Monday, December 23, 2013

Reflecting on 2013

Hello family, friends and fellow beer connoisseurs. The team at BadWolf would like to thank everyone for such a fantastic first year! It has been an incredible journey which we could not have done it without you. We've come a long way from a simple concept to where we are now and have much to look forward to in 2014. Through the many obstacles and successes, BadWolf has established itself as a great little brewery in Manassas and we will always strive to constantly improve. This year, Jeremy and the brewers have made over 70 different recipes. Some beers beginning to repeat by popular request. My guess is that you might enjoy these fine libations.

As we continue to refine our brewing process, the beer only gets better. We've added more 55 gallon fermenters to allow more time for the fermentation process, streamlined the process and added oxygenation. Just a few days ago, a shipment of two new 100 gal fermenters arrived. Jeremy and Ryan had the opportunity to double batch a session porter ale today after a 12+hrs of brewing! (Very soon you can enjoy the fruits of their labor from the new fermenters.) On one morning, I noticed that part of my office suddenly converted into a yeast lab thanks to Jeremy.

Something else we've squeezed in were more bar stools. So far, the extra seating has been a hit and a relief from standing. Now we are open on Sundays from 1-6pm. On busy days space still remains tight but we are working on fixing that....

Weekly, we have been donating the spent grains to a local farmer. If you would like some of the grains, give us a shout. We brew daily Monday through Friday. One of our goals next year is to include more local ingredients into the brewing process.

I am happy to announce that most of the BadWolf gear is made locally (or in the USA) and one of my favorite pieces from this year is the BadWolf handmade mug made by Dirty Bird Pottery. If you get one of these babies, bring it in the next time for a fill. We get a batch of eight mugs every month.

All in all, I think the great news is that we had a great year and we have a fantastic future ahead! We cannot wait to continue to bring great beer to Manassas. We will see you in the taproom soon. 

If there are any beers you want us to brew next year, or if any other comments or questions contact us here http://www.badwolfbrewingcompany.com/Contact-Us.html. Prost! 





Monday, September 16, 2013

BadWolf Oktoberfest 2013!


SEPT 29, 2013 2-9pm
BadWolf Parking Lot
9776 Center St. Manassas, VA 20110


It's going to be a blast! Download the flyer here.


  • Live Music
  • BadWolf beer & several imported German styles
  • Smokes BBQ pit 
  • Nathan's Dairy Bar icecream
  • Electric Vehicles in honor of National Plug In Day. If you have one, bring it too! We have Nissan Leaf's, Tesla Model S coming to name a few!


Talented Musicians Lineup

2:30-3:45pm Emily Guagliardi Folk Music / Acoustic
4-5:30pm Blues Condition Hot Blues & Jumpin' Roots Rock
6-7:30pm SideBNova  Tribute Band to Classic Rock
8-9pm Aubrey Driggers Acoustic Jazz Blues, Pop & Classic Rock, R&B

Thank you to Jessica's Music Studio for the sound system.

RAIN or SHINE event! Be there!

Sunday, August 25, 2013

I will see you...

Every year, when it gets close to September, I start thinking of this song - 

"I will see you....in September....I will see you....when the summer 's through." 

Truly, I can thank a friend for that because it's now a yearly habit to start thinking about it around the end of August. I begin to wonder, do I have to go back to school? Then reality hits, "No. Wait. We run a brewery..." So nope, this is not applicable for Jeremy and I.    

Anyways, I'm happy to say that we got the labeling issue all straightened out. We failed to do our due diligence. When ABC said "Here's your label approval packet" we said "oh well were not distributing" and that was that. Later, when it was time to pay taxes we found out that all beer sold in VA must have a label of some sort. We got our labels approved and re-opened. Now we're good to go.

It's fantastic that our growlers have arrived after a long and unexpected delay but nonetheless, everybody seems to be happy. They are popular along with our new potato chips from Route 11, a local place from Mount Jackson, VA. Everybody is munching on them. Next week, we should be receiving our Sprechers gourmet sodas

As we approach the fall season, BadWolf plans to host a little something on Sept 29 from 2-9pm. Yes folks, it's our first Oktoberfest! Just to clarify, Oktoberfests traditionally begin in September. At this event, our hope is to bring in a BBQ pit, ice cream truck, live music, have a raffle, bring in some fancy cars for lookin' at, and offer some specially bottled German beers to supplement BadWolf's taps. We are now in the planning stages and as soon as we have all the details ironed out, we'll let you know! Until then, come on down and have a pint and get a growler or 2! 


Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Our View on the Label Approval Process

Our case is a unique one in that we are not a restaurant, nor do we distribute. Period. BadWolf does not even bottle beer to sell inside our store (at least for now). Our growlers are not pre-filled either which would reclassify them from the "large glass" category to the "bottles" category which has a special label like you see on the growlers at Sweetwater Tavern. We only sell pints and fill growlers on the spot. As far as we know, I think we are the only brewery in the state in this scenario, at least for now... I know that this will change and more breweries will come down the pike with many different business models and some may be like ours. Hey, that's totally cool, no problem the more the merrier! There are so many breweries in the planning stages... watch out because Virginia and the DC metro area is about to become the next best craft beer destination on the East Coast!

Getting straight to the point, the issue is with the label itself in that it only requires the following:

  • name of brewery
  • city
  • state
  • name of the beer
  • container size
The next question I asked Jeremy was, "why"? Isn't a label concerned about the nitty gritty details of what's in the keg? And I thought this was regulated by TTB? Well, it's not regulated by federal law when it comes to our kegs behind the counter, it's a state thing. So then I ask, "Why are we putting labels on our 5 gallon kegs to be stored behind a counter that a consumer is not viewing and the kegs are not being distributed?"

Virginia code, as stated in my previous blog, explains that beer manufactured in the state must be labeled. This is understandable however, I believe this code was most likely written at a time when large breweries made beer mostly for distribution or to move their beer from one location to another. For some time, Virginia had only a few large national breweries.

Why label these little kegs hanging out behind the counter if they are not leaving the premises? I don't label my growlers leaving the premises...? However, we do have to pay for each keg label. Though the payment is only $30, BadWolf brews 5 new beers a week. How could we get creative if we are stifled by limiting our beer selection and did I mention that it takes up to 30 days to approve a label?  I have no problem paying for a label for our future bottles and distributed kegs by the way. That is completely understandable from all perspectives.

By the way, the label issue came up while we were submitting our VA beer taxes as they required a label approval number which we did not have because when we heard "labels" we assumed it meant distribution or for bottling. As far as we knew, this whole subject was N/A. When Jeremy looked over the tax form, it was truly setup for just a few labels, not anything like our request.

Our proposed solution #1: exemption from ABC label approval for draught beer served on the premises of the manufacture that will not be distributed.

My second proposal, label the keg but forget paying the $30 a pop. Third solution (if the law doesn't change in my lifetime) make less varieties of beers which would stifle recipe creativity and anyone else following suit. And no it wouldn't result in a free for all because beer is beer. It cannot be made any other way. Current Scenario - how about we make many varieties of beers and pay 5 x $30 every week with a 30 day waiting period? That's what we just submitted to ABC - $300 for our varieties of beers - probably more than most large breweries have submitted in a year. I hope that covers our beer recipes for the next few weeks! In the meantime, we await approval while our BadWolf operation is temporarily shut down so we avoid being fined or charged. Nah, scratch all that, I vote for Solution #1.

Seriously, as silly as I sound, I urge all the key people to help us fine tune the ABC label approval process to make sure it is conducive to the spirit of SB 604 and to our newly budding breweries and all of the great local craft beer about to come down the pike. Please tell your local delegates and state senate and anyone else involved with VA law to make an exemption for kegs sitting behind the counter of the beer manufacturer (that is the kegs not being distributed). We don't do it for growlers, why is it necessary for kegs?

With all due respect, what I say in the blog is meant to be completely open and honest with anyone who reads it. I do not want to hold back nor walk on egg shells and all that political stuff. I just want to express a legitimate concern and begin the journey to make some changes for a growing craft beer wave. I just don't know where to start except to voice a concern. Anyone good at drafting a new law? Maybe DC will someday be the next beer city USA!

