Sad News

It has been almost a year since the last blog post, so I thought I'd bring you up to speed on the latest. Typically a hiatus would indicate Rick and I are busy brewing and selling beer, but sadly, I'm writing to announce that the two of us have decided to suspend brewing indefinitely.

We are really proud of the quality of the beer we produced and are still overjoyed at the positive reception the community gave us. Unfortunately, at this time, it doesn’t make financial sense to continue.

While Rick and I have gone on to find other employment, there is still some stock of bottles left of Batch 003 Saison and a handful of kegs left in the warehouse that we will continue to sell over the next few months but once it is all sold out, that will be it.

I can’t thank the restaurants, bars, breweries and beer drinkers that supported us over the last year enough. I hope you all continue to support all the new and existing breweries as much as you have supported Odonata.

As for Rick and I, we'll keep you posted to what's next on tap...

Cheers,
Peter

It's June - Time for an Update

Where We Are

So, I don’t really know where to begin. I guess that’s not true…

For starters how about a huge “congratulations” to Peter & Britany Hoey on the birth of their baby, Liam! Odonata is, first and foremost, a family company and we love that the family has been added to. Liam was born on Saturday before father’s day and today mom, dad and baby (and big-sister) are all home happy and healthy.

Bottles!

Image from Twitter follower @Sac_Pixie

Next up, as you hopefully already know, bottles of Saison are on the market and selling at an impressive pace! The feedback we’re getting from retailers is more than a little humbling, but pales in comparison to the feedback you all are saying online, in emails and casual conversations along the way. What’s more, it seems like you all like it enough to buy a second bottle! Of all the things that have impressed me most since their debut, it’s the looking at empty shelves where our beer once was and having to opportunity to re-stock. Very, very cool.

Batch 001

Finally a bit of heartbreak… Astute beer buyers have noticed that the batch of beer on the shelves is in fact batch 002. Here’s the deal with batch 001 – it most likely will never see the light of day. Know this, our goal is to sell beer we love, first and foremost. There’s no nice way around it, Batch 001 was ‘good’, but not ‘good enough’ and it had everything to do with the carbonation. Things were looking great, we opened a few for testing and heard the audible hiss we hoped for, even poured with a wisp of a head, but ultimately the carbonation for the beer wasn’t to snuff. This is pretty big news for this two-man company, the loss of the beer alone put us in a tight spot and we’ve talked with many veterans in the industry for advice. Ultimately, however, it was clear that we were choosing between putting out a beer that we couldn’t be proud of, or writing it off and moving forward. So, forward we go.

Other Stuff

It’s a weird spot to be in, having a small business with only two bodies to do all the work, but damn we’re having fun. That said, we know that you’re expecting an online store for shirts and glassware as soon as possible. All I can say to that is ‘we’re working on it’. I still need to get some nice pictures of the shirts and glasses to get to our super-awesome web guy… but that just hasn’t happened. We also know that there are a lot of places near you that don’t yet have our beer in stock. We are certainly working on that, too. We’re looking at expanding NorCal distribution within the next two weeks as some bigger accounts come on board. We’ve kind of held back a bit initially to see what sort of production needs we’d have to plan for, based on how well the beer was received. Needless to say we’ll be planning for more beer, more frequently to be shipped to more places so that more of you can enjoy Odonata Saison.

Oh yeah… just so you all know, we’re planning some fun summertime beer releases. It’s still unclear which direction we’re going, but I think Peter will work on getting something fun and unusual (yet, historically and seasonally correct) out to you soon. Before that we have a few batches of Rorie’s Ale & Liam’s Ale to get into barrels.

Thanks, everyone. Your support has been encouraging and spectacular. Our initial RateBeer score came in at 95 and we’ve also been listed at Sacrament News & Review as “Summertime’s Local Artisan Beer of Choice”. To see more of what folks are saying about us, check out the News tab on our website.

Cheers!

- Peter & Rick

Answering a Few Questions

Let's start with the easiest and most frequently asked question: "When will your bottles be available?" Answer: June 7th we start shipping.

Now, onto the fun stuff. Our release parties in the Sacramento region have thus far been totally kick-ass fun! The reception by the community has been outstanding, and the satisfaction we feel watching people enjoy a second pint of Saison is hard to put into words. You see, we feel anyone can down a pint of beer, but to see you get another one says that you actually like Saison! We've killed kegs at every event we've had, sold all our glassware and generally been overwhelmed with how fast the beers are selling throughout the region. In fact, and I'm sorry to say this, we're to the point now where we expect to sell out of Saison sooner than anticipated. We can't take new orders for the beer right now, but we're working to fix that ASAP (Peter's brewing tomorrow, in fact!). You should be able to still find Saison where it's currently being sold, but we just can't expand to more locations until we get more beer. Thank you!

Bottle Saison Batch One vs. Batch Two

We learned a whole lot with batch one of Saison. This was the batch we did everything by the book when it comes to embracing traditional practices. The one thing that has slowed the whole release down was our decision to bottle Saison completely flat, with zero carbonation. We like the idea of having a 100% bottle-conditioned beer, but ultimately lack the production capacity to continue this lengthy process. So we've made one tweak in batch two - we're bottling with about half the volume of CO2 we hope to have in the finished product, the rest will still come via bottle-conditioning because we think that's important for the style. What's that mean to you? Well, not much. Astute palates may detect a slight change in body and a bit more hop character in batch two. However, we don't see there being a difference that impacts the beer, overall. Guess we'll leave that for you all to decide - we'd love to know what you think from batch to batch.

Our Future

Another question we've been asked about a lot is if we plan on having our own location. Yes, it is our goal to open a small place in Sacramento (likely east Sacramento so we can sell bottles) in the near future. We're working on some legal stuff and will soon be looking for investors. Once that's all lined up, we'll move as fast as humanly possible to get the doors open. We're planning on a 15-barrel brewhouse with 30-barrel fermentors, some food service, pints and growler fills (along with keg sales for home use). We'll be sure to keep you posted on that, as well. Thanks for the inquiries on that.

With this in mind (while we're answering questions), we've also got a handful of beers planned for future release. However, we're going to stick with Saison through the summer as we work hard to build our brand here in Sacramento. We've said it here before, but it bares repeating - Saison is the flagship beer for Odonata Beer Co and we're working now to make sure it's available throughout the region. Brand building doesn't happen quick or easy, so we're trying to make it as smooth as possible with a beer that we believe in, a beer that's got broad appeal while being completely craft. As the brand builds, you'll see a lot more of our Reserve, Seasonal and One-Off creations.

Online Store

Yes, this is in the works! We hope to have this up sooner than later (weeks, not months). Here we're going to sell T-Shirts, Work Shirts, Hoodies and Glassware - sorry, no beer. For now we're only going to ship within the USA. We're getting all that figured out now.

That's it for now. Thank you, everyone, for your continued support and all the kindness you've shown to Peter and me - we appreciate it every single day! Truly, thank you.

- Peter & Rick