Good news and guarded optimism.

On Saturday, we hosted a gathering at the Curmudgeon's house, ostensibly to bid farewell to my cousin prior to his annual post-holiday return to home and work in Tallahassee, but also to cautiously celebrate some good news.

While I’m still not ready to issue an official press release, it does appear that barring the unexpected, NABC has its financing partner in the form of a local bank, and the Bank Street Brewhouse will be a reality. The paperwork should be underway after tending to a few relatively minor preliminaries.

At 2:00 a.m., I was seated at the counter with Don, drinking a bottle of beer I could barely taste (the preview sixtel of Old Lightning Rod having floated long before) and joining him in singing along with selected highlights from the canon of Irish folk music. Even the cats fled to the far corner of the house, but to me, it was a profound relief to glimpse a bit of light at tunnel's end, and a chance to let scraggly hair down.

Now, the hard part begins.

Some time this week, the remainder of the build-out for the taproom should be underway, with the goal of quasi-readiness by the 17th of January, and our projected Old Lightning Rod rollout party at the new location on that date. We’ll be working that one on a temporary one-day permit, and the ATC hearing for our Riverfront Development three-way is scheduled for February 3.

Assuming the completion of several hundred other details great and small in the time between now and then, we should be on course for a prolonged “soft” opening shortly after the ATC hearing. There’ll be NABC beer on tap and limited food service, probably lunch at the start. The brewing system should arrive circa March or early April at the latest. Until then, the brew crew will be working the existing 4-barrel brewhouse fairly hard.

Conceding that my postings here have been more sporadic than usual, regularity (in writing) is going to be tough for a while. Bear with me. I'll try to keep you posted on the rate of progress.