Great Notion

Yeah, that's how I see this is well.

Frankly, the only time I grab a crowler at GN is to trade it. DS in particular has pretty high trade value, and I'm assuming that most (all?) of the folks waiting in line are there for that reason. So it's a bit hard for me to feel pangs of regret and sorrow over the unfairness of this arrangement. Usually, if they're selling crowlers of DS, that means they have it on tap as well in the pub. There's no monetary break on buying a crowler, so if you want to drink some DS, there really is no down side to enjoying a glass or three right there at GN.

I'm sure it'd be nice to be able to drink some in the comfort of your own home as well, but then why not just hang out for a while and have the wait staff bring you a crowler to take home? Again, my impression is that the folks who have no interest in that are those who are just there to pick up a crowler to trade. Nothing wrong with that, but I'm not sure GN needs to be making any special arrangements or provisions to cater to this group.

 

Was there some sort of announcement about a DS crowler release on Sunday? The last couple of times I got a crowler there, it was a complete surprise. In fact, I thought GN had discontinued the practice of announcing crowler releases for specific dates.

Back when they did announce crowler releases on Facebook, it was definitely confusing. I remember arriving just before GN opened, and there were already 20 or 30 people in line for a DS release. For those who were stopping by to get lunch, you could tell they were surprised and confused about the line. However, those folks would then ask the people in line what was going on, at which point they learned about the crowler release (and that they could go right in if they were just there for lunch and some beers). So I'm a bit surprised anyone on Sunday would have made this sort of mistake.

 

You definitely see some of the behavior ChugChugpass describes at GN, but what really surprises me, is that you don't see more of it.

I think a lot of folks figure that if they're going to go to the trouble of getting a table or a seat at the bar, they might as well stick around for a while. I know this almost always happens to me at GN. I may go there with the intent of just grabbing a glass of something or a sample tray (ordering a crowler at the same time), but invariably I'll spot a couple of other items on the tap list that look interesting as well. Before I know it, I've been there an hour and have ordered twice as much food and beer as I planned.

I suspect the folks at GN know what they're doing with the current arrangement.

 

It's Friday again, so:

This week's 3 Notion Fridays is all about that C.R.E.A.M. Well, not the infamous Wu-Tang banger that we rocked hard in our best friend's car in 1992 (10th/11th grade for us because we're old) but instead those hazy, creamy IPAs that we love. Some call them milkshake IPAs (props to Tired Hands/Omnipollo for innovating that style), but here at GNB we do Creamsicle and Mochi IPAs and sometimes toss real mochi and real creamsicles in the beers!!!

1. Orange Creamsicle IPA: Amarillo and Motueka hops, orange puree, vanilla, and milk sugar converge in this delicious interpretation of a childhood favorite. On tap now. Crowlers early next week.
2. Strawberry Bisou: We teamed up with our friends at Mikerphone Brewing in Chicago to bring you this delicious strawberry cream IPA. This beer was brewed with Malted Oat, Milk Sugar, Strawberries, and Vanilla Bean and dry hopped with Galaxy and Motueka. Enjoy this bisou (kiss) of strawberry! On tap now.
3. Passionfruit Mochi IPA: Guava Mochi’s cousin, Passionfruit Mochi will be going on tap next week. Brewed with Milk Sugar, both Passionfruit and actual passion, you will love this beer. Not to mention we added tons of Citra (think Ripe IPA) and Mosaic (think Juice Jr / Juice Box).

I have to confess, I'm a sucker for their Orange Creamsicle IPA.

 

Another Friday, and so:

1. If you're around this weekend, Passionfruit Mochi just went on tap an hour ago and if you close your eyes and take a sip you will be instantly transported to somewhere hot and sunny under a palm tree! As for next week though, we have 2 new beers going on tap that we’re excited about:
   1. Luminous: A sour IPA brewed with malted oats and milk sugar, then dry-hopped with Motueka and Amarillo.
   2. A yet-to-be-named IPA that has a nice hint of tropical fruit added as well as a super rad dry-hop amalgamation of Amarillo, Strata, Nelson, Mosaic and Vic Secret.

1. It’s tough building a brewery from scratch. We got lucky when we purchased The Mash Tun on Alberta St. as it was turn-key. All the little hiccups one runs into while building a production facility from the ground-up were already worked out with the city and the TTB. Now we’re dealing with these incredibly fun little things first-hand and as it’s told to us every two weeks when we ask our contractors and sub-contractors when they think we'll be ready to brew - "two more weeks" ! LOL,just kidding, they're all doing an incredible job, it's just really hard and takes a village to build a 20,000 sq ft 30 bbl brewhouse from scratch. It's finally looking like we will brew our first beer at the new facility in the month of March. We are still working on final piping, final plumbing, etc. Then, we have city final inspection and health inspection. We learned you can’t start a new business until you get your CO from the city - that’s the important 2 letter acronym - Certificate of Occupancy. Fingers crossed. Props to all those that have built their own business from the ground up; we salute you!