Any questions or concerns, please go to www.badwolfbrewingcompany.com and click "contact us" or feel free to comment below. Thank you!!


Monday, July 15, 2013

Temporarily Closed ?????

Our apologies for the terrible news. BadWolf WILL BE CLOSED temporarily until all of our labels are approved. It may be 30 days but hopefully not, we are trying to expedite the process. Even though we ONLY do onsite consumption, and no bottling nor distributing, we have discovered VA ABC still requires labels for EVERY SINGLE BEER BREWED even though the beer is behind the counter in kegs in our small operation. This means, we must pay for a label for every beer brewed which could mean less varieties for everyone. This out of date law does not help local small breweries in Virginia http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+reg+3VAC5-40-50. Tell your local delegates we need to change the law to allow small breweries the ability to brew a small variety of batches without paying $30 for every new beer and waiting for up to 30 days. BadWolf brews 5 new beers a week so we would have to approve 5 new beer labels every week? If this doesn't get fixed, we may be stuck brewing the same beers for several months and have only a few seasonal rotating beers.  We do not want to deprive our happy customers! Also, on another note regarding laws, we need to lower the VA license fee for breweries from $2,150 to the same price as a winery $189 and allow us to drop off our kegs to local restaurants and retailers as wineries do. Let's change the Virginia Winery Distribution Company to the Virginia Wine and Craft Brewery Distribution Company.

Saturday, June 29, 2013

The Incredible First 2 Weeks!


After the ABC license was granted, there was a short window of critical path administrative stuff to finish before opening. We immediately applied for the special event permit through the city and the Banquet License through VA ABC. All of the permits came through just in time, whew. We got all our ducks in a row at the last minute. The beer was busy fermenting and we had a backup plan for the parking lots...just in case. We received permission to park in the locations nearby. Our BBQ team was ready - Smoke's BBQ such tasty food! All of our incredible staff knew their stuff and we could not have done it without them. They were well prepared! We had the honor of the Manassas City Mayor Hal Parrish, along with Vice Mayor Andrew L. Harrover, Surpervisor Ian T. Lovejoy, Supervisor Johnathan Way and Delegate Rich Anderson, Delegate Jackson Miller come to our ribbon cutting and support the new venture!





The night before the event, we did not sleep. Since the conception of BadWolf, it had been almost one year. So much planning and preparation had gone into the business. Some people even asked what it was like on opening day. Being a new momma and all, I could only compare it to having a new baby. It was THAT EXCITING and you know, we prepared for this "baby" longer than 9 months. So yes, BadWolf is like our second son in a way. I remember tossing and turning the night before the opening worrying if we would be able to serve people quick enough. It turned out that we could not serve them quick enough because the line went across the plaza! In fact, many waited up to one hour and everyone seemed surprisingly patient and understanding.  Friends, family, colleagues and so many people showed up! It was overwhelming. Jeremy being the critic that he was of his own beer worried if people would like his beer. He did not have to worry because the six beers were a hit:


  • There Can Only Be One Pale Ale
  • Idea Golden Ale
  • Not Bad Brown
  • ESB
  • Shhh...aison
  • Emergence IPA

Did we anticipate a line across the plaza on opening day? No, not really though we noticed over 100+ RSVPs on the 2 Facebook invitations and figured a steady stream of people would come on by, not 500+. Word did spread fast based on the flurry of online activity and updates from friends at the last minute and of course if someone says "craft beer", people are there in a flash, especially if it's made in their own home town! I remember when Jeremy and I were looking for breweries to visit while on travel. I like to think of finding a new brewery as a quest. I am happy that we are now part of someone else's beer quest.

After opening night beer sold out each day for the next two weeks. Someone even suggested we make a new shirt titled, "Where did all the beer go?". During this time, Jeremy and his assistant brewer's brewed almost every day of the week. I am happy to say that Jeremy is now a full time brewmaster and expects to have a full lineup of beers the week after next. Thanks for your patience as we ramp up production. We originally planned to only brew twice a week, not six! We also hope to expand tap hours in the future, for now these are the planned hours.

