XV Anniversary Party Celebration!

On August 7, 1998 we opened our doors with the hope that you'd love the pairing of award-winning microbrew and barbecue as much as we do. Fifteen years later, here we are, and we're ready to celebrate! Here's the blow-by-blow of what we're up to.

1. We close at 10:00 PM on July 29. Starting then, we'll be transforming our brewpub with you in mind. We know that you like to come in with large groups, and sometimes we're not able to accommodate you how we'd like. We're adding community tables to the bar area to create multiple conversation areas. We'll drop in some new lighting just to change things up a bit. We'll also be replacing our bar stools with ones that not only look cool, they even swivel. We'll also be sprucing up and incorporating updated looks. We know you love the 'House, but sometimes you just have to grab a paint brush and try something new.

We're also improving the functionality behind the bar in order to serve you better. The biggest change you'll see is two vertical display beer coolers for bottled craft beer. We know you know how to read our menu, but sometimes it's just easier to see the real thing before you order. We'd tell you more, but we don't want to overpromise, just in case we run out of time.

2. We'll reopen for regular business at 11:00 AM on Thursday, August 1. From that time until Sunday, we're featuring all Guest Drafts for just $3.50 to make room for...

3. You've heard of tap takeovers at various locations, but we've never heard of a brewpub taking over all the taps for their own beer. Yup, it's the Smokehouse Tap Takeover, starting Sunday, August 4.. We'll be adding our beers throughout the week until all taps are Smokehouse craft ales and lagers--16 in all, plus 2 casks on the beer engine and 1 firkin that Firkin Friday!

4. Sunday, August 4: We'll have a half dozen or so Smokehouse craft brews on tap to start off the week. Select beers are just $10 a pitcher that day and our award-winning smoked wings are just 60 cents all day. Great start!

5. Monday, August 5: We're introducing our Smokehouse Rarity Series today. These are one-off experiments that we may never do again. The first one of the week should be interesting. We've added orange zest and vanilla to Katie's Summer Wheat. Because there's only one keg of it, we won't know how it tastes until you do. We're calling it Summer Dream, because we know that orange and vanilla make Dreamsicles.

We also add Fortune Teller East India Porter to the lineup. We've only got one keg, so if you're a fan, get here before it's gone.

6. Tuesday, August 6: We are really excited about this day. Not only do we tap another beer in the Smokehouse Rarity Series, but we break with custom here and bring you live entertainment.

For those of you who love our Gates of Hell hot sauce and all things spicy, we did you a proper. We took Fortune Teller East India Imperial Porter and added smoked and roasted poblano, serrano and Scotch Bonnet hot peppers, then added them to the Teller. They've been infusing this excellent porter for six weeks, so there's sure to be some pungency. We're calling this one Smoke Teller Spicy Soothsayer. We can't wait to try it, and hope you can't either.

About the live entertainment... We think we have a quality, family-oriented show by Sargent Peppercorn and his Lonely Hearts Club Band, headed by Joe Peppercorn, a local singer/songwriter. This isn't a tribute band...what they do is play the songs, full-out. Full album cuts from The Beatles catalouge from 5:00-11:00 PM. That's enough time to get through about half of all the songs ever recorded by the Fab Five! Best part? There's no cover as our thank you to you for your years of patronage.

This show is just as entertaining whether you're six or sixty. We do recommend, though, that if you bring little ones with you to the show that you do it early. The show's clean, but when beer starts flowing, the room could turn PG-13. Joe has done this show three times prior to this engagement, and we can tell you that after a few hours, it turns into a sing-a-long. Who can resist singing along to na-na-na-na on Hey Jude?

We know it's a school night, but we're adults here. You'll want to stay for the entire performance. One more thing. This show is the day before our actual anniversary, but seeing how we named our anniversary beer after a Beatles song, and it even includes peppercorns, we're having a preview tapping of our newest beer that night.

At 9:00 PM, we'll be preview tapping Sexy Sadie (Sixty Season) Saison, brewed with gresh ginger, corriander, freshly cracked black peppersorns and lemongrass. See, we told you we're really excited about Tuesday this week.

7. Wednesday, August 7: Our newest beer, Sexy Sadie (Sixty Season) Saison goes on tap! In addition, we have a keg of Hoptopus Pale Wheat Ale that we'll be tapping. Happy Anniversary to us!

8. Thursday, August 8: We tap two more Smokehouse beers, including one more from the Smokehouse Rarity Series. Today we tap Left Coast Pale Ale and MacLenny's Scottish Ale with Heather Flowers. The things we do to keep from getting bored...

9. Friday, August 9: We tap one of the most successful IPAs we've ever brewed to fill out our dance card. Hopiate IPA will be flowing one last time until we brew it again, probably next year. Of course, we will also tap something special, (yet to be determined) for Firkin Friday.

And that's what we've got in store for our XV Anniversary! Join us, won't you?