Thursday, December 29, 2011

End of the Year

Quick update here.  We have officially hit the pavement selling and hit the tanks brewing (technically we are fermenting, which is different than the brewing process, but I think brewing sounds better).  We have a bunch of accounts who have agreed to take us on, including a few locally here in Waterville, such as Mainely Brews, The Point After, and tentatively 18 Below Raw Bar and You Know Who's Pub.  In Portland we will be in Nosh and Brian Boru's with certainty, and a bunch of other tentative yes's, and up at Sugarloaf we will be in The Bag, and possibly The Rack.  We'll keep you posted on all the locations when we get them, most likely somewhere on our website.

In cider news, we are putting the finishing touches on our first full scale batch.  It is a lot longer process than I had anticipated.  I planned on throwing the cider in the tanks, grabbing dinner, and catching a 730 movie.  Six hours later we were eating leftover food from Sue in the mill trying to get everything right.  The hardest part about moving the cider from tank to tank is how much cleaning is involved.  Every time a tank is cleared we have to clean it with cleaning solution followed by sanitizing solution.  Being new at it, we are really slow and tentative because we don't want to make a $5000 mistake, which would be really easy to do.

Quick side story about cleaning solution.  Never ever ever touch highly concentrated cleaning solution....We needed to get a gallon out of a full barrel and thought we should siphon it.  Really dumb idea.  I stuck around a second too long and it touched my lips and tongue.  It felt like something was burning through my mouth.  I rinsed it out for a while and I'm alive, but lesson learned.  Don't siphon chemicals with your mouth.

Pretty soon we'll be doing some launch parties and other events at various restaurants/bars.  We'll let everyone know when and where if you want to come by and drink some cider. 

See you next year.  Have a fun new years eve, don't drive, and keep tabs on your pants at all times.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Christmas "break"

So we're all about to head out for what we all keep calling Christmas break, like we're in school or something.  Unfortunately this is real life now, and we are only taking 1 day off.  Its been an exhausting couple of days, and now that we're getting really close to launching, it was time to send out some press releases.  We got a healthy amount of responses which was pretty cool. 

First, I got a call from Ray Richardson, who does a talk show on WLOB 1310.  We are going to be a guest on his show next week, and we were all really excited about getting some media coverage.  I was feeling nervous about having to go on live radio in less than a week.  Not long after that, I got some emails from Fox 23 in Portland, and they wanted us on the show the next morning.  I had said yes to that, and about 1 minute later I got another call from TV 5 in Bangor, which I believe is the CBS affiliate, about them coming to the mill to shoot some video for a segment.  A whole stream of publication offers also were coming in, and it was pretty hectic.

After I had some time to think, I realized that we were going to be on live TV in less than 24 hours.  None of us have been on TV before, let alone live TV.  I got less than 3 hours of sleep last night because I was so nervous.  My mind was going a mile a minute with all the possibilities of what could go right and wrong.  We woke up wicked early and headed to Portland for the Fox gig.  We were sitting in the waiting area for the studio watching the TV, and kept seeing promos for our segment, which was cool, but my heart was pounding the whole time.  We finally got taken into the production studio which was a really interesting place.  Watching the news guys do their thing from behind the cameras was cool, and it really makes you appreciate how hard of a job they have.  We got wired up and sat in the chairs.  There were cameras, lights, teleprompters, and monitors that were hard to avoid looking at, and at that point everything became kind of a blur.  The only thing I really remember was being vividly aware of every movement I made.  I could also feel my heart pounding.  After a Will Ferrell-like blackout (http://movieclips.com/2gfPm-old-school-movie-thats-the-way-you-debate/), it was a relief to be done, and funny to think about how much time and worry went into less than 5 minutes of TV (I put the link on facebook.com/downeastcider). We watched it, and all in all we were pleased.  We definitely didn't hit a home run, but for a first time attempt without any huge mistakes, we were happy with the outcome. 

After driving back to Waterville we headed to the mill for the TV 5 video session.  This was much easier because it wasn't live.  It should air sometime next week, we'll post it when it comes out.  It was still a little awkward in front of the cameras, but we were a little more at ease knowing if we messed up we could just start over. 

