martha's blog

Sorry it's been a while! Sometimes we have a quiet spell and don't want to bore you, the next minute we're so busy we don't have a second to write anything down. Today has certainly been one of those days, but we wanted to update this blog!

Today we packaged and labelled our new/old historical Mild Ale. Just in time, because we're launching it this Saturday! Some got shipped today so you might find it starting next week, but bear with us because the labels came wound the wrong way so we're labelling it by hand and it takes an age. But it'll get done soon, thanks to all the fab folks (Jen and Tom, Harry and Bill, we mean you!) at Buzzard's Bay! Today we filled casks and stuck labels on bottles. We're getting there.

Jack D'Or Batch 11 is out now too: see if you can spot any differences.

We wanted to let you know some great new places to get a Pretty Things beer! First, our northerlymost location is Latitude 43 in Gloucester, which looks like a great place to hang at the bar and eat some oysters. Can't wait to get up there. Second, one of our favourite Cambridge spots, Cambridge Common now carries Jack D'Or all the time! Whoo hoo! Great food, Wonderful people, and awesome beers at good prices! And finally, there's a new beer bar in town: American Craft in Brookline, serving St Botolph's and tofu steak with Baby Tree-pickled plum vinaigrette! We can't wait to get down there either.

http://www.latfortythree.com/
http://www.eatgoodfooddrinkbetterbeer.com/americancraft/
http://www.cambridgecommonrestaurant.com/main.html

And for buying bottles, check out Joppa Fine Foods in Newburyport:
http://www.joppafinefoods.com/

Awesome. Well, we're off to finish our 1832 costumes for Saturday. Actually we're totally shagged so we're going to sleep.

Thanks everyone! Here's to a great weekend!

Dann and Martha

Our winter seasonal. We're not quite finished labeling, but there are kegs and some casks in NYC and a few Boston beer places. It was only a 50bbl batch, so it might not last too long, but we're really happy with it so grab a bottle and enjoy it while it's here.
Thanks!

Here's a great photo that Jim Barnes, our NYC Pretty Things rep and family member just sent me. This is Jack pouring at

Check it out: we're number 16 on their current draft line up!!

Dann and Jim are having way too much fun right now, launching Pretty Things with the great beer bar and beer store owners of Manhattan and Brooklyn. I mean seriously: way too much fun!!

Thanks to our Union reps for taking them round the last couple of days. It sounds like Jack D'Or is rocking Manhattan. Yeah! If you know someone there, please tell them to go find some Pretty Things!

We're super crazy busy right now. Mostly all fun stuff! Tomorrow is the Beer Advocate Belgian Beer Fest, which we are really looking forward to. This time last year we went along and looked wistfully at the brewers; we'd brewed our first batch of Jack, but it wasn't packaged. This year, we've got two beers going, so that's progress! We'll have Jack D'Or and Baby Tree. That's all we're making in Belgian styles right now, but watch this space!

We're also sending out our first order to Minnesota next week, which has left us with a slight flurry of activity at the brewery today. Labeling just never seems to get easier for us!! Thank heavens for the brilliant winery staff at Westport, and for our friend Jim Barnes who has heroically stepped into the breach as well. Here's a picture of the team helping us out!!

We bottled Baby Tree batch 2 and our new summer lager, American Darling this week. Baby Tree is a bit stronger, and Dann thinks it's better than Batch 1. I haven't tried it yet, so I'll tell you tonight!

American Darling is a crystal clear, filtered, hoppy lager, around 7% abv. I haven't tasted this post-filtration yet, but it was tasting like a great lager, with nice sulfur and great hops, during conditioning. Dann just sent me a picture of the finished beast, so here it is. He says it's got a big presence for such a light colored lager with a real nose full of Hallertau hops a malty palate. Sounds pretty good to me. Again, I'll tell you what I think later!

We have to label these two beers this Saturday, and they should be hitting the shelves next week. You might find them in a bar near you before that!

Cheers!

Wasn't it lovely? We had a total blast. We met lots of you, and you met lots of us. We had a cracking good laugh, loved being next to Stone, and we hope that any of you who came to us fresh from their Imperial Stout will come back and see us another time!

Of course, rain during a festival is the best. Unfortunately, the rain kind of hung out throughout our vacation in a tent in Maine, so we're feeling a bit damp.

We want to thank our amazing Pretty Things bar tenders: in case you weren't introduced, on Friday we had Sarah our intern and Matt Tremblay, a Boston Craft Beer Bartending Icon. They did a fabulous job, and I bet a lot of people learned a lot of stuff about our beers from them. On Saturday we were blessed with Tim Dudek, a herpesvirologist/bar back and all round superstar punkrock moshpit fun loving mad surfing bald man. Oh, and Dan Tompkins, whose palate, passion and freaking awesome T shirt we will not forget in a hurry. This guy can teach you about beer: so get yourself to Marty's in Newton and learn from him!!

Serious thanks to them. Apart from that, it was just Dann and his ever expanding moustache, and me.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by to tell us they liked our beers, our banners, our shirts, or anything else! Believe us, it's nice to hear it, and we promise not to let it go to our heads.

We even have another booking! We'll be at the:

and at Beervana, a new and really great-sounding fest on October 2nd in Providence. Come and see us if you can!

Couple of quick things to report today: First, if you're wondering where Dann's blog entries have gone, well, he's basically gone rogue. Rogue brewers are all over town this week! The Craft Brewer's Conference is in town and Dann's making the most of it and hanging out having fun.

He'll be back when he gets over it!

Anyway, we wanted to link to this blog that just came out: Food and Wine Magazine, no less. We're excited, it's a great little piece, so have a read here:

http://www.foodandwine.com/blogs/mouthing-off/2009/04/22/A-Fabulous-New-...

The writer had Jack D'Or at Hungry Mother's in Cambridge, which is a great restaurant if any of you fancy trying some fun local food. They've carried our beers virtually since day one: certainly since batch one! So we thank them for that.

Oh, and that's a new one: an egg with a mustache! I guess it beats lemon... Go Jack!

Last night we had our first ever Pretty Things beer dinner, hosted by VeeVee, Jamaica Plain.

It was a magical night for us: Seth, the head chef, brought together a team of fantastic chefs and produced an amazing evening of food. Danny, Brent and Kelly hosted and created a great, relaxing atmosphere. We ate spring grass-fed lamb from Vermont, local seafood, and really amazing cheeses. You can read more about the food, much more eloquently written

here

But we'd be lying if we denied that the highlight for us came from the beers. It's the first time that either of us has been able to have our new beer, Baby Tree, from a keg. Also, it was the first time we've been able to see our beers served sequentially, from great glassware, with wonderful food. It brought our whole project into focus for us, and I have to say we felt hugely proud of the beers that we've produced in 4 months. It was great to have them one after the other, and of course it fired us up for our next seasonal beer (I think Dann's going to brew it next week, so watch this space!).

The night felt like an arrival for us, and we were really excited to share it with old and new friends. We met the best people last night!

So: thanks once again to everyone who has been a part of our project up to now. Thanks for the help with promotion, music (DJ Bocktech), food (Dannyvee and his staff), website (Adam), labels (Wally) and all the rest!!