Holy cow, give thanks to all things good and bright, it seems like spring has finally sprung!  I mean I think we were all tired of the prolonged “meh” season that Nashville experienced this year.  And if you’re like me, in the spring you get really excited to be a part of the greenness, so you plant yourself a little herb garden, and then watch your homegrown mojito dreams inexplicably die while all of your friends laugh about how their mint plants have become monsters.

But this year.  This year will be different (I’m a lifelong Red Sox fan, I’ve gotten really good at convincing myself of that. By the way, best record in the MLB right now. No big deal.).  This year I was able to start two really special gardening projects that I am intent on making work! 

First, and you may have seen our obsessive Instagram (follow us at @jackalopebrew!) documentation of this, we have begun a little hop garden! Our friends at the Land Trust for Tennessee have a beautiful 65-acre property called Glen Leven literally three miles down 8^th Avenue from the brewery, and they have generously let us use a little piece of land for our experiment.  So Sally and I spent a day tilling our plot and a second one building the canopies and planting the rhizomes.

We planted total of 36 cascade rhizomes about three weeks ago and those suckers have been going bananas!  It will take three growing seasons before they reach their maximum yield, but hopefully this is the start of a fresh-hopped beer program at the brewery.

Second, if you’re like me and find yourself wondering what to do with the mountains of wooden pallets that are constantly taking over your workspace, I have at least one answer.  Make yourself pallet garden!  I’ve yet to really understand what a “Pinterest” is, but if you go there you can see lots of really cool examples.  I decided to go with an herb garden composed of mint, basil, thyme, rosemary, chives, and cilantro.

I am happy to say that a month in, the garden is thriving! For the first time in my life, I am the grower of a mint-monster plant, not just a wilted pot of soil and stems. 

I’m pretty sure the secret ingredient was the Thunder Ann that I was drinking while I planted it.

To beer and green thumbs,

 

Bailey

Dear Friends and Family,

 

Do you enjoy the thrilling action of the Nashville Predators, but wish the games were slower, talent was weaker, and alcohol was less plentiful? Then boy do I have the event for you!

Three years ago my team, the Jackalope Dark Knights of Nashville, lost our first game ever 13-0. We had two shots on goal that game, and one win all season (a forfeit). It’s amazing to think how much worse our competition has gotten since then, because tonight we are playing for the league championship! The game promises to be even more electric than the Superbowl! (in the sense that we expect Centennial Sportsplex to not lose power during the game.)

We would love for you to attend and cheer us on to victory (or defeat).  Given the importance of the big game, we are expecting to crush our former attendance record of eight adults and a small child, so act now … or right before game-time (it really doesn’t matter.  There are no tickets, you just show up).

You will love watching this free, Lower C Adult Hockey Championship game if you:

- own the “Mighty Ducks” trilogy on VHS;

- enjoy sports but lament modern commercialism, preferring instead to watch unpaid players joust “for the love of the game” ;

- have always wanted to scream “Steve… YOU SUCK!” but felt the venue was inappropriate;

- recently purchased that nice winter coat on clearance and now have nowhere to wear it;

- want to see grown men become inappropriately emotional after being successful (or failing) at a minor feat;

- have ever wanted to think to yourself “oh, that’s all there is to it.  I could do that.  I don’t see what the big deal is.”;

We hope to see you tonight (Monday, 4/22), at 8:40pm, at Centennial Sportsplex (Looking for the rink?  Either follow the roar of the crowd, or come in the front door, and turn left.  The rink you see is Rink “A”.  Walk into that rink and about 30 feet down on the left is the hallway for Rink B, which is where the game is.)

Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose,

Steve 

There’s not much that we could say that hasn’t already been said about Monday’s tragedy in Boston.  As New Englanders who all have lived there at some point in our lives, we are obviously heartbroken and outraged over the cowardly and senseless act of violence that took place.  At the same time, we are proud of our dear city and how its people have risen up to help one another heal, proving once again that we won’t be broken.  We love Boston.  We love the people who live there, we love the Red Sox (big win yesterday, woooot!), Harvard Square, the Beacon Hill Pub (although we’re now too old to step inside), Anna’s Taqueria, the Common, eating Italian food in the North End, the red line, the beautiful water front (and That Dirty Water), Route 1 (Restaurants shaped like boats?  Heck yes.  High five if you know what I’m talking about.), the Big Dig (OK, maybe like the rest of Boston, we love to hate the Big Dig) and the TV show Cheers – So Cheers wasn’t filmed there, but it was based there so it counts.   

