DuClaw Brewing Company

TIME HAS COME TODAY...

2007-09-07T09:14:00.000-05:00

In the immortal words of Homer J. Simpson, "WHOO HOO!".

DuClaw fans in Harford County, prepare to get your eat and drink on...

It will be 403 days since the fire. entirely too long, we know, but it will be worth the wait. New bar, new restaurant, new menu... the new DuClaw Bel Air. Thanks again for all of your loyalty and patience.

See you in 10 days!

HOME, SWEET HOME

2007-08-31T07:47:00.000-05:00

We are preempting our scheduled blog entry on the hiring of the new staff to bring you breaking news…

This week, in a very special Bel Air blog update (cue the 1970’s ABC After School Special theme music)…

WE’RE HOME! The corporate staff has relocated from the mobile executive tiger cage/sweat box at the back of the parking lot (previously detailed in the “TRAILER PARK” entry) to our plush new offices above the restaurant. And there was much rejoicing.

Just like George and Weezie, we moved on up!

The place is alive with new staff orientation, finishing touches being added to the décor, and the familiar sound of the bar audio system providing a soundtrack to our work day. It’s like waking up and finding Patrick Duffy in the shower and knowing that the ****** nightmare that we’ve been sharing with all of you for the last year is almost over.

Worst... TV cop-out... EVER!

Still no date to report... OR IS THERE? Check back here at 3:00pm EST, 9/7/07 and find out if "TIME HAS COME TODAY...".

See you soon!

DOES THE CARPET MATCH THE CURTAINS?

2007-08-14T10:43:00.000-05:00

Actually, that’s a trick question. There are no curtains; the title of this blog entry is nothing but cheap titillation. There is, however, new carpet, new tile, new trim, new booths, new lighting fixtures and a new bar. We’d love to show you more, but that would ruin your first look during the grand re-opening. So for now, check out these not-too-revealing photos of the new DuClaw Bel Air.

The carpet in question. We decided to Berber now instead of Shag later.

We've got wood... den booths in the dining room.

This is a mosquito trapped in amber. In addition to the beer we're also making our own dinosaurs. Actually it's just a new light fixture but we haven't given up on the dinosaurs yet.

Goth wall art? Yep.

It's a "concrete" fact, you're all going to love the new bar.

Keep watching for a firm re-opening date coming soon, which, unfortunately, will now be sometime in SEPTEMBER. Yes, we said August last time, but the custom solid gold diamond studded name plates for each Bel Air regular’s personal barstool are taking a little longer than expected to fabricate. JUST KIDDING! (About the nameplates, not September.)

Next time, see employment recruitment in action because we’re NOW HIRING.

MEDIUM SIZED ANNOUNCEMENT

2007-06-24T11:09:00.000-05:00

In November of 2006, we told you all that we would reopen our Bel Air restaurant sometime in 2007. In the Spring of 2007, we updated to “hopefully” by the end of Summer. Well, here we are in June of 2007 and we’re proud to announce that we have a target month!

DuClaw Bel Air will most likely re-open in August of 2007. Why “most likely”? Because if we’ve learned anything from the last 9 and ½ months, it’s to not be overly optimistic when it comes to any plan that starts with the phrase “As soon as we hear from (insert organization, company or individual here) we can finish (insert activity here)…”

So, while we keep our fingers crossed for August, here is more documentation of progress in progress…

We've decided to replace all of the bartenders with giant pneumatic beer tubes. Just kidding!

New lighting, new boothes and the corporate offices now hidden behind a big beige wall that, when finished, will sport a Kim Jong Il style vanity portrait of Jim Wagner.

And all of this time you thought that we were winging it...

While we still don't have a definitive date for the grand reopening, at least we've narrowed it down to a specific month*. That's at least a medium sized announcement. Next time, more progress photos and an answer to the age old question, DOES THE CARPET MATCH THE CURTAINS?

*HOPEFULLY!

MASTER BUILDER

2007-05-17T12:02:00.000-05:00

We’ve finally gained some peace of mind and a sense of security about our progress and our prospects thanks to our faith and trust in the man spearheading the reconstruction. Once we were given the green light to proceed, we spared no expense, and searched the globe for the ultimate master builder. Our search ended in a suburb of Detroit, Michigan, where we found a man with unparalleled construction expertise and a world wide reputation. Ladies and gentlemen, may we present our savior…

Just kidding! Our real guys are working quickly to get us open as soon as possible, check out the pics…

The new bar: We know it’s only 3 inches wide, but we thought that we’d try something new. Hmmm, very minimalist.

Adequately supports beverages? CHECK.

The brewing tanks are gone, replaced by a cage-fighting arena where patrons can settle their differences the old fashioned way.

Next time, more new pictures of construction in progress and a MEDIUM SIZED ANNOUNCEMENT.

PROOF OF LIFE

2007-04-30T07:00:00.000-05:00

It seems like an eternity has passed since a small (yet strategically significant) fire closed our Bel Air restaurant, leading many to believe that they had seen the last of DuClaw in Harford county. Rest assured, nothing could be further from the truth!

Reconstruction is FINALLY underway. Don’t believe us? Here is documented proof of life in DuClaw Bel Air…

NO, NOT THAT PROOF OF LIFE, the real deal!

The framework of the new corporate offices. Should we be concerned that they look like cages?

Meaurements/guidelines for the new bar or a DaVinci Code like cipher that reveals the location of the lost DuClaw beer recipes? Either way, good stuff!

Big tools for big jobs. It cuts everything but your cholestrol…

The journey to the grand reopening has begun. We still have not set a firm date, but it’s closer now than ever before. Check back for news as it develops, and next time, more construction photos and a profile of our MASTER BUILDER.

HAMMER-TIME

2007-04-09T09:34:00.000-05:00

All of us at DuClaw Brewing Company would like to wish a big belated Happy Birthday to an American Icon. He was born March 30th, 1962 in Oakland, CA. From his childhood stint as a batboy (some would say “ratboy” for team owner Charlie Finley) for Major League Baseball’s Oakland A’s, to his current incarnation as a preacher and pitchman for insurance and credit counseling companies, he has reinvented himself numerous in during his prolific 45 year life.

Boy of Summer

And, despite the squandering of a brilliant career and a 30 million dollar fortune, he will always be remembered as a pioneer in the fields of music sampling, pop rap and parachute pants. Today we honor Stanley Kirk Burrell, also known as…

Can't caption this...

MC Hammer.

JUST KIDDING!

Sit down. No, really, SIT DOWN. Hammers start swinging in Bel Air 4/16/07. That’s right, we’re days away from having our ear drums explode from the piercing shriek of power tools, inhaling clouds of dirt and toxic sawdust, and having our female employees become the target of incessant wolf whistles.

Is there another attractive woman up there?

WHOO HOO!

We have still not set a date for the grand reopening, but at least there’s a light at the end of the tunnel now. Next time, PROOF OF LIFE in Bel Air.

RAISING THE BAR

2007-03-19T06:34:00.000-05:00

With construction delays (re: NO BEER) sapping not only our spirit and morale, but our bottom line as well, we’ve been thinking outside the box (trailer), trying to come up with temporary solutions to replace the Bel Air bar. Ideas have ranged from the practical…

Off camera: Bel Air regulars with folding chairs.

To the extreme…

All it's missing is a Pint Club logo.

But finally, we hit upon the ultimate solution to our construction woes. The cure for our poison, the mongoose for our cobra, the