It’s strange for me to stop and think that I literally brewed the Lambic on April 1st of 2010.  Back then we were still musing about the idea of a brewery.  About 4 months after I brewed the Lambic, we started making a concerted effort to open the brewery.  About a year after I brewed the Lambic, we started working toward the Kickstarter campaign.  And here we are, almost 3 weeks into the Kickstarter campaign… I guess good things do come to those who wait.

Well as I mentioned above, we are closing in on our third full week of our kickstarter campaign, and it’s going well.  We’ve raised $11,380.  Not too shabby, but slightly behind our goal of $615 per day.  Granted that the first and last couple weeks are the busiest of the campaign, but we are trying to avoid coming to the wire by encouraging everyone to pledge.  Seriously, if you pledge $10, $25, $50 we would be tickled pink.  We need everyone who is able to pitch in.

If you have pledged, please spread the word about the campaign.  The more people who see it, the better than chances that we will be flying high the last few weeks.  In addition, this could also get our campaign up on the Kickstarter main page because they partly determine that by the number of hits you get.  Also, please remember that there is also place to put in your e-mail and set a reminder in the last 48 hours of the campaign (we hope it doesn’t come down to that).  Please help us make the middle portion of our campaign strong by pledging and spreading the word.

The campaign has been going pretty well.  We have now reached almost $11,000 of our $40,000 goal.  Surprisingly enough, about half of the pledging has come from larger donations.  So, it may sound strange to ask that people give small amounts.  What I mean is this, tons and tons of small donors (anywhere from $1 to $10 to $25 to $50 to $100).  What is considered a small donation is obviously subjective and based on what you think that means.  However, we need a lot of a little support as well.

Please make it a really good week.  Visit the kickstarter campaign, pledge, like it, spread the word.  It’s amazing what a lot of us normal people can do when we do it together!

Thanks so much for being a part of thankheavenforbeer.com.  You have been the ones who have fanned the flame of passion and desire along the way.  The comments, encouragements, and the kindness along the way have really propelled our continued devotion to this site…and brewing aspirations.

Here’s what you can do to make sure we succeed…we know we will.

1.  Visit the kickstarter campaign-Check out the awesome video and look at the terrific graphic that we’ve come up with.

2.  Post-Part of what will make this project a success is telling other people.  If you or someone you know has a blog, website, or other regular platform they use to speak to a captive audience please put up (or ask them to put up) a post and link to the kickstarter .

3.  Speak-Please, please, please email your friends about the project, post it on facebook, tweet about it during the course of the fundraising.

4.  Start-We are asking people who already have a stumbleupon account to give the kickstarter campaign a thumb’s up.  If you don’t have one, please consider starting a stumbleupon account.  It’s kinda fun to use anyway. Here is the stumble link.

5.  Believe-Believe that we can succeed and tell us along the way.  We may need your encouragement or simply interaction.

We believe that we will be successful in our campaign and that you will be the reason that this brewery gets started.  If you have ever dreamed, you know exactly how we feel…help make the dream come true by visiting here.

Thanks in advance,

Mike and Nate

Part of the inching forward is a trip to Joshua Tree.  The trip is something Andrea and I have been wanting to do anyway, but the bonus is that Brent and his wife (Danielle) are coming, too.  While we are there, we are going to get some footage of us at Joshua Tree. And yes, I will be bringing some beer along and making sure that the footage finds its way into the video.

Although this is a brief update, I think it’s an exciting one.  Maybe I can get a snippet of video from the trip posted in a day or two.

All of us are aware that life encounters can lead us meandering down the most unexpected paths.  Through a calculated encounter, I met someone who may be very helpful for the future of a brewery.  In reality, she already was. Let it suffice to say that I began taking the future even more seriously.  But one piece of the puzzle was still missing: real people who had really started a nano brewery.  Sure concepts are great but I’m the type of person that likes speaking and learning from other human beings.

In comes Hess brewing (I have to mention that I spoke to several other nanos and they were also very helpful).  Imagine my surprise when I realized that several nano breweries were operating within a three or four hour radius, I decided it would be foolish not to talk to people who had done it.  I emailed and then called Mike Hess from Hess brewing in San Diego.  It wasn’t long until we were scheduling a call time and also the certainty of a future visit.

Hopefully, I don’t have to tell you that brewers are a busy bunch.  I don’t think that busy even does justice to nano breweries.  They are often known as people who have “real” jobs and love brewing as a second job.  So, time is at a serious premium for guys like Mike (nice name, by the way).  When he told me to call him any time after 5pm or on Saturday, I was, once again, reminded how great people who love beer are.  Not knowing me from Adam didn’t stop him from helping me with some questions I had, offering details, or warning me of possible pitfalls.  He gave me about an hour and a half of his time and would have likely given me much more.

Wow!  What a warm and fuzzy story, right?  Well, that may be the case, and I’m glad if it gave you butterflies.  But what I really want you to take away from this is that if you are even near San Diego, you should go patronize this brewery.  Not only does a company like Hess represent the American ideal of small entrepreneurial business as the backbone of our nation, it represent the fortitude, passion, and hospitality that is indicative of true American character.  Who wouldn’t want to support a company like that?

Why is this so difficult?  You can modify your business plan.  You can swap out your equipment.  You can drop or add beers to your breweries lineup.  You can’t change your name (well you can, but it is HIGHLY inadvisable).  Besides the immutable nature of this branding,  a name can reflect a lot about the brewers.  For example, naming our brewery “Flower Power,” might lead customers down certain paths of assumption we would not be prepared to substantiate.

That being said, we’d like to ask for some feedback on some name ideas.  we have a poll posted in this post, as well as in the sidebar of our main page.  Please only vote once, and feel free to leave feedback in the form of comments as well.

You may note the spiritual theme.  For sake of context, Mike and I both hold graduate degrees in the field of theology and would like to incorporate that history throughout the brewery.  Thanks, and feel free to share this poll!

***DISCLAIMER***

We are asking for feedback.  Results will not necessarily choose a permanent name outright.