Now we're taking care of some odds and ends before heading to our respected necks of the woods for Christmas (which, for the first time, I will be taking part in at the Hempton's, I'm so sorry Moses).  Next week will be really busy, I'll try to post when we're going to be on TV/radio/magazine/newspaper so anyone who is interested can check us out, or at least amuse yourself with our amateur media abilities.

Enjoy your Holidays and travel safe.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Please help solve this internal dispute

Here is the situation:  After a discussion with Tyler last night, I (Ross) was saying that it must be very uncomfortable for girls wearing skinny jeans because those things have such poor maneuverability.  If there was cause to begin some sort of spontaneous athletic activity, they would have no chance.  Example - walking around, find ball, makeshift game of football erupts.  If you're wearing skinny pants, there's no chance you're gonna be competitive.  This got me thinking about yoga pants.  Totally different story.  Those puppies look like a dream.  You could do anything in those pants.  Relax, perform sport, yoga...the list of available actives is pretty much endless.

So obviously I have started wearing Hot Chillys around the apartment.  I feel like a cat.  Ben and Tyler, especially Ben, are jealous of my new-found athleticism, and are taking jabs at not only my attire, but the fact that I have been lighting candles in my room at night (I wont get into it, but I'm equally as passionate.  Actually I'll get into it a little.  Candles smell amazing, I smell mediocre, I don't see what's wrong with that).

The question I have here is who is right?  I am literally back flipping and somersaulting all around the apartment with ridiculous ease, suffering the drawbacks of not adhering to typical social norms of what men are supposed to wear as pants.  Ben and Tyler are stuck in the stagnant melancholy known as denim because they're afraid to step outside the box drawn by the folks at Gap and Levi's.

Please weigh in on facebook, I could use some support.  Or maybe what I'm doing is out of line, I don't know.

PS - Our first batch of cider destined for retail is in the tank as of yesterday.  This isn't really secondary news to the pants situation, but here we are in the post script...

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

procrastinating

I am writing this to get away from working for a minute.  We have spent pretty much every moment today starting around 9 am staring at computer screens.  That's pushing 14 hours of staring at this screen.  We have an application for a grant due tomorrow, and in keeping with traditional college form, we put it off to the last day.  The grant is up to $25,000 for an innovative technology in Maine.  I would share our innovation, but then we'd have to kill you, and we're generally peaceful...The bright side is that as opposed to school, we'd be getting paid 25 grand to work instead of paying 25 grand to work.  Imagine that.

Once this is behind us, we can go back to cider work.  The latest update is that we realized that custom tap handles take up to 3 months to make.  We needed them yesterday, which puts a hair over three months behind schedule.  Our only option right now is to buy some temporary handles that are pretty basic, leaving us a little frustrated.  If you have any amazing ideas, let us know on our facebook page.  In general we'd like to hear any feedback you have on any aspect of our company.  I know we're not really out there yet, but when we are, the best thing we can hear is feedback from you.  Questions, comments, concerns; anything is game.  If you want to tell me how my beard look though, my mom already told me; its ugly.  I know.

As a final note, we flexed our domestic muscles tonight made some brownies after dinner. Ghirardelli super fudge or something. delicious...Thanks Sue


Thursday, December 1, 2011

Success where it counts, failure where it doesn't

Hey all.  Today was a monumental day of sorts.  We officially signed our first contract (above) with one of our Maine distributors (Nappi Distributors).  For those of you that don't know, the way sale of alcohol works is we sell to the distributor, who then delivers our product to on-premise (bars/restaurants) and off-premise (liquor stores/convenience stores) accounts to sell it.  They are the required, and very necessary, middleman in our business.  Nappi distributes in and around the Portland area, and tomorrow we will sign with Pine State Trading Company, who covers the rest of the state.  They are great people and we look forward to working with them.

We are very close to arriving at a final recipe for our first draft cider, and are within days of beginning our first large-scale batch.  We have come to an agreement on our label design, and should have a website up shortly.  If everything goes well, we will see our first tap line before the month is over.  We will be hosting promotional nights in various bars throughout Maine, and everyone we know is encouraged to come.  Chances are you're gonna get some free cider, free swag, and have a damn good time while you're at it.  When we are closer to these events, we will let everyone know via our facebook page (facebook.com/downeastcider), twitter (@downeastcider), and website (downeastcider.com).

