Viva La Vida Loca

It’s 4:11 on Monday the 27th of April.  They just fired up the bottling line about an hour ago and we’re now running bottles of Old Viscosity.  WOW!!!  What a feeling it  is to see this sucker run.  We purchased this 16 head filler back in December of 2008 and since then, we have been laboring over the rebuild and installation of the line.  In March, I hired Gordie to come run this thing and it appears that we’ll finally be able to do just that very soon.  The whole thing is surreal.  As I look to my left out my office window, I see bunch of guys(wearing safety goggles) filling bottle after bottle of our beer.  It’s just a test run and there are some sticking points to work out.  (This is Old Viscosity after all).  Yet, I see a levity in the step of my guys.  They know that this is the end of the crazy bottling runs that they have been tortured by. 

Yes, they will still be required to bottle beer.  However, this new setup will allow them to package an entire tank in one day AND apply labels at the same time!!! Get the *^#@ out of here.  Really!  Bottles and labels applied in one sequence.  Somebody cue the Jefferson’s as we’re moving on up here at the Lost Abbey and Port Brewing.  Sure, we aren’t home yet and there’s plenty of battles to wage with this new beast.  Lord knows old bottling equipment can be quite cantankerous.  But, today isn’t about fear.  Nope, today is about the promise of a better tomorrow with each bottle of our beer filled by a machine.  Mind you there’s still enough hand crafting going on out there.  We’re not that good yet.  But, it’s exciting to know that we’ve graduated and that each bottle from this line should be an improvement over our last setup. 

To those of you who have hung in with us, we say thank you.  To those of you just finding us, we say welcome.  Today is a great day.

Today we bottled beer on a machine.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a pint of beer with my name on it.