We wanted to do something to show our support, and decided that during our Second Birthday Party (coming up on the 27th), we are going to donate a portion of the proceeds from each beer sold to the newly established One Fund, which was set up to help those affected by the bombings.   The party happens to fall on Marathon Day in Nashville, and prior to our party, we’ll be along the marathon route cheering our hearts out.  We encourage you to do the same, or if you’re so inclined, run (!), and then come and celebrate with us.  You’ll recognize us as the ones at the party who lose our minds when the  Black Diamond Experience starts playing Sweet Caroline.

To beer and Beantown,

Jackalope

 

Just kidding.

To beer and jokes,

Jackalope

So yes, after a couple months of negotiation, we can finally break the silence and tell you the rumors are true.  Jackalope has been sold to Anheuser-Busch InBev.  It was a really tough decision but in the end was too good of an offer to turn down (you try saying “no” to a lifetime of free admission to Busch Gardens).  We will all still be involved in the business, though are looking forward to taking on new pursuits.  Steve will be opening Nashville’s first Nomar Garciaparra Museum (scheduled to open spring, 2014). Robyn is going to be directing the new off-off-off broadway stage production of “Mean Girls.”  And me? I’m going to further explore my interest in the noble craft of airbrush, spending the next six months in Gatlinburg for an artist in residency program.

We can’t even say how much we’ve appreciated your support over the past two years.  We hope you enjoy Thunder Ann Light as much as you loved the original.

To beer and making it rain,

Bailey

What are you doing the week of March 18^th to the 24^th?  Nothing?  Cool, because we’ve got a ton of stuff going on for Nashville Craft Beer Week so you can fill up your social calendar.

Monday March 18^th –

Pour House:  Like beer?  Like bourbon?  Us too!   We also like the Pour House, the new beer, bourbon and burger place practically right across the street from Jackalope.  To kick off Craft Beer Week, we’re heading up there and bringing with us some special beers aged in a bourbon barrel.  We’ll be there starting around 7pm, come and celebrate the end of a Monday and the start of a really fun week.

Tuesday March 19^th –

Rolf and Daughters:  I wish I was one of those people who knew what foods pair perfectly with which beer, but I’m not.  You know who are those people?  Bailey, along with Philip Krajeck and his delightful staff from Rolf and Daughters.  They’ve been working to come up with beer and food pairings, and not to give too much away, but you’re going to get some really special stuff.  Bailey and Steve have been working on some surprises just for this dinner.  There are two seatings, one at 5:45pm and one at 8:30pm.  Book your tickets right here: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/339372

Wednesday March 20^st –

Village Pub: Ever wonder what exactly goes on in the minds of Bailey and Ste?  Well now’s your chance to find out when they hang out at Village Pub for a Meet the Brewer night! Buy Bailey a beer and try to get her to tell all her stories she’s saving for when she writes a book.   They’ll be there from 6:30ish to 9pm.

Red Door Midtown: While Bailey and Steve are waxing poetic about yeast and hops supplies, Sally and I will be giving out samples and pint glasses at the newly expanded Red Door Midtown.  There will be drink deals on Jackalope starting at 5pm!

Thursday March 21^nd –

Five Points Pizza:  Five Points Pizza is hosting a Jackalope Wolpertinger Day (fact: a Wolpertinger is a flying jackalope.  Thus flights of Jackalope beer shall be called Wolpertingers) so you can try all of Jackalope’s offering.  Did we mention that that will be the first place you can try Lovebird, our Strawberry Raspberry Hefeweizen?  They’ll be doing this all day, so you don’t have to wait until Happy Hour, beers at lunch make the day go much better.

Santa’s Pub:  Witness a dream come true when Jackalope gets poured as the only draft beer in Santa’s Pub.  We’ll be there starting at 8pm, Bailey will be dominating the karaoke machine starting at 8:02.  Come drink some Jackalope and sing.  Impress us with your karaoke skills and you may just win some special airbrushed swag.

