Blog Moved to BadWolf Wix Site

Hello all, it's been incredibly crazy since we opened the large location! We have a lot to catch up on with you. To better integrate with our new website, you will be able to find the blogs there moving forward:

http://www.badwolfbrewingcompany.com/blog

A new blog is being drafted and will be posted soon. Cheers!

Big BadWolf Opens Aug 14, 2015

Inquiring mind: "What?! You opened?!"
BadWolf: "We did and the great news is we didn't run out of beer this time!"

On opening day, there was an overwhelming turnout. Lots of smiling faces and great memories were made. Smokes BBQ was outback, the BadWolf racing bike was on display, the musicians sounded fantastic, our team was busy running the bar and the beer eagerly sought a good tasting. All went well and we proudly broke in our new space!

Now our team is busy making beer in both locations and the kegs are stacking up, ready for rental from customers and for distribution to the local restaurants. Below is a picture of the microscope for the new yeast lab - many thanks to our friend. Our yeast lab manager Ryan will work to isolate & develop new strains of yeast. Come visit the new taproom which are the same hours as little BadWolf or book us for your next private event! Little BadWolf boasts of new recipes and amazing popcorn. Give them a visit too!! Check out our event calendar!

Meet the Team!

Left to Right: Jeremy, Mark, Sarah, Claire, Bryan, Jesse, Ryan & Isaac front.
Newest Team Members: Adrian & Justin (pic to be posted)

8420 Kao Circle Update!

Hello everyone! We are super excited about our progress on the second location. The average turnaround time for the approval of the Brewer's Notice used to be 100 days. We were informed it would take an extra 20 days due to the volume of other applications. So the 20 days had passed and the question became whether we should let them do their job or check in on the status. It was decided to give them a quick call. The TTB brushed off the dust on the application and began reviewing it. After some back and forth Jeremy realized we sent over the wrong bond from the other location. Once that was cleared up, TTB had everything they needed to process the application. On May 1, we received official approval!! Now we are halfway though the VA ABC application process. (For a second location you must obtain the Brewer's Notice & a new ABC license). Once our ABC license is approved, we will begin to brew.

Since the last blog post, we have also made massive construction progress! Acting as our own GC (General Contractor) has made the journey a bit intimidating BUT our team has has done great work so far and we've passed inspections. We have to thank these folks and everyone else in the process so far:

• Loveless Porter Architects 
• BEI - Structural Engineering firm
• MEP - Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing Engineers
• PRP, LLC (Plumb Right Plumbing) 
• Systems Inc (Electrical)
• RJ Mechanical 
• Alliance Steel
• Drywall Specialties Inc
• EM Tech Engineers (Inspecting Reinforced Steel)

We also want to thank:

• Volunteers who put together our new tables
• My husband and the staff for their blood and sweat: Jeremy, Jesse, Ryan, Claire & Bryan
• Turtle for his beautiful mural
• Isaac - our son who loves to visit both breweries with excitement, patience and a smile
• All of the suppliers for our new equipment & cool merch
• FVC Bank
• City of Manassas
• VA ABC & TTB 
• Family, friends, & freaking amazing customers! 

Additionally, we are preparing to bring on more members to our team, decorate the new space and fill it with the most important product of all: BEER! Since my husband and some of the other amazing brewers are great with the technical aspects of brewing, I have encouraged them to write about the brewing process, recipes, and stuff that you might enjoy in the future! Who cares about all this business stuff, right? (I love writing about it)

When we open the second location, you can look forward to bottled beer available for pickup and eventually pickup your keg for a party. Dare I say this? The projected opening date is on or near June 19, our two year anniversary for BadWolf. If you want to receive an email for opening, please visit our home page and drop us your email address.

