We're Now Open!

Well, It's been a very long haul, but we have finally made it.  We reopened with a soft opening last weekend and all went well.  It was a very successful day and folks had a good time and seemed to enjoy the beers we had to offer.  The tasting room was a bit noisy and we are looking to fix that by adding some acoustic panels to cut down on the echo.

We will be adding a patio in stages so that there will be more room to sit and relax.  As always you are more than welcome to bring blankets and snacks and enjoy outside.

We look forward to seeing you soon for some good beer and fun!

Reopening soon...we are in build out phase on pressing on!

We have the basic structure up and are now working towards build out.

This is the tasting room side with viewing windows into the brewery...

We got hops!

We are going to press forward and we'll do our best to get up and running as soon as possible.  In the mean time we did get our hop plants yesterday.  They are potted and should actually produce for this years crop.  We hope to get them in the ground soon.  Below are some pics...

Our Kickstarter Project Has Begun!

Well it has finally started, take a look and if you are interested please help us out!

To KickStarter!

The Trials and Tribulations of Expanding

Well, it's the end of 2014 and one of my New Years resolutions is to keep everyone more informed via the website, this blog, Facebook, and Twitter.

It's been challenging and a lot of work to move from our original property to the new property. Getting the family settled and happy while trying to progress with getting the new brewery building up and running and keep up with my full time job hasn't been easy.

Christine and I, along with other farm brewery stakeholders, have been working with the county to get a zoning amendment (ZOAM) approved to legally operate in the county for about 8 months.  We are still not there yet, but close.  It has been through a zoning department working group, planning commission, and now is with the board of supervisors.  Hopefully, they will pass this ZOAM on January 21st which lets us start operating as soon as we are ready.

So where are we you ask?

• We have received our grading permit and will hopefully have the new driveway, parking, and building site graded by mid January.
• We are waiting on the approval of our zoning permit, but not sure how the January 21 BOS meeting will impact that if they do not approve it.
• We have ran into a snag with the septic... turns out that the drain field is failing and we will need to have a new one put in to handle both the residence and the brewery.  What a nice extra expense to have after just moving in.  
• We took a while to get a builder lined up and we are under contract to have the building erected some time at the end of January or early February.  
• We are starting a kick starter project to raise some additional funds to help us out, so look for a post about that.  That should kick off on January 9th and run for 30 days... if we make my goal, we get the money; otherwise we get nothing.
• We are in the hunt for a used 10 barrel brewing system but may have to settle on new.  New is great but there is a typical 5 month lead time to delivery.  Either way, as soon as we can get the building to a usable state, we intend to open using the original 2 barrel system.  
• We have resubmitted our application to the Virginia Alcohol Beverage Commission (VABC) in order to switch our current brewery license to the new address. 

We are trying to bootstrap as much of this as possible on our own and with your help, but we will need a loan for the equipment since these brew system plus fermentors and the sundries required to operate will cost around 175K... yup.

With that said if you are a local contractor (like a plumber, electrician, etc.) and you want to help out, maybe we can work out something.

For those of you interested in understanding all the steps required to get a farm brewery up and running in Virginia, and specifically this county, look my new "Starting a Farm Brewery" page on the website.  It will contain a lot of information beyond just the opening process, but what I leaned about submitting excise taxes and label approvals along the way.

The customer pickup a couple of weeks ago of our English Barleywine, Old Hoe, was a success.  This was brewed back on 1 January of 2014, fermented and aged in Catoctin Creek rye whiskey barrels, bottled and wax dipped.  Extra bottles i have will be available when we reopen (that will only be about 20 bottles)

That's the new's.  I'm grateful for our BHB patrons patience during our expansion.  We hope to provide you with that same intimate experience you've come to enjoy from us at our previous location.

Cheers!

Our Beer, Your Food

Our beer will be featured at Georges Mill Farm in two weeks for the first Local Roots Supper Club. A five course dinner plus dessert will be provided by Chef Beckles Foods using local vegetables, meats, and cheeses (some from the farm itself!).

The good folks at Chef Beckles have worked out nice pairings such as:

• Hop Dog Pale Ale with opening hors d' oeuvres of 
• Table chips of turnip and beets with a lemon ricotta dipping sauce
• Skewered roasted beet and herbed goat cheese
  Balsamic glazed beef on rosemary skewers with horseradish cream.
• Goat cheese gnocchi with a smoked beet Ragu, candied bacon, and thyme paired with Banshee Irish Red
• Cajun roasted turnips With Cajun Remoulade paired with Cutthroat Common
• Cherry infused smoked pork shoulder Over braised collards with scalloped kohlrabi paired with Piedmont Smoked Porter
• Roasted root, pancetta, and smoked Apple galette wedge paired with Stormfront Black IPA
• Goat cheesecake with strawberry balsamic jam joined by a sweet goat cheese cream puffs with a lemon scented dark chocolate drizzle paired with Barrel Aged Shenandoah Stout

Sounds Great! We look forward to hearing how it goes!

