Schooner Exact Brewing Co.

Busy Times Behind Us, Busy Times Ahead

Hello! It has been some crazy months here lately. We've had a lot of irons in the fire and they were all heating up fast. We had some major medical issues arise in the midst of buying a house and a new brew system. When it rains, it pours. But the good news is that we have a new system that will increase our production from a Keg at a time to 13 Kegs at a time! (Big sigh!)

The delivery crew here at Schooner Exact has been doing some major peddling of wares lately. Here is the most current list of where to find us:

3-Grid IPA House Taps at the West 5 and Abbondanza Pizza in West Seattle;

Rotating status at the new, beautiful Beveridge Place also in West Seattle;

Brouwer's Cafe has 2 Golden Gate dry-hopped casks of 3-Grid IPA in addition to a keg of regular draft IPA. They also received the first Gallant Maiden Bavarian Hefewiezen of the year which should be pouring in the next week or so after their, oh-so delicious, Sour Beer Festival winds down.

Old Town in Ballard has the IPA but warning, in this part of town, it goes fast!;

The Latona in Greenlake has the 3-Grid on tap, and

We added a new account to the SE rolls... The Dray in Ballard. Lots of wood, warm intimate atmosphere; nice, knowledgable guys behind the bar; Stumptown espresso and beer? Can you ask for anything better? This is Matt's favorite new haunt in Seattle, you gotta check it out.

Major Upcoming Events:

The Mother of all Father's Day Festivals! The Washington Brewers Festival at St. Edward's Park put on by the Washington Beer Commission. We are going to have the summer line of SE offerings and a cask or two to boot! Come out and root for Matt during the annual Keg Toss! $15 advance ticket sales. All ages event, but alas, no dogs.

Well, that's about all that is coming down through the pipes at the moment. Stayed tuned for more expansion news to come. Cheers! 

Week of March 17th

Good news everyone, we're getting out into more new locations.  Here's what's up for this week.  We are always on at the West 5 Lounge with 3-Grid IPA.  The Beveridge Place Pub, also in West Seattle, will have a keg of Regrade Pale Ale on later this week.  Up on Capital Hill you will be able to enjoy 3-Grid IPA at the Hopvine, a new location for us!  Also under the 3 Pubs umbrella is the Latona Pub.  The fine folks at the Latona will be pouring Regrade Pale Ale later this week.  Thanks to 3 Pubs for taking us on!  In Freemont you will find something special.  Brouwer's Cafe will be pouring our India Dark Ale from one of their cask engines.  This is new for us and they only have a quarter barrel available.

We're also working on getting 3-Grid into the Fiddler's Inn later this week and the Old Town Ale House next week.  Stay tuned.

What's going on this weekend with you?  We'll be at the Washington Cask Festival at Seattle Center pouring a dry hopped 3-Grid from one of our firkin casks as well as our India Dark Ale.

Cheers, Matt.

You asked for it!

We heard through the grapevine (hopvine?) that a lot of people had been asking for us over at the Latona Pub. Of course, we have not been there, and both the Latona and their customers have been missing out. So you asked for it and we have decided to make it happen! Tonight we will be delivering a keg of delicious 3-Grid IPA to the Latona. Don't show up tonight asking for it, give them a couple of days to get a spot for us, but definitely look for us the next time you are there as we plan to be on fairly regularly. If you have any ideas of other place you want to see us, be sure to let us know!

SCHOONER EXACT TURNS 1 YEAR OLD!

Right around this time last year, all of you came out and made our Inauguration Day release party the biggest night of the year. Well it's that time again and through all of your great support, we survived our first year! So come on out and celebrate with us as we turn one year old! We are hoping that this one will be even bigger than the last, so be sure to invite all of your friends. We have been brewing up a storm so there will be plenty to go around. On tap will be 3-Grid IPA, Regrade Pale Ale, and the award winning Hoppy Holiday Winter Ale. In addition, we are doing a cask of both 3-Grid and Hoppy Holidays!

We will get the party started around 6pm on Saturday, January 19th and go until close. Each pint will get you a chance at some cool Schooner Exact swag!

WHO: Everyone!
WHAT: Schooner Exact Brewing Co. First Anniversary Party
WHERE: Beveridge Place Pub, West Seattle
WHEN: Saturday, January 19, 2008  -  6pm
WHY: Because we like you!

Hope to see everyone there!

Current Locations and an Upcoming Event

Hey everyone, it's been a while since our last post and we're through the holiday season successfully.  Just a quick note to let you know where our beer can be found.  The West 5 Lounge in West Seattle is the usual place to find 3-Grid IPA.  If you can make it by W5 to enjoy a pint or three, you might have an order of mac'n cheese to go with it.  Don't forget to add the bacon...  Currently, Brouwer's Cafe in Freemont is offering two Exact taps; 3-Grid IPA and our season favorite, Hoppy Holidays Winter Ale.  We're honored to have two taps at such a fine beer bar.