Lastly, I would like to say that your belief in us has brought us to the step we originally dreamed about. Our potential to positively impact the community and continue to build a better community will be enhanced with "Big BadWolf".  In the second location, we will be able to continue to raise money for charities, offer yoga classes, art classes, comedy nights, live music, book readings, group meetings and a roomy enough place where you can actually find a seat! Some might refer to BadWolf as a second family and we can't wait to continue the journey with you and the future people we meet. Great things can come from good beer, right?!

Enjoy the pics below -

BadWolf's Second Location "Big BadWolf"

The second location is in progress! We are now past the halfway point in the project. It took a few months to get the drawings finalized with the A/Es, with approval from the City on Jan 29. With over 6,000 square feet we are able to do all sorts of exciting things.

We have a 10bbl system from Brewmation and 6 fermenters going in on the bottom right of the drawings. Most of the brewing equipment was delivered today! 

At Big BadWolf, we will do our best to keep the atmosphere of the old location in the large space. We have some awesome ideas and will save those for opening day. We are very excited to be able to lager now with Glycol Chillers which Jeremy is focusing on brewing a proper pilsner - something he has always dreamed of doing. Now with the proper professional equipment, this dream will come true. He plans to make several German style beers and improve the beer quality on several current recipes. We will have ten taps available with one dedicated to a "beer for the cause" to raise money for local charities. We do plan to have kegs for sale for your party and we plan to do some hand bottled beers and eventually incorporate a canning line.

With a larger economy of scale, BadWolf will be able to source local ingredients, especially hops from the area. (We are unable to do this with little BadWolf because it arrives in too large a batch and with fresh hops, it can go bad rather quickly.)

Big BadWolf will have a dedicated yeast lab to isolate and develop our own strains. We plan to go out and collect many wild yeast samples. The yeast lab will be visible from the customer area through windows. It will include microscopes, petry dishes, a centrifuge, refrigerators and all the cool lab stuff one might imagine.

Our new website is in the process of launching too so we will be able to keep you up to date with the latest and greatest stuff. 

9776 Center Street location aka  "Little BadWolf" will remain open since it is the heart and sole of everything we do. With over 250 recipes and counting, the experimental focus will continue and those beers will not be found anywhere else. 

Here's to 2015! We should be open in June or earlier.  

Exciting News for Prince William County!!

In the previous blog, we discussed the issue of the restrictions in opening a brewery in the county. However, this past Tuesday, we received a call from supervisor Mike May's office with the news that there was an interesting article in the Potomac Local news. The office was happy to report that Prince William County had just finished updating their code to allow breweries in the zoning districts that were originally only open to brew pubs. Recall the coffee shop brewery model? Now it is legal in our County to open a small brewery in a zone like a shopping center! BadWolf played an integral part in helping the county in this endeavor and they wanted to thank us. We were ecstatic!! Holy mackerel, this was all great news!! It's too bad we missed the opportunity in Tacket's Mill however, the spot is now up for grabs to help another entrepreneur's dream come true.

With that said, it great to know that a small business in a little 1,200 square foot space can make a big impact in the community. If anyone is interested in starting a small brewery in the county, please feel free to reach out to us for any questions. We would be happy to help. 571-208-1064 ask for Sarah or Jeremy. Cheers! :-)

Here is the article: http://potomaclocal.com/2014/11/18/beer-boon-craft-brewers-now-welcome-prince-william/

Big BadWolf: The journey in selecting a second location

The expansion is in order and we have settled on a large space on the east side of Manassas City scheduled to open in Spring 2015. View the video. This time last year, we began the search for the new space and for one reason or another, it did not work out. There were several options and ideas thrown about. One of the particular jurisdictions we had considered was Prince William County, a place we grew up in and knew well. We almost picked a neat little spot in Woodbridge, which the biggest obstacle were the laws pertaining to breweries in the zone we had our eyes on. I guess "pertaining to" would be incorrect; the issue was the zone would not allow our particular business model to work. We wanted to place a brewery (just like little BadWolf) in a B-2 space. Sadly, we did not have time to wait for the process in working with zoning officials and the county to change the legislation. It was disappointing but at the same time, we had another idea. Why not pave a path for other breweries to make it easier for them to open in the B-1, B-2 zones?

