Hello All,
We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday filled with family, friends, and good beer!

We are thrilled to announce that all the construction and installation of equipment is completely finished.  The building inspectors and the state liquor commission were both in yesterday and it looks like the Health Department will be here this coming Wednesday.  All that is left to do is wait for the official all clear!

Barring truly unusual circumstances, it looks like we will be open in time for Superbowl Sunday, February 3rd.

Here are some pictures of what we've been up to the last month:

The Brewhouse.  The black barrel on the far right is a holding tank for our reverse osmosis system.  The water we use to make our beer is as pure as we can possibly make it, ensuring consistant results for you guys.  The kettle on the right is called the Hot Liquor Tank (HLT).  That is where we heat the water for the brewing process.  The middle tank is the mash tun.  That is where we put the milled grain and then soak it in the hot water to create wort (fancy brewer's term for sugar water).  The final tank on the left is the boil kettle.  That is where we boil the wort and add hops for flavor.  From the boil kettle, the wort goes in the fermenters where yeast is added and the wort becomes beer!

Uncrating the beauties!

Ceilings, large glass windows, walls--thankfully these guys knew what they were doing.  Not sure how I thought I was going to place these on my own. 

Last step is adding the glycol piping to the tanks.  This allows us to control fermentation temperatures which is quite important for making great tasting beer.

Fermenter Row.  We have four 5 Barrel Fermenters just waiting to be filled with Black & Gray Brewing Co. beer!

Drew from Leader's Beverage installed 12 taps for us.  It took a little work, but the taps run right through the cooler wall to the bar so no chance for the beer to get warm.  Leader's Beverage will also being cleaning our lines on a regular basis to make sure our beers do not pick up any off-flavors

Hanging Teresa's mirror over the tappers.  The picture doesn't do it justice, it looks awesome!

Okay, so December isn't the best time for rolling up the garage door, but we had to try it out.  Looking forward to spring when we can have her open all the time and everyone can enjoy the weather.

Anyone who knows Chris, knows he can't draw a stick figure or tell you what color we should paint a wall , but when he saw a tatted up Audrey Hepburn and Johnny Cash, he knew right where they belonged.

Black & Gray Brewing Co. at night.

We wanted to take a moment and truly thank all of you who have followed us on this journey.  We can't wait to meet you all and serve you up some top-notch craft beer right in downtown East Dundee.  Remember to pencil in February 3rd as our opening day and watch for the official announcement.

January is going to be a very busy month for us.  Chris will be brewing a lot of beer and Teresa has hired a great staff who will be training to provide you guys outstanding service.  Thanks again for all of your support!