The patio build-out continues at Bank Street Brewhouse.

We're expecting the garage doors on the 4th or 5th of January. After they're installed, the main work will be finished. All we'll have to do then is furnish the new room.

This week at NABC’s Bank Street Brewhouse.

• Patio conversion is under way
• Gumbo trial tonight
• “Soft” 11 am – 5 pm hours on Christmas Eve
• Solidarity Baltic Porter is being bottled today
• Holiday hours for both NABC locations

Our friends at Resch Construction have started on Bank Street Brewhouse's long-anticipated patio build-out, and to say that we’re both excited and grateful is a profound understatement. Thanks again, Steve.

Bank Street Brewhouse will remain open throughout the process of converting our current patio area into an all-weather facility with garage doors opening into what will become a beer garden in time. Much of the work will be completed within a couple of weeks, but the new roof will have to wait for installation during warmer weather.

The wall stones were being stacked on pallets yesterday, to be put into storage and returned when the future beer garden is landscaped next spring/summer. Since the outdoor area isn’t being used very much during cold weather, this patio work will have the minor effect of causing a bit of a mess, but it will not stand in the way of doing business in the customary way.

http://potablecurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2011/12/picture-this-bank-street-brewhouses.html

Tonight (Tuesday the 20th) will be the first sighting of gumbo on the BSB menu. We’re thinking about making this a regular Tuesday food special, along with the reduced price session ales. Wednesday remains growler discount day. Remember that Bank Street Brewhouse now opens for lunch at 11:00 a.m. from Tuesday through Saturday. Sunday Brunch begins at 10:00 a.m., but because of this year’s dates for Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, the next brunch date is January 8.

We're bottling Solidarity today, and it will be heading to the wholesalers tomorrow.

Following are the holiday hours of operation for Bank Street Brewhouse and the Pizzeria & Public House. Note that both locations will be open (reduced schedule) on Christmas and New Year's Eves.

Christmas Eve
Saturday, December 24
Pizzeria & Public House will be open 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. (pizzeria side only; normal menu)
Bank Street Brewhouse will be open 11 a.m. – 5 p.m., with Progressive Pints, growlers and light snacks (not the everyday menu)

Christmas Day
Sunday, December 25
Both NABC locations will be closed

Boxing Day
Monday, December 26
Pizzeria & Public House will be open for normal hours (both sides)
Bank Street Brewhouse will be closed (as always on Monday)

Pants Down Potluck Port Drinkers Circle

Tuesday, December 27

In the Prost room ... contact Roger immediately if you’re interested in joining the annual Port tasting

New Year’s Eve
Saturday, December 31
Pizzeria & Public House will be open 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. (pizzeria side only; normal menu)
Bank Street Brewhouse will be open 11 a.m. – 5 p.m., with Progressive Pints, growlers and light snacks (not the everyday menu)

New Year’s Day
Sunday, January 1 (2012)
Both NABC locations will be closed

Monday, January 2
Pizzeria & Public House will be open or normal hours (both sides)
Bank Street Brewhouse will be closed (as always on Monday)

Picture this: Bank Street Brewhouse's patio build-out.

Imagine the BSB north patio "finished," with real walls and access doors, and also garage doors for opening in nice weather just like the ones already facing Bank Street.

The plan is in place, and (re)construction will begin within the next two weeks. Our landlord Steve Resch and his construction company is doing the work; they're keeping busy on Main Street, too, with the Feast BBQ project across the street from the YMCA. The BSB plan will be completed in two stages, with the walls and doors going up first, and then the roof being replaced when the weather gets warmer.

We'll be able to use the year-round space for big parties, music and events, and by making the patio into an extension of the building, the state-mandated floor plan rules will permit the use of the taps attached to the big brewery walk-in, and the current parking area to be converted into a landscaped patio. Think in terms of a beer garden, with the garage doors opening into it from the former patio.

I want to give a huge public thanks to Steve Resch and the people who usually help him at places like PC Building and Sprigler Door. This "finishing" has been a long time coming, and will leave us with a one-time brewery expansion option, to be exercised at some point in the future, before BSB becomes the way we first envisioned it -- without the green rooftop, to be sure, but who knows?