We tout ourselves as community supported. Well now, we’ll be publicly owned as well. You, my (21+, Idaho resident) friend, can own a brewery. It’s a power to the people approach that fits right in with our ideals. And as one of our owners, you’ll have the inside scoop on what’s coming up in the brewery and have some artistic guidance in the beer we make. We’ll include you in our CSB membership and invite you to Guinea Pig Nights – events where you can beta-test the pilot batches we’re working on and let us know what you think. However, this is not a dividends-in-beer investment. It’s common stock in the company, which comes with voting rights and dividends when (and to the degree) possible. Of course the beer never hurts.

“Wait a minute,” you say, “This is not how the world works!” You’re right. Normally. In a business-as-usual world, there are two ways to get the capital you need to start your company: go to the bank, or find a small number of well-to-do individuals. Neither of those options sounded very, well, Bogus to us, so we found our own way. It’s called the Small Company Offering Registration (SCOR) and is administered by the Idaho Department of Finance. Public ownership is much more our style.

Check out more details of the offering on the Ownership page and we can’t wait to hear from you.

What’s that mean for you, my beer drinking friend? Well, for one thing, it’ll mean that coming down to the brewery will be a little like visiting several breweries at the same time. How many tenants? How much beer? What will they make? Good questions. We have no idea. All that we can be sure of is that it will be a permanent work in progress. What we do know is that at least some of the time, you’ll be able to sample the creations from both Lance and Dave. Oh, and maybe Collin too, if they let him into the production cycle every once in a while. And before you know it, we’ll have somebody new incubating away.

We introduced you to Lance a couple weeks ago, announced that Sawtooth is brewing some Bogus brews (more details on that later) and filled you in on our incubating plans. What’s next? Well, we’ve got one more update for you that we think is pretty damn cool – and totally Bogus. And it’s not what you’re thinking. So, stay tuned, and we’ll fill you in.

I discovered that giving away beer outside of my house is technically illegal since we are not yet licensed. I’m not sure how strictly that’s really enforced, but I’d sure hate to get in trouble with the state police right before asking them for a brewer’s license. It makes it a real challenge to start a business without being able to let anybody try your product. However, I’m heading up to Sawtooth Brewery tomorrow to do some consulting work. And it turns out they’re planning to brew a beer that is extremely similar to Hard Guy. So similar, in fact, that you may not be able to tell a difference. One might almost think that they used the exact same recipe! So, while it’ll technically be a Sawtooth brew, they should be to get a beer in your hands. We’ll let you know the when and the where. Stay tuned, because they’ll be brewing extremely limited quantities of Bogus brews.

What about the location? Still no lease agreements signed yet, but we’re working on two solid places. One reason this is taking so long, is that I assumed we needed to have a building locked down before finding investors. It took me a long time to figure out I had it backwards. Building owners won’t lease to you until you have most of your start-up money in the bank.  And I’m sorry I can’t say much more about either of those buildings until (and if) something is actually signed. But more on this later…

I am extremely excited to join the Bogus Brewing team as head brewer. I have been the assistant brewer at Sockeye Brewing for seven years and have learned the craft from some of the best in the business. I look forward to transferring those skills and experience to the creation of some of the best brews available in Boise.

Bogus Brewing excites me for many reasons. First, the community supported brewing concept entrenches the customer into the creative process of brewing. Coming up with beer styles, naming beers, taste testing new brews and having input on what we do at Bogus creates a vested interest beyond your average brewery. As the head brewer it will be my job to turn those creative ideas into beer. I think this will be both challenging and rewarding and will push my boundaries as a brewer. Bogus Brewing also aims to make its tasting room the center of attention for the brewery as opposed to distributing beer all over the state to get recognition. This creates a “home base” for fans of craft beer and investors alike and will prepare the world for when we do aim to take it over. I really like the concept of a community involved and supported tasting room.

Boise has a wonderful beer culture that I have been fortunate to be a part of for the last seven years. My role has now evolved from a supporting role to a lead player. I am grateful for my experience at Sockeye Brewing and believe that it has prepared me to develop and grow Bogus Brewing into a major player in the Idaho brew scene. The sky is the limit and I look forward to seeing how far we can go.