  • Wed-Thurs - 4-9pm
  • Fri 3-10pm
  • Sat 2-10pm


Next week we will be open for the 4th of July and continue normal tap hours (unless of course the beer taps out before closing time). I would also like to announce that we now have a real phone number, so when you call us, you hear a real person on the phone during taproom hours 571-208-1064. Google voice wasn't cutting it, lesson learned. Next week we will have an Orange Cream Wit, the Not Bad Brown due to popular demand & maybe a surprise beer on tap. Until then, have a fantastic week and we will see you on Wednesday!




Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Dying to Open

"Hurry the f-up already!" Someone emailed me this the other day and I just about fell out of my seat laughing. I've seen hundreds of emails but not one has arrived as demanding and as succinct as this. Then the person simply signed his name at the bottom. Later there was another one from a Dr. Who fan which came in from the midwest. They wanted a bottle of beer with BadWolf on it for their friend as a joke. The idea being to put Bad Wolf on every day items everywhere this person went. (Those who have seen the new series understand the significance.) Since we don't have beer in bottles or any beer at all just yet, we suggested he get one of our pint glasses or growlers. Someday, maybe this guy will give us an update. Yesterday, someone texted Jeremy saying it's really hot outside and he wants beer from us like pronto! Poor guy has to wait another month.

So as you are aware, we were pushed back another month due to a monster setback. The arrangement with this fellow posing as a licensed contractor to install the ventilation system never got underway and we witnessed a large sum of money basically fall into the abyss. The setback has been frustrating and a pain in the ass. When you look at the whole picture, walking with $3,260 is one part of it but delaying our opening another month means additional operating costs, delaying our permitting processes and now our ABC license is pushed out. What really sucks is that all of our future fans are delayed a taste of BadWolf beer. You know what? It's been really hot outside lately!! Here is the article published around the time the media got wind of the news. Did I mention Jeremy is dying to brew beer too! We have so many recipes and beautiful grains just waiting to utilize their potential in the new brew kettles. And our new water filtration system is fabulous. I love the water coming from our BadWolf sink. It's so tasty which means more consistent tasting beer.

New date TBA but we are looking at Mid-June. Hey, don't go on vacation just yet, we will be open before you know it!

Saturday, April 27, 2013

April 27, 2013 Update

So we ran into a slight pickle but as always, the BadWolf team bounces right back. While we get ourselves reorganized and finish the last bit of construction on the ventilation system, our hope is to open late May. We've got our beer recipes ready to brew. The lineup may include:


  • Idea Golden Ale
  • Ginger Ale (yes, it's beer NOT soda)
  • Birdie's Brown Ale
  • Oncoming Storm Belgian Strong Dark
  • Loveless Porter
  • Jeremy's Cola (NA, caffeine free, cane sugar)


There you have it!

Our goal is to utilize local ingredients in many of our recipes. If you know a local farmer who would be interested in supplying us hops, grains, or other beer ingredients, send us an email on the contact tab. Thank you! http://www.badwolfbrewingcompany.com/Contact-Us.html

Also, we will be giving away all of our spent grains to the community. Spent grains can be used for a variety of reasons. Let us know if you want them. http://www.craftbeer.com/craft-beer-muses/sustainable-uses-of-spent-grain

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

April 4, On the verge of opening...can you see the light?

If we could count down to opening day, you would be most pleased. The excitement brings back memories of the closing day for our house, only add triple the anticipation and a few more (well, several more) variables! Wave a magic wand and poof, BadWolf is ready. Not so fast! If you think it takes this long, double it. If you think you need x, think 2x. If you think you know it all, you know nothing! That's what I have learned in the past year. Plan it out in so much detail and it sort of helped, even with all the countless hours then you say, "at least I had a plan". Better to think of it as a guide. Persistence is a must and if the quality of self-motivation is nonexistent, you will be screwed. That's my take on this nano operation. At this point, remaining items: revision to the proposed ventilation system and ABC inspection. This is one of the last steps prior to our state license. Once we have the license, we will brew our little butts off. And as the wife in this operation, I will learn to brew too! I look forward to making my own beer along side Jeremy. I would like to name one of my beers "Git Some" or "BadWolf One". If you want to receive the email for our opening date, send us your email address: http://www.badwolfbrewingcompany.com/Contact-Us.html.