It's Been A While...

It's been to long time since my last post, sorry about that.  We are still opening once a month due to the zoning restrictions which we hope to have resolved by years end.  We don't want to move to town... to crowded already... and want to stay local to the Lucketts area.  So we hope you keep coming by on our opening days and for growler fills in between.  We serve out of the brewery in our little "tasting room" which is more like a bunker. 

We also got our new 1.5 barrel system in and we are gearing up to use it.  We are having some burner problems that we are trying to resolve before we put it into production. 

It's our goal to get more beer produced and kegged so it can be made available for individual purchase and some local bars and restaurants if we can get a distributor that wants to deal with a brewery as small as us.  We also are looking to start a formal barreling program for our Shenandoah Stout and Quarter Horse Porter.

Our openings have been drawing more and more people and we at Barnhouse appreciate it greatly.  We hope everyone continues to enjoy our beers and always check to see about upcoming new styles. 

Happy New Year From Barnhouse Brewery!

Since opening in October, we've done pretty well with good turn outs and some great positive feedback.  We are glad you are enjoying the brew and thanks to all your support!

This year will be a busy one with hopes to expand our brewing capacity, build a tasting room on the property, and expand hours if possible.  Money of course is always the obstacle.

You should also see more availability of our brews (not every style) in bottles now that we've started getting label approvals. 

We will also start barrel aging some batches throughout the year, the first being our Shenandoah Stout aged in Roundstone Rye whiskey barrels from Loudoun County's own Cattoctin Creek Distillery.

Other brews we are considering for barreling are the porter and an English barleywine. 

We would like to also participate in the Northern Virginia Brew Festival this year if we can swing it.  Let us know which of our beers you would like to see at the festival...we're open to suggestion.

That's all for now, we look forward to seeing you at our opening!

We had a great opening! Thanks for coming out!

Thanks to all who came out for our opening!  We had a great turnout over the course of the day and it seemed that everyone had a great time.  We had great reviews from folks on the beer with folks like all the styles we had to offer (especially our Kolsch, Hefe, Porter, Stout, and Pale ale).

Here are some pictures from the event

We followed up our success on the 6th with being open the next weekend, setting up on the deck which provided a nice cafe like atmosphere.  Again thanks to all that came out for growler fills and just to enjoy a few beers on a very nice day!

Come out October 6th, we'll be open!

Well we are finally going to have our first public opening on October 6th from 12PM to 4PM.  We'll be providing free samples (2 Oz.) of our brews as well as free pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw, hot dogs, chips, soda, and water. For this opening, we have a barrel of Kolsch, Porter, Pale Ale, a half barrel of Hefeweizen, a third of American Stout, and a couple of small kegs of some one offs (English Bitter and a lite Belgian Ale).  I also have a few 22 Oz. bottles of Trippel and Raushbier for tasting only (I'll be brewing up batches of these in the near future).

This will be an ourdoor event outside the brewery doors around back (for those of you that do not know, our brewery is out of our residence). Parking is on the side and will be clearly marked.

If you like the brew, then you can buy a pint while enjoying the autumn day or try your hand at some horseshoes or bocci ball if you like. If you would like to take home some brew, we offer growler fills or if you have a kegerator even take home a keg (we currently have no tapping equipment available for rent). Note that growlers are for off-site consumption, so if you are staying for awhile we'll have your growler filled by the time you are ready to leave. Cash is the preferred method of payment, but we do take credit cards as well.

We also have a variety of BHB swag for purchase as well: embroidered polo shirts, hats, and custom BHB logo pint glasses (if you purchase a glass, you can get its first fill for only 2 bucks!). We have limited quantities, but if we run out of something you want (or want it in another color) you can let us know what you want and we'll have it on our next order. All of our prices are listed on the website (www.barnhousebrewery.com) so check there for updated information.

Of course you can look around the brewery at your leisure and we will answer any questions you may have about the brewery and its future.


Not sure how long the beer will last since it is limited quantities, so comer early. 

We hope to see you there!

Roger & Christine Knoell

We Are Legal!

That's right!  We are finally legal.  It seems that our application got lost in the TTB's new on-line system, but we got that straightened out, got the state application completed, and received our license on Friday. 