Cheers!

Lance Chavez/Head Brewer

Then temperature sensor was displaying 32.0°, indicating it probably wasn’t reading correctly and that there was a loose wire somewhere in the control box.

After some troubleshooting, we tracked down the issue: it was actually 32.0° outside. We discovered this by the time-tested method of, (much like smacking your TV or rebooting your computer) plugging the thing back in. By that time, it had warmed up slightly from freezing and displayed a different temperature. FrankenBrew, I love you. But I’m not going to be too upset when I replace you.

I fired up my propane burners/jet engines and finally started the brew day. Today on deck we had a Down-Down pale ale and a new variation of Hip Check IPA.

The brewing area at the Bogus pilot facilities is in the front of the, um, house. There are always people honking or waving as they drive by, giving us a thumbs up. Sometimes, drivers slow waaaay down, with a look that says, “what in the hell is that?” I often wonder what those people assume is going on in my driveway. Many people stop to chat, saying they’d seen us out there a time or two and just wanted to say hello. Today, a salesman even stopped by and I was left wondering how I ended up with 8 lbs. of beef at the end of a brew day.

52 lbs. of grain, 2 lbs. of hops, one entire tank of propane and several pints of previously brewed beers later we had two very happy beers bubbling away in their temperature controlled fermentation chamber. We’ll think hoppy thoughts for the next two weeks and then it will be kegging time.

In other news, talks are going pretty well on the three locations we’re looking at. And any one of them would be a great spot. There are a couple other exciting things that we’re working on as well, though I can’t say too much for a few months. Hang tight!

Until next time,

Collin

Since that last post, two possibilities have come up that would be solid locations for having the whole operation in one place. One in the downtown area and one in Garden City along the greenbelt. There’s also one location on the Bench that is pretty well set up for a brewery (floor drains, lots of power, sloped concrete floors, high ceilings…). There is a church that may or may not be closer than state setback requirements, though. It all depends on what exactly you are measuring from. So we’ll see on that one. I think that puts me up to about thirty or forty buildings I’ve looked at… sheesh! I’ll let you know how things develop.

In other news, the souring program has expanded over at the Bogus pilot facilities/my garage. A rye saison with lactobacillus was my first and (surprisingly) came out fantastic. Up next, I’ve got a Belgian brown ale divided into three batches, and into each a different souring strain. I’ll let you know how they come out in a couple months.

You may remember I was all excited about a location back in October. That fell through when some folks bought the building. It also taught me a lesson in how callus some people are when it comes to business. Over the course of the epic real estate search, I’ve come to discover that my ideal building has nearly mutually exclusive requirements: industrial aspects (concrete floors, roll-up doors, high ceilings…) as well as retail requirements (good location, enough parking, correct zoning…). I did get a chuckle from the post of another brewery going through similar struggles.

So, in the spirit of renewal (and in the interest of getting the hell going), here’s a new thought: what if we operated a brewery and a tasting room that were in separate locations? The tasting room would be downtown Boise and the brewery could be anywhere. And what if we included a few more local artisans in the tasting room? Maybe another brewery or two, a winery… rotating food vendors? Like an incubator for the up and coming. And I know I’d love to pair some Bogus brews with locally made vittles.

But what do you think? Is this something you’d get behind? Or would you rather be imbibing at the site of the brewery itself, even if it’s not quite as pleasant of a bicycle ride? Send me an email or drop me a note on facebook. The idea is growing on me, but I’d love to get your feedback. Remember the old adage about real estate: location, location, beer.

Naturally, FrankenBrew has been getting a workout as well. Most exciting has been a foray into sours. I opened up a bottle of my first crack at funky assuming that I should probably open it up at arms’ length, dump it down the drain, figure out what went wrong and how to change it for next time. However, the smell didn’t make my eyes burn, so I braved a little sip. And then another and another. Hot damn, it was tasty! Needless to say, I’ve got another rye saison on the way with some lambicus bringing the funk. I’ve also been experimenting with a mole stout (needs some work), smoked red (fantastic) and about 4 different IPA variations.

