There really is no way we can top last week’s zoning announcement, at least until our permits start coming in and we get tantalizingly close to being able to brew. Does that mean we’re twiddling our thumbs? Of course not!

The biggest advancement since we last spoke was that we’ve hammered out the final arrangement for our internal structure. Not that we’ll have any profits on hand to divvy up for a while, but once we do, we’ll be set. That doesn’t affect you at all, of course, but it will be nice for those of us involved.

We have this, but not, as far as we can tell, the recipe

I’ve also started working a bit on the CBW archives. That’s something that won’t pay off for a long, long time, but I’m a librarian by trade, and one who thought he’d be going into archiving professionally at one point, and so it’s an exciting prospect to be able to put that to use. Eventually, though, the history of our founding and operation will be well documented and ready to provide insight to future generations. We’ve looked into the history of brewing in Buffalo before, and though we once had quite the booming brewing industry (which we’ll hopefully write about more in the future) there’s not much in the way of actual records of the recipes and processes for the beers that were made by Simon Pure and the like. We’re making sure that won’t be the case any more.

Another exciting tidbit: we’ve long planned to reuse the grains we use for brewing. Rather than let them sit around, or even throw them out, we’ve hoped to give them to some urban farmers, local bakeries, what have you. We hadn’t actually told any of our potential recipients our plans, of course, which is why it was so great that the Massachusetts Avenue Project asked if they could take them. Yes, yes, a thousand times yes! They’ll be promptly removed after brewing and go towards an amazing cause. I toured their facilities last year, and Ethan and Dave went this week, and you should really find out more about them if this is the first you’ve heard of it.

After I complained on Facebook about not being recognized walking around in my CBW shirt, there was an outcry asking if any more were available. In a word, no. There were nine of those shirts made, each one hand-ironed by me, and there won’t be more of that particular design. We know you want shirts, though, and we want you to have them even more, and so the wheels are turning on that front. More as it develops.

And finally, keen eyed farmers market fans may have seen the Bidwell market’s announcement that we’ll be performing a brewing demo this Saturday. This is, unfortunately, not true. We were going to, but then events conspired against us: it’s my wife’s birthday; Rudy is at the Great American Beer Festival; Ethan will have to leave halfway through; et cetera, et cetera. We’ve asked for it to be rescheduled, and it will be, and within the next week or two we’ll have a specific date for you. Sorry for the inconvenience, but once we have a date we look forward to showing you the magic of beer’s creation.