I appeared (briefly, once it was my turn) before the Board of the New York State Liquor Authority yesterday in NYC. 222 days after sending in my second round of application materials, with some followup along the way, the Blind Bat Brewery is now approved for a NY State license.

When I was going through the Federal application process last summer with the Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), I was told by the TTB that I was not allowed to brew until I had licensing in hand. So, it's been a looooooong time since I have brewed. The next few weeks will involve finalizing things in the brewhouse and brewing up some test batches to get my brewing chops back.

Stay tuned for actual beer actually hitting actual shelves!

Tags: Licensing

The Blind Bat Brewery is on the agenda for the next meeting of the full board of the New York State Liquor Authority: Wednesday, April 16th. The full board will vote aye or nay on granting a state license to the brewery.

Stress?


What stress??


Mailed application on August 31st, 2007
Application officially received by the New York State Liquor Authority on September 7th, 2007

215 days and counting...

Tags: Licensing

Well, I obviously haven't been keeping up with the Brewhouse Blog,
so to quickly recap what's been happening since August 31st:

1. 
   
2. Completed paperwork for NY State License (round 2).
   
   
3. Submitted paperwork for NY State License to the New York State Liquor Authority ("gotta be in it to win it")
   
   
4. Filed first quarterly report to the TTB (Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, part of the U.S. Department of the Treasury). Even though there was no activity to report, a report had to be filed.
   
   
5. Unable to brew while State license is pending, so have been dreaming of milling grains, mashing, boiling, pitching yeast, kegging, and bottling.
   
   Oddly enough, haven't had any dreams of cleaning and sanitizing equipment. And that's the fun part!
   
   
6. With help of my Dad, Brother, and Brother-In-Law (the foreman), have built an insulated, temperature-controlled fermentation room (happy yeast makes happy beer) and brewhouse in what had been our circa 1928 garage.
   
   
7. Assembling stainless-steel conical fermenter.
   
   
8. Getting ready to file official TTB form (Brewers Notice) reporting items 5 and 6 above.
   
   
9. Met up a couple of times with the Long Island Beer & Malt Enthusiasts. I haven't been able to meet up with the group nearly as often as I would like (work + brewery startup + some life = notmuchtimetospare).
   
   If you live on Long Island, and enjoy good beer and/or whiskey and/or scotch, check out http://groups.google.com/group/beermalt . You might want to join up. A great bunch of folks, bringing a wealth of perspective, knowledge, and appreciation of the finer things in life. And, it's fun! ....Tell 'em the Blind Bat sent ya.
   

Tags: Paperwork, Licensing

Got word today from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB)
that my application for a Federal Brewery License
has been approved (as of August 2, 2007).

Contrary to expectations, the TTB was very helpful and pleasant to deal with.
(I'm not brown nosing here, no need since the license has been approved).

Once some additional forms are filled out, and I have official paper notification,
I can next send a pile of material that is ready to go to the
New York State Liquor Authority for State license approval.

Getting closer...

Tags: Licensing