millstreambrewing.com

Yea, its been a grueling week of bottling. The low point was when the first truck didn’t show, and then when it arrived the next day, the trucker somehow got the truck stuck near the airport trying to turn around. We were all just shaking our heads thinking.. what else could go wrong? Finally he got the truck free by putting some chains underneath his tires to get traction (he was in a dip on the gravel and his wheels were sort of off the ground).

Now that we are done, we have another busy week ahead so that we have some beer for us! The first thing on the list is to get the Maifest made. I know May seems a long way off, but for lager beers its like just around the corner!

I spent that “waiting for the truck day” doing a project. I fixed our fax machine. For years we have had an old fax machine here with a cracked LCD. Since we recieve all of our faxes on the computer, I couldn’t really use that one as a back up because I could not set it to pick up after the computer picks up (in case the computer is shut down). I’m sure I could have in theory, but its really hard when you can’t see anything on the LCD screen. I bought another identical machine that was broken off ebay for 20$, and took it entirely apart. I removed the LCD and, then managed to hook it back up to our old machine by only half taking it apart. It really helped that I had the dissassembled machine to reference. To my joy, it works great! Here it at Millstream, old machines don’t get tossed out, we just keep fixing them. Apparently this philosophy goes beyond the beer making ones. I’m sure that this old HP fax 700 (circa 1985) will probably outlive most of the crappy combo machines being made today.

Our beer was featured last night at the Englert Theatre in Iowa City. A little late I know, but next time, ask for a Millstream!

We also have new long sleeve t-shirts in the sales room. They are all currently XL’s, but i’m sure we’ll have more sizes in soon. I think they are really snazzy!

And finally, after many, many requests, here are some cute cat pictures:

Here she is sleeping in her bed, which is an old coat I used to wear in the cellar:

As soon as the flash went off, she yawned at me:

She then rolled over and went back to sleep:

Nice to see ya Millie Millstream!

Good news. If you check our front page you will see the press release about this. I’m amazed that the Craft sector grew that much in 2004. People must finally be getting tired of drinking beer in green bottles!

My quote that it is “no surprise” is also true though, because lately we have been getting a surprising number of people calling us, asking how they can get our products. Just last week, we had the Mcbride Station in Solon call us, and we also had calls from both the Java House and Super-Target. Its great to be on the recieving end, I know that we have done plenty of cold calling ourselves in the last five years. If we keep up the consistency of our product, perhaps we soon be getting calls from those great restaurants that I dream of someday soon.

I think the growth is coming from a consisent message from Craft brewers. We are saying, we love beer, beer is good and natural, and you should enjoy it too. I don’t know about you, but when I think about going out to dinner, I consciously consider which places I can go that have a decent beer selection. I’m sure most people don’t make their eating and grocery shopping decisions based on beer (though they should!), but i’m sure some do on a unconscious level. People are ‘trading up’ from a ‘regular’ beer to a tasty Craft brewed one. Too bad for the “King and Queen” of beer. The ‘big three’ plus imports have done nothing but shoot themselves in the foot with their negative advertising slamming each other. Meanwhile craft beer is growing by a silent word of mouth, which is the kind of buzz that the big marketing campaigns only wish they could simulate.

While i’m on the subject, I hearby nominate the “tastes great-less filling” as the worst long-term advertising campaign ever concieved. It succeed in the short term at selling light beer, but in the long term it made beer look cheap, like something to be drank while wearing a filthy white t-shirt. The industry may never recover from the damage of light beer. If it does, the ‘big three’ will have to thank us and the imports for making beer a respectable beverage again. Something you would want to be seen consuming while at a five star restaurant. I know people are drinking our beer there, because nearly every good restaurant around here has Millstream on tap or in bottles! Heck the last time I went to the Taste on Melrose I finished off the keg of Schokolade Bock… Poor me, I only got a half glass!

Oh, and going with the five star theme, here is an excellent article showing off how well beer goes with high end cheeses!