It’s Sort of a Big Deal…
With the delivery of our bottling line yesterday, things are starting to rock here at Black Dog Brewing Company.
This beauty, called the “8 Shooter” from Martin Robotics, is an eight head bottle filler and labeler that will help expand our reach beyond the tap. The images we’ve shared previously were provided by Martin Robotics but the one pictured here is our very own, freshly delivered. The 8 Shooter marks a very exciting time for Black Dog Brewing Company as it’s our second piece of major capital equipment and a big piece of the puzzle. I should add that we’ve been getting lots of questions about seeing it in action and we’ll be more than happy to include a bottle filling session on the tour, once we’re officially open for business. We may even let you push a button or two…unless our insurance agent is reading this post then of course we wouldn’t let any random person touch our capital equipment. Why would we do that? That’s crazy. You’re crazy, man…haha ha.
Aside from the 8 Shooter excitement, I wanted to share another piece of big news. For those of you that have been following for awhile, you’re acquainted with the original Kuntz Brewery and Kuntz’s Old German Lager (if you’re new to the story, check out the original post). As of that post, we could not use our Kuntz name or anything related to the original Kuntz brewery because Labatt’s owned the trademark. However, and this is the exciting part, apparently Labatt’s let the trademark rights to Kuntz’s Old German Lager expire. Now, I was originally planning on waiting until we officially owned the trademark to share the news but the trademark process takes forever and I can’t contain the excitement. As of September, Black Dog Brewing Company has applied for the trademark rights to Kuntz’s Old German Lager! I’m hoping that shortly after the first of the year, we’ll be able to share with you that Kuntz’s Old German Lager is back in the hands of the Kuntz family. Stay tuned for the updates!
In other Black Dog Brewing Company news, we have what is hopefully our final renovation meeting early next week with demolition starting shortly thereafter. We’ve had a few minor delays but nothing really unexpected. Also, with the fabrication timelines of our remaining equipment (fermenters, brite tanks, etc.) in the three to four month window, we’re still on pace to have some Black Dog beer in your hands by Memorial Day. That being said, I know what some of you are thinking. If we’re not brewing beer all the time, how do we keep an award winning brew master busy? Well, it certainly helps when your brew master doubles as a forklift operator! That’s our brew master in a clutch performance, unloading the 8 Shooter as the truck that was supposed to have a lift gate showed up with nary a lift gate in sight. Special thanks to our landlords from H&R General Contractors for getting us a solid deal on an emergency forklift.
And not to worry – we are getting Shawn some brewing reps as he continues with the small five gallon batches. In the fermenter from our last brew session is an American Pale Ale, which we have officially named “State 19.” I’m pretty fired up to sample this one since pale ale is one of my favorite styles. Stay tuned to our social media feeds and we’ll make sure to share some pictures and tasting notes once it’s finished.
