We don't care about your blog post, talkin bout your blog post...

After an extended absence, I've returned to your blog rolls and your hearts! Thousand pardon for the disappearance...wouldn't want to trigger any latent attachment issues you might have due to parental travel whilst you were a kid, we've just been slammed over at HQ trying to get some new projects in order!

First and foremost, the Imperial Stout is near ready for bottling...assuredly it will be the greatest beer of all time.

Second, B.M. and I began our trip down the path of all-grain brewing. That's right, now no one can say we aren't true and perfect brewmasters! After about 6 hours, two scalding heat blisters, and one mistimed opening of the drainage valve that resulted in a real mess on the kitchen floor (and one of those heat blisters), we got through our first mashing run with fantastic results. About to move into the secondary fermenter is a delicious chocolate stout (as of yet unnamed) that's made with real bits of chocolate!

[Editor's note - my hilarious attempt to have a strikethrough comment on the word panther before chocolate, creating a delicious reference to Anchorman, was apparently unsupported by this blog format. It was gonna be spectacular. Apologies]

Other fantastic news involves the purchase of a food dehydrator so we can master the art of jerky making. That's right, EVBC is hittin the snack cart...and we're hitting it hard (additional aggression in said hitting due to high alcohol content of the imperial stout). G.T. Robyn has valiantly offered to create a series of fruit jerky and leathers to keep our non-meat enjoying friends happy, although I still don't think chicken counts as a meat so I refuse to bend to their wishes.

Yup, everythings been honkey dorey over here at the East Village Brewing Company, spare the Brewmasters' regular struggles with existential purpose and the omnipresent "what are we gonna do with our lives" conversation. For now, the goal is to just keep brewing, avoid further heat blisters, and hope it will all work out in the end. Besides, once we get the operation fully up and running, we can make beer and jerky without ever leaving HQ...and if you're gonna have a base of operations, there's no better place than the EVBC.