Cheers all! A BIG Thank you goes out to everyone who has helped us so far. We are so close and we look forward to sharing our pints with you and the community!!









Monday, March 4, 2013

March 4 Update

What is a brewery? (a place where beer is made commercially according to the wiki) This question was asked last week and I was surprised! So I gave the lowdown to the questionee and proceeded to explain how our operation would work. A brewery is a new concept around here and with it hopefully comes inspiration for others to do the same, whether it be another brewery, restaurant, or specialty shop. These places are unique, cool and give Manassas character! My hope for the future of our town is to see more mom & pop businesses. We live in a franchise city compared to places like downtown Alexandria along King Street or downtown Asheville, NC where a different brewery is on every corner. Well, not literally, but Asheville was named beer city USA and they have a lot of breweries!

This month I reveal our layout a bit more. BadWolf is simply a very small taproom. 6 beers will be on tap (usually) with our customer area just large enough to accommodate some people sitting and of course standing room. Our bar is being built from scratch which will look great. Another cool thing - we will have a sit down pacman table loaded with hundreds of games including pacman and other fun ones from back in the day. Free popcorn will be available popped right on site in the cool little popcorn cart. Of course we will provide our freshly made beer in growlers to go. You will be happy to know there is a large fermentation room to store tons of kegs of happily fermenting beer. Behind this will be an sweet office complete with 4 walls and carpeting! It does not include a window view unless we paint one. Damn.

Behind the office and down the main hall is a large room for storing lots 'o grains and you can't live without a bathroom so we put one of those in. It comes with free toilet paper and hand towels. One day, I will get BadWolf the cool sustainable Excel dryer.

T-shirts, BadWolf pint glasses, BadWolf stickers and the cool stuff will be available for purchasing once we open.

WHEN ARE YOU OPENING, GIVE ME A DATE!?

Um, this spring and sorry, but no date confirmed until we start testing our brewing system which is about to be installed shortly! Hang in there. Don't worry, we can hardly wait too.

WHAT BEER WILL YOU HAVE ON TAP?

The brewmaster has 6 recipes selected (which I will keep a secret for now) and the beer will change as we brew new batches. No single recipe will remain on tap consistently. If you have a recipe you would like us to do, please go to our website and click the taproom tab. The brewmaster may even invite you to brew with him.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Big Milestone

On February 6, 2012 TTB approved our Brewer's Notice! We couldn't believe our eyes when the approval appeared in our inbox, finally! We submitted the application in early October and we knew 120 days was the average processing time. Now it's all about the VAABC application which will be submitted shortly. Average processing time is 30 days.

All of the plumbing work has been completed and passed inspection. Just a few days ago, we passed the electrical inspection and will be starting drywall very shortly followed by grinding and sealing the floors. The brewing equipment and control panel will be installed along with our dishwasher, 3 compartment sink, hand sink, kegerators, and the bar. The bar is a simple design built from scratch and one of the cool features will include embedding bottle caps along the top and stained wainscoting.

The customer area will look like...wait, we don't want to tell you everything!

 


.


Thursday, January 17, 2013

The Buildout Phase

On Jan 14, the power was turned on, lighting up our sign and the most exciting news: we received our building permits! This gave us the green light to begin buildout phase. The plumbing crew, in a matter of a few days, marked the floors, cut the concrete up, reworked the plumbing in preparation for the dishwasher and sinks, then had it reviewed by the inspector which passed inspection this morning. Today they will fill in the holes with new concrete. The path of dirt between the concrete sort of reminded me of what the "Graboids" from the movie "Tremors" left behind. After plumbing work is done, the studs for walls and electrical work will be configured.


Okay, ready to serve beer? Not quite, we have completed a few requests on our application and sent those back to the TTB so they could finish reviewing it. We estimate the application should be approved by the end of the month. After this phase, we work with VA ABC for state approval which takes approximately 30 days. After buildout is complete, test batches of beer on new equipment will begin. In the meantime, you can always order your BadWolf growler or pint glass in our online store, you know, to test out the growler and glass to see if it holds beer?

We will keep everyone posted!!