Friday March 22^nd:

Lovebird Launch Party: The official launch of Lovebird in the taproom.  We’ll be pouring it starting at 4pm so come on by to taste the beer we’re using to usher in Spring.  Come on warm weather!  Live music will start at 8pm and we’ll be open until 10pm.

Saturday March 23^rd:

East Nashville Beer Festival!

Didn’t get tickets?  The tap room will be open from 2pm-8pm!

Sunday March 24^th:

Drunch at the Taproom: We’ll be open from 12-4pm, Zollikoffee will be open, the DoughWorks Truck will be here.  All we ask is you speak quietly to the bartender since they may be feeling a bit delicate after all of the week’s events. 

For more information about all of the events going on that week, head right over here: http://rhizomeproductions.com/craft-events/nashville-craft-beer-week-march-18-24-2013/

FACT: You all really love the Dire Wolf IPA.  How do we know?  We blew through five kegs of it this weekend. As a reference, we normally go through about two kegs of each brew in a weekend. It’s not that we’re surprised you like it, it already had a bit of a cult following from when we brewed it on the small batch system.   But now it’s looking like rather than having it last for a month as we’d planned, it’s going to be gone after two weeks.  Haha, oops! We have a plan, don’t worry!  And I swear the plan isn’t just to hope for a Hanukkah-esque beer miracle.  We’re going to be brewing up another batch of the Dire Wolf in the next week or so, and in the meantime, we have some barrel-aged Rompo that we’ve been saving for just such an occasion.

We’ve had a lot of you (distributors included) ask why we don’t brew the Dire Wolf all the time, and believe me, we’d love to do that.  This is one of those times when you remember that brewing is an agriculturally dependent industry.  We actually have to contract for the hops we want years in advance, since there are only so many hop farmers out there, and they are all trying to figure out how much to grow and of what varieties. But since a hop plant takes about three years to reach full production levels, it’s a constant game of guessing and catch up. This is something I knew nothing about when starting a brewery, and still don’t know a ton since Bailey handles it, but the basic idea is we’re contracted for a certain amount of hops per year.  When you’re first starting out, a lot of the popular hops (such as those used in the Dire Wolf) are already contracted for the immediate future, so you have to wait a few years until you can get them.  As of right now, you can expect the Dire Wolf IPA to be a full time beer in 2015.  I KNOW, that’s so far away.  We’re working on it, pulling some strings and whatnot to see if we can move that date up.   We just wanted to let you all know this, so you don’t think we get some kind of sick pleasure in holding out on you.  We have even stopped allowing ourselves to drink it so that it will last longer for y’all.  That’s just how much we care about you.

In the meantime, it’s almost spring, so you can look forward to the return some of your other favorites soon!  We are brewing Lovebird next week, so it will be done just in time for the East Nashville Beer Festival and Casper (the Gose) will be the next one in line. Oh heck yes, it’s warm weather beer brewing time.

To beer and Humulus lupulus,

Robyn

Sunday will mark a new chapter in the life of our taproom.  Zollikoffee is opening for business!  Our dear friend and coffee-wizard Zollie Wilson has been pouring his heart and soul into his little shop, and let me tell you, it shows (like his facebook page for updates and info!). Zollikoffee’s soft opening will kick off precisely at 8:00 am on Sunday, with the official grand opening a few weeks later.  We are crazy excited to have him here with us.

We get a lot of questions about the concept behind this collaboration, so I figured now would be a good time to explain how it came together in our little brains.  On the most basic, amoeba-style, level, we really like the idea of having expertly brewed coffee available to us when we come to work every morning. Duh.  On a slightly more evolved, like maybe algal, level, we love our taproom, and we know that our hours are quite limited, and like the idea of our beautiful taproom being used more. 

What excites us more than anything though is the continued revitalization of our space.  I feel like it’s kind of like watching a forest grow.  When we first moved in, this building had been empty for some time, and Eighth Avenue was…gritty.  Don’t get me wrong, part of the reason we loved it was it’s grit (the other part was our proximity to Arnold’s).  One of our main topics of conversation here is The Social Club.  In the past few years we’ve transformed our own little piece of concrete and watched the rest of the corridor come to life as well.  I’m a firm believer in urban revitalization and optimal utilization of space.  As Nashville becomes more and more popular, that is going to be a key aspect of the city’s growth.  And we’re psyched to be doing our little part.  When it comes down to it, we want to do as much as we possibly can within our 6,700 square feet playground. 