Lastly, don't forget our First Annual Anniversary Party at the Beveridge Place Pub in West Seattle.  Two weeks from tomorrow we will be celebrating our first full year of brewing commercially.  On January 19th we will be offering 3-Grid IPA on draft and cask, Hoppy Holidays on draft and cask and draft Regrade Pale Ale.  Please come by to celebrate with us.  The party begins at 6pm and ends when the taps are dry.  Last year it took just three and a half hours.

Add award winning to that list..

That's right, when explaining to your friends all of the cool things you love about Schooner Exact, you can add award winning to the list! Last weekend at the 3rd Annual Winter Beer Festival Schooner Exact's Hoppy Holidays took 3rd place in the People's Choice awards!! Our first award! For those of you that were there, you saw how excited we are about this. Hopefully it's just the first of many!

For those of you that missed out, you do have another chance at getting some of that goodness that is Hoppy Holidays later this week at the Beveridge Place Pub. Of course, we decided to kick it up a bit since the temperature has been dropping so fast lately. So you can get this one on cask, with some dry-hopping and some bourbon oak. If that doesn't knock the icicles off I don't know what will!

You can still find our 3-Grid IPA at West 5 and we just dropped another keg over to Brouwer's recently so be sure to swing by. Also, be on the lookout for some news about our one year anniversary party coming up in January! We tore the roof off last time and plan on doing it again!!

Baby it's cold outside

Which means it is the best time of year for beer! All the great beers come flowing out the breweries this time of year. Big and bold to help you shake off that winter chill, and Schooner Exact is no exception. We just dropped off the first batch of this season's Hoppy Holidays Winter Ale at the Beveridge Place Pub. It is a fairly small keg to start, so if you want to be one of lucky few who can say you were the first kid on your block to try it, you better get down there quick!

If the west side is a little out of your way, you will be able to catch us at the Winter Beer Festival at Hale's Palladium this year. You might want to run out and get your tickets right away as this one is always a lot of fun, and always packed. This will be our first time pouring at this one and we are really looking forward to it.

And if you are down that way in Fremont anyway, take a few and stop by and see our friends over at Brouwer's. We are happy to be back there with our 3-Grid IPA, and also hope to have some Hoppy Holidays for them in the near future.

Hoptoberfest Update

Today is the final day of voting in Beveridge Place Pub's Hoptoberfest IPA celebration and we are excited to see that our 3-Grid IPA made the final three ballot.  Tomorrow night we will be at the BPP for Cask-O-Rama, their annual cask IPA party.  Last year there were over 22 casks of Washington IPA available, and reports are saying that this year will be even bigger! Of course, you will be able to enjoy our cask version of 3-Grid IPA, weighing in at nearly 8% ABV and dry-hopped with two beautiful ounces of Cascade hop goodness.  Come celebrate Hoptoberfest and cross your fingers that 3-Grid is selected at BBP's #1 IPA!

Continued Success, Maximum Production

With my limited experience in small business start-up I am continually surprised with the success that Schooner Exact, specifically 3-Grid IPA, is experiencing.  We just delivered a larger than expected second order to the Hilltop Ale House.  This is great!  People are enjoying our product and going back for more.  3-Grid is also seeing temendous success in our hood.  Our house-tap at West 5 is going strong and we are receiving positive feedback from the Beveridge Place Pub during their Hoptoberfest celebration.  We need a larger system.

Production is at its maximum.  I'm brewing on Monday evenings, Marcus is brewing on Wednesday evenings and the two of us are running doubles on Saturdays.  Besides brewing three days a week, we find ourselves at the brewery another two to three days each week cleaning tanks, racking kegs and running transfers.  All four fermenters are bubbling away and they are never empty for more than a few hours.  We need a larger system.

Thank you to everyone out there who is enjoying 3-Grid IPA.  We appreciate your support during our infancy.  We look forward to the exciting time ahead as we work on our expansion to better meet the increased demand for high quality Washington beer.

Cheers, Marcus, Heather and Matt

So Where Did The Kegs Go?

Well Ben, you guessed right.  Seattle Ale Houses gave us a tap!  This morning I delivered two kegs of 3-Grid to the Hilltop Ale House up on Queen Anne.  We can't tell you how excited we are to have our beer flowing there.  This is quite an accomplishment for us.  Thanks to the crew at the Hilltop and to Seattle Ale Houses for supporting Washington Beer!  Cheers.