Welcome 2013!

What was supposed to be a few days of mountain biking and just hanging out with the family in the Las Vegas area finds me, sadly, flat out sick but thinking about the past and the future.  My wonderful wife says that maybe “the hectic year you have had is finally catching up to you.” We both know 2013, unlike the Mayan calendar, has a lot on it.

It’s almost been two years since anything has been posted on this blog. So here is some reflection:

We have brewed more than 36 beer styles in less than three years.  This past year we added a pretty large firkin/real ale program to our mix.  It’s cool, it’s unique, and we push to, someday, let Utah politicians allow Utahans to try an Epic full strength beer firkin, or any of our kegged beer for that matter, in our home market.  We purchased several hundred firkins and send them to 12 markets around the US.  A primer on Real Ales here: http://www.nerax.org/home/what-is-real-ale.html we also did some kick butt Zwickel Lager’s, we loved them and QC’ed a few casks at the brewery but it seems that the market isn’t into them yet.

Also in 2012 we expanded our cellar significantly, got our custom hop back installed, added about 20 local jobs, had the planning commission split on our local expansion plans, had an average of 24 beer styles in our coolers at the brewery for our great local customers, won more medals for our beers, started distribution in my hometown of Los Angeles, hired our first out of state sales representative, started exporting a little to Japan and Brazil, finally had the USPTO grant our Registered Trademark for Epic Brewing, and a bunch of other stuff.  Time to wrap this part up, reminds me of a road race once when a guy yelled at me when I kept looking back “stop looking back, the race is in front of us now!”  Solid advice!

So looking down the road for 2013:

·         Adding at least one more 80 barrel fermenter into our Salt Lake City brewery; Kevin thinks he can fit two in

·         Attempt to get our Salt Lake City expansion plans approved by the City

·         Start brewing in Denver by April; yes we have a space, look for a press release later this week

·         At least two new killer beers for 2013

·         Begin distribution in Washington State and Nevada, and the balance of Colorado!

·         A possible Gastro Style Pub somewhere in Utah

Here’s a cheer to the New Year, may we all succeed in our goals and live the dreams we make for family, friends and ourselves!  And thanks for your continued support of our small, family owned craft beer business.