On a more serious note, the crew, plus Mike, headed down to Mainely Brews (great food/drinks/atmosphere if you're ever in Waterville, Maine) for our weekly trivia night and posted our most embarrassing score yet, answering 10 out of 30 questions correct.  Apparently our lack of having a TV is catching up with us, as we definitely had the lowest score in the bar.  To add insult to injury, we couldn't finish our 10 "damn hot" wings, which resulted in complaining, whimpering, intense sweating, and quite possibly, a few tears (Ben said it was eye sweat...).

Regardless of these minor yet shameful setbacks, we continue to move forward, and we hope to be the largest producer of hard cider in Maine by the time the snow melts.  It is only with your help that we will make this dream a reality.  Come visit us sometime and have a cider on the house, you won't be disappointed.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Renovations and tanks



In our production space we need a cold room for a few reason--to carbonated our beverage, crash  cool yeast, hold product before the distributor picks it up, and more generally, store yeast, nutrient, etc.  Since walk-in freezers are expensive, we decided to take on the endeavor ourselves (bootstrapping). The ingredients for this cold room include leftover hardwood print linoleum, tile print linoleum, Blue Board insulation, Tuff-R insulation board, salvaged board from the Manter’s barn, half of the door to the old cold storage room in the Manter’s barn, and a lot of advice from a local contractor, Ray Breton. We ended up getting it all put together and now all we need is a door and an A/C unit… small stuff.
Our second project was getting our tanks from one room to the other. We did this with bruit strength and ignorance--we don’t have a lot of bruit strength between the three of us, but we make up for it in ignorance. Anyways, we managed to get the tanks down onto two dollies, wheel them into the next room, and stand them up again without any issues. All and all we had a nice little weekend of projects.

Happy Thanksgiving 

Friday, November 18, 2011

Moving and Grooving

Down East Cider House is not, as the name would suggest, located in a house. We actually occupy an old mill. Mills, as you may know, are quite large and we are not the only business that occupies the mill. We share the place with a righteous organic coffee roaster (http://www.mattscoffee.com/) and a moving company, Pro Moving Service. From time to time we call upon our fellow tenants for a hand. In fact, we've used nearly every single tool Peter (Pro Moving Service Founder) has in the entire building including, but not limited to, pallet jacks, hammers, circle saws, screw drivers, ladders, etc... Today three movers helped us clean out some heavy objects from our space, incredibly helpful. We are looking forward to the day we can enjoy a glass of cider on a Friday afternoon with them.
On another note, the triumvirate at the top and bottom of Down East Cider House continues to move towards our first production cycle in mid-December, which requires a great deal of attention to details. As John Wooden says, "It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen." For example, we play quarterback and wide receiver vs corner back football on a daily basis. At first, receivers struggled to get a great deal of separation from whoever was corner back. After a few weeks of playing we've begun to run more detailed routes, allowing for easier passes from the quarterback to the receiver. Little things, like a fake here, a fake there make all the difference.
We are still in process of establishing a social media presence, if you'd like, please follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook and keep reading our blog.


Since it's Friday we are going to honor our, Employee of the Week:

Ode To Elusive Subway Sandwich Artist

You greeted me as I came in
With a lovely grin
Your sandwich making skills rival my own
Except your sandwich isn't homegrown
You make the best Subway works of edible art
When you make my sandwich, it never falls apart
Keep doing your thing
Because you keep Subway in full swing

Thursday, November 17, 2011

First Blog Ever

What's up everyone.  The crew at Downeast Cider House will now be writing about our trials and tribulations as we work our way toward quenching the American populace's unknowing yet undying thirst for a tall, cool, crisp apple cider.  As a precursory statement, please note that despite what you might read here, we are actually doing real work.  We will probably be inclined to write more about promotional events or our daily football sessions, but that is because we're not sure you want to hear about Tyler trying to balance our checkbook on Quickbooks, or me reading a book on marketing and realizing that I'm a dinosaur because I don't know how to blog or tweet.

So please follow our blog,  follow us on twitter @downeastcider, and like us on facebook.com/downeastcider.  Also, feel free to make fun of Ben for having a blog.

PS - speaking of not knowing tweeting or blogging, it is shocking to find out the amount of stuff you don't learn at an unnamed liberal arts college.  When I type 'how to' into google, I am disturbed to see the wide range of things I don't know how to do.  Google auto fill highlight of the week: "How to mop a floor"