So, we proposed that they refine and update their code to help other breweries to open up in the future. Jeremy was asked to speak with several local municipalities to clarify our own business practices and current zoning in the City of Manassas. This talk, along with suggestions to the Prince William Zoning Board about ordinances pertaining to breweries is now showing results! They are moving forward with a new proposal to make it legal for a brewery like our little BadWolf model to open up in commercially zoned areas within Prince William County. This is very exciting news!!

Currently, in Prince William County a brewery can operate in the M-1 and M/T districts, those are the industrial sectors. That leaves the potential new operation with just a few districts to choose from on the zoning map.  However, one could also open a brew pub/restaurant in a B-2 zone but NOT a "brewery" according to the County's definition. What about a small brewery operation that's no different than a little coffee shop? The only way it would work is if you have food served under the restaurant definition, then the brewing operation may now meet the proper criteria. Oddly, the Virginia SB 604 in effect as of July 2012 allows for breweries to operate in Virginia to serve pints on site to customers without food. It only makes sense to trickle this down to the county municipality and update the codes.

In the Prince William Zoning Ordinance breweries and brew pubs are defined as:

Brewery and bottling facility shall mean an industrial operation involving the brewing and bottling of beverages for local, regional, or national distribution and which may involve routine truck traffic. Brewery and bottling operations may be permitted in restaurants as an accessory use when integrated into the restaurant operations, with limited distribution and wholesaling permitted. 

Restaurant: A retail food service establishment with table service (order placement and delivery) provided to patrons; also including cafeterias with table attendants; carry-out trade, if any, shall be a limited portion of the facility; traditional sit-down dinner establishments with waiter/waitress service. 


We will keep you posted when the new ordinances are approved and of course provide more details about the expansion as we move forward. Stay tuned. We hope that Prince William County will soon become a little brewery mecca and serious tourist destination! This will boost the economy in the county and provide an opportunity for even more jobs and lots and lots of amazing tasty, beer!

Cheers!!

What's in a title?

From Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/brewershirts 

When you hear "brewmaster" what comes to mind? In the craft beer industry today we might automatically think of a person with credentials, perhaps a deep formal education in brewing, chemistry or the like. With that background, the person would essentially learn the true art of craft brewing.

The definition of a brewmaster from Merriam-Webster is "a person who supervises the brewing process of malt liquors." Excellent, it's far more simplified than all the hype. I believe the main requirement for a "brewmaster" if I had to associate the title with a definition is simply a passion for making great beer and enjoying what you do. Everything else will follow suit including the improvements and tweaks to the recipes. If you love what you do, then you're good to go and anything can be learned. In order to do or have, you gotta "be" something first. In our case, we are happy and love making beer. We don't have tons of awards, formal education in brewing, but there is experience, know how and pure passion for our product, our company, and most importantly, our customers who totally rock! Without their feedback, support and comments, we would not be where we are now. We are also so thankful to have supportive networks of friends, family, employees, community, the city, Historic Manassas, and fellow brewers (homebrewers and professionals) and fellow business owners. 

What matters most in the end is whether people enjoy your beer. Pure and simple. If they do, then great and if not, then make adjustments accordingly. Does one need a formal education or some fancy title to be great at what they do? Absolutely not! The founders of GREAT companies dropped out of high school and college and many started billion dollar companies out of their garage. (Microsoft and Apple)

We at BadWolf Brewing Company could quite possibly be in the category of nothing more than "glorified homebrewers". That's cool, no seriously, who the hell cares where you came from if people enjoy the beer! One thing remains true and that is brewing is not just a science but it is an art and there is plenty of wiggle room to bend the rules to make new and exciting beers! Titles are the least of our worries. So relax people, it's just beer!