I’m pretty excited by the growlers in from Hydro Flask (soon to be delivered to CSB members!) and new T-shirts (shout out to Deadwood Designs!). Check ‘em out here.

Finally, let me leave you with a few pictures of the Bogus year in review. Here’s to 2013 – may it bring you many things frosty and hoppy!

So, provided that the lease works out, what’s next? We can finally start doing the heavy lifting. One of the really critical pieces, is making a down payment on our brewing equipment. Because everybody and their dog is opening a brewery right now (a whopping 1,303 are currently in planning in the US), manufacturers are pretty backed up. Lead times right now are around six months.

We can also start the licensing process. There are about 15 different hoops to jump through, from the Feds on down to the City. But hey, at least we can start working on them, now that we (hopefully) have a lease. So hold your breath along with us and I’ll let you know as soon as there is some ink drying on a dotted line!

“Yeah, we sure do! We’ve also got Hip Check, our rye IPA on right now,” I replied back.

She turned around with a big grin, sipping from her sample glass. Another happy camper at the Barley Bros. beer festival in Meridian last weekend. The saison and Hip Check didn’t last long, though. Neither did the other kegs we brought with us. I had brewed up a storm in preparation for the show, but there is really no way you can keep up with 4,000 rabid craft beer fans when you’re brewing 10 gallons at a time. Even so, we were surprised when we blew our sixth and final keg at only 5:00 in the evening. As great as the enthusiasm for our beer was, it sure would have been nice to have had three times as much beer as we did. Yet again, the need for larger brewing equipment was plainly obvious.

We have some new shirts, and they were also a hit. If you’d like to pick one up, check them out here. CSB memberships are back on sale, too! These are limited – once the fermenter is spoken for, we won’t be able to sell them any more. Plus, much like Kickstarter, they help us get our start without quite as much bank interference!

Yeah, yeah, okay, but what about the brewery, you ask. We have been slaving away, though it often seems like two steps forward, one step back. Or sometimes the other way around. We are going through the Treasure Valley with a fine-toothed comb, searching for the perfect spot for the brewery. I think you’ll like some of the locations that we’re looking at. As soon as we’ve got a spot locked down we can begin the heavy lifting: licensing, equipment procurement, building improvements and all the rest. Until then, we’ll be brewing as much as possible and giving away plenty of samples. Projected opening? My best estimate right now is March. I know it. That seems like forever.

But hey, that means that the beer is free until then! If you’d like to know when our next sampling is, let us know and we’ll add you to our email list!

Until next time, skål

Last Friday, a couple of us got together to pair four Bogus brews with four courses of food. To mix it up a little, we held each course at a different house and went from house to house on Boise’s own Cycle Pub. We started things off with a roggenbier, paired with cheese and crackers. The tangy spiciness from the blue cheese balanced nicely with the spiciness from the heavy rye grain bill in the beer.

Mike from the Cycle Pub showed up shortly afterward and we loaded up onto the bicycle. Well, quadcycle, to be completely accurate. Up next, a raspberry saison, paired to a green salad with a raspberry vinaigrette dressing. The route took us slightly uphill, but the bike does weigh 1,400 lbs. We cranked our way slowly up Pueblo, accompanied by the shouts and waves of the people we passed on the way.

Naturally after a few beverages, the urge to cruise through Hyde Park on the way to the next course was irresistible. Mike bumped the tunes again and we noisily pedaled through as everybody in the restaurants hollered back at us. I had this vision of very slowly running out of the tunnel onto the football field…

On to the main course. Ginger saison paired with sushi. That’s one pairing that’s a no-brainer! And my personal favorite way back from when I used to live in Japan, we had a few unagi rolls.

Finally, we wobbled back to where it all began for the last course: the Double Hip Check and blackberry cheesecake. I don’t know about everybody else, but I had a hell of a good time. Clearly, we’re going to need to do that again.