In late 2006, we were introduced to Mike Rowe, the owner of the Terre Haute Brewing Co. and a terrific opportunity was born.
Mike asked Ted if he was interested in buying the building in order for us to start distributing our beer outside of Brugge Brasserie.
We formed a new company, the Vigo Brewing Group, attracted necessary venture capital, and in April, 2007, an agreement was finalized.
At that time, we fully expected to have beer on liquor store shelves, as well as bar and restaurant taps by September.
We should have known better.
Between April and October, we filed papers, documents, revisions, and revisions of revisions in an effort to secure federal and state approval to begin operations. The approvals came in late October.
In November, we began to make our first test batches of Brugge Black, White, and Tripel de Ripple. Tests because the water in Terre Haute is different than the water in Indianapolis, and because Ted, thankfully, is a perfectionist.
When we turned on the equipment ( without a license, we could not even boil water in the building ) to begin testing, we found the bottling line needed to be modified for the Champagne .75 liter bottles we will use.
The bottling line manufacturer is in Italy, its distributor is in Canada, and we are the smallest of small fries to both of them. No surprise, then, when we were told it would take 90 to 120 days for the parts to arrive.
That means no bottles until April at the earliest.
In the meantime, the Black and White coming from Terre Haute are terrific. Ask anyone who has had a Black at the Brasserie lately.
Black is also available at BadaBoomz in downtown Indy, as well as the Power House Brewing Co. in Columbus.
As of this writing, we now have a good quantity of both Black and White in 1/6 and 1/2 barrels in stock at our distribution partner, World Class Beverage. And Tripel de Ripple will be ready in 2 to 3 weeks.
We will keep you updated on where you can find - and enjoy - our beer.
If you have a favorite restaurant or watering hole we should contact, post a reply here, and we'll get right on it.
Again, we thank everyone for all the support, especially those who have emailed us begging for beer.
We're as impatient as you and we're looking forward to a terrific 2008.
Charlie