Even further, I hope Zollie doesn’t mind me saying that one of the coolest things about bringing our businesses together is his plan to begin roasting his own coffee in the building in the future.  Not to get you in too much of a tizzy, but he also might have said something about chocolate.  Or maybe I made that up, I don’t know.  But yes, I foresee us one day as a one stop-shop for house-made beer, coffee, and chocolate.  Basically, the best things in life.  If anybody who makes cheese or shoes wants to get in touch, you know where to find us.

To the best things in life,

Bailey

Happy January everyone!  You know what happens in January?  Robbie Burns Day!  That’s right, we’re getting ready for our second annual Robbie Burns EXTRAVAGANA!  We’ll be holding the event on Saturday Jannuary 19^th from 2pm-8pm.  As those of you who participated may remember, we basically do a bastardized version of highland games, we think Robbie Burns would approve. 

We’re adding a game this year, bringing it up to five events:

Drawing Contest – We’ll provide the picture and the crayons, you make an awesome picture, easy peasy.

Keg Wall Sit – A feat of strength!  Performing a proper wall sit while holding an empty slim quarter straight out in front of you.

Putting Contest – Golf was born in Scotland, we play homage to that with a putting contest.

Poetry Reading  — We will provide Robbie Burns poems, but you can feel free to memorize your own, but it HAS to be a Robbie Burns poem.

Dance Contest —   We love us a dance contest, but this is a little different, you have to dance the Highland Fling, don’t know what that is, here’s a video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7vSWqgd6kw

Teams must have between three and five members, we’re also limiting the number of the teams to NINE, so if you’re interested email hello@jackalopebrew.com.  It’s first come first serve, so let us know ASAP.  Also, you’ll be assigned a Scottish Clan, so let us know if the email if you have a preference. 

Let’s take a trip down memory lane for a minute, shall we?  It was this time last year that we were nervously getting ready to ship out our very first kegs ever into the world beyond our 8th Avenue doors. We had to drive to St. Louis to pick up taphandles THE DAY BEFORE WE LAUNCHED when our handle maker (who shall remain nameless but remains to this day #1 on my shit list…ok fine, his name rhymes with Schmavid Schmepper and he still owes us $800, several grey hairs, and about five months at the end of our lives) went AWOL, and a friend-of-a-friend designed the new ones for us  in a pinch (his name is Bill Newberry and he remains #1 on my awesome list). When Bounty Bev picked up those kegs I felt like a parent sending their kid to the first day of kindergarten. In the past year we have gone from having taps in 8 bars to now being on draft in about 65 locations.  

We pumped out 1,131 barrels of beer in 2012 (131 more than we’d planned, woo!) and next week will be receiving some big ole 60 bbl shiny tanks, since our 15 bbl ones, once referred to as “the big system,” have quickly become overwhelmed.  

So here we are, a year later, and January 9th is our official First Distriversary (distribution anniversary, duh.). Last year we launched with a pub crawl.  And that was cool. But what’s cooler than one pub crawl?  Four pub crawls!  We’re going to be celebrating the milestone with a pub crawl in a different part of town every Monday in January!  So here’s the plan:

1. Monday, January 7th. East Nasty: The Village Pub, Five Points Pizza, Beyond the Edge, Drifters, Red Door East, The Five Spot.
2. Monday, January 14th. Midtown: Kay Bob’s Grill & Ale, Hattie B’s Hot Chicken, Broadway Brewhouse, Red Door, Flying Saucer.
3. Monday, January 21st. 12 South: Craft Brewed, M.L. Rose (Franklin Pike), Edley’s Bar-B-Que, 12 South Taproom.
4. Monday, January 28th. West Side: Jed’s Sports Bar & Grille, M.L. Rose (Charlotte Ave.), The Stone Fox.

Trust me, we wanted to hit even more places, but then we remembered we actually need to be somewhat functional to brew the beer. And we want YOU to come celebrate with us!  We’ll keep you updated what times we’ll be where, and would love to hang out with your smiling faces! Special prize to those oh so strong-willed and strong-livered of you who make each crawl (or at least part of it).  And I don’t just mean hugs, though you probably will get those too.

To one whole year of beer in bars!!

Bailey