Now it's time to get brewing so I can have beer for our opening.  It will not be anything fancy, but there will be good beer, I promise.  With that said, let me give you a heads up on the direction of the brewery.

We would have liked to start out the brewery on the main road through Lucketts, Route 15, but due to environmental restrictions, It's not going to happen any time soon.  Could we have looked for other places in Leesburg?  Yes, but we really want to stay local to the community.  So we are currently looking to build a tasting room on the property and operate similar to the many farm wineries in the area.  We will be moving and expanding our hops garden, growing some spice plants typically used in brewing certain styles, and getting a new flock of chickens (which have been gone for the last year). 

All this is a slow process that we would like to get working on during the winter so we could start fresh come spring.  Winter will be tough for us without any permanent building for visitors, so sales will most likely be done in the brewery itself.

More to come, so stay tuned for more info!

Cheers!

TTB Frustrations Continue...

Just to update everyone on my TTB application (required federal permit)... I successfully submitted my application in February and was approved on March 17 for processing.  I have not heard a word from them since with constant phone calls (twice a day sometimes) and emails over the past two months.  The initial estimate for approval using their new on-line system was 60 days mind you.  Well I finally get a call from a TTB representative YESTERDAY indicating, in no uncertain terms, that my application was passed from person to person and mine was "lost".  Amazing how that could happen in a digital world! So they are just now looking at my application.  Needless to say I am completely frustrated by the fact that no one called me to even say "Hi my name is so and so and I'll be your assigned representative" nor did any of my emails or phone calls get returned.  I will provide updates as soon as I get them.

Well If I have to find any good in this situation, I would like to congratulate my friend Adam Fry in Maryland who is starting Frey's Brewing for receiving his TTB approval yesterday and Scott from Mad Horse Brewpub in Lovettsville, VA.  for getting his approval within 35 Days! 

Some people have all the luck... 

We Got Our Growlers!

Our 2 liter growlers arrived from Tote Glass and they look great!

Brewing and building

Well things are moving along.  I've been brewing typically a barrel at a time trying to get a little ahead of the game.  Kolsch, porter, pale ale, tripel, and a English bitter.  I've decided to take a stab at doing some cask ales, so I took some of the bitter and put it into my first firkin...

I've also been working on changes to the brewery to support keeping kegs cold and a controlled environment for the fermentors. I picked up a Coolbot and an 8000 BTU AC to cool a portion of the fermentation room. Here are pictures of the upgrade...

We are going to order our first shipment of growlers with our logo on it in the near future from Tote Glass and we have completed our submission to the TTB for our license and are hoping to be legal by May.  We have inquired about participating in the Northern Virginia Brew Festival held in Morven Park in Leesburg, Viginia which would be our fist public outing.  We also may participate in the Frederick Beer Weeks brew festival at Stillpoint Farm.  Good times ahead!

Finally, we set up an account with Square.com and now we can easily take VISA, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover cards.

The Fermenters Have Arrived!

Well the fermenters have finally arrived! Now I need to get on the ball and get cleaning and brewing... just got to find the time in this busy time of year.  Here is a picture of them:

Also,  Just tapped latest batch of Dogwood IPA.  Bold citrus flavor and with grapefruit and piney aromas that came in at the top end of the IPA scale or low end of the Imperial IPA scale.  Have 10 Gallons of American Stout ready for kegs.  It's great smelling Cascade hops coming out of the fermetor during active fermentation of a stout...





Barnhouse Brewery Xmas Brew

Just finished wax dipping my Strong American Stout that laid on heavy toasted American oak infused with Makers Mark bourbon for 6 months.  Roasty malts and some sweetness from blackstrap molasses and bourbon.  Definately a sipping beer.. 8.2% prior to being oaked.  Only 19 bottles in this batch. Brewed December of 2010.

We Are Established, Just not legal yet!

Welcome to All!  We have created the company as an LLC and are beginning the licensing process to become a legal brewery.  I'm really excited about this new venture and I want to thanks my many local supporters for convincing me that I should start living the dream....

As we are continue with the paperwork, we are also working to build out our brewery.  We've got 760 square feet of dedicated space, and I'm completing a climate controlled fermentation room. 

The Brew Space (1/2 Barrel System)

The Fermentation Room

We've also received our first shipment of our cooperage (AKA kegs)!  Shiny and new stainless steel 5.16 gallon kegs.  Now it's time to fill them!

Our beloved cooperage!

Finally, we are waiting for delivery of our two 80 Gallon fermentors from Stouts Kettles in Oregon and our 2 liter growlers from Tote glass in Pennsylvania.

That's all for now...  We'll keep you posted!