunate for this opportunity, to...

As we complete some of the remaining essentials for a soft(ish) opening, we look back at this crazy six month journey. While we knew it would take a great deal of effort to convert a "slightly" delapated bagel shop into a brewery, it is always easy to be naive when it comes to the true amount of work it takes to start a business. It reminds us of the early times when Wally's Place was being incubated in the very same spot. It is always the same, you jump in with gusto and unsurmountable excitement and instantly begin learning all the lessons, the hard way. But, that's what makes creating something such a fulfulling experience. Its got ups and and it certainly has its downs. We've just completed the second iteration of the "Turtle Bay IPA" and feel that it meets the calibur of the beer we intend to sell. We had previously brewed the 3rd iterstion of the "Black Marble Stout" and the first "Hill's Sail Pale Ale," both of wh...

 Nothing worth doing is easy.   We have been plugging away at the many aspects of this project with the anticipation they will all come together at the right time.  And, we still believe they will! We are a mere day or two away from filling the glycol system and starting up the chiller.  This has been a labor intensive project with much head scratching and learning on the fly.  Once completed, we can start up the cold room for keg storage, start to crash and condition beers in the tanks and begin to lager beer.  With the electrical connections finalized to the fan coil, pump and chiller, all that is left to do is leak check the system (which is a pain in the butt) and clean and fill the lines. We have brewed our third iteration of the stout, which we believe is the winning one.  We also have a pale ale nearly completed its fermentation and just about ready to keg.  Later this week, we will brew IPA #2.  That means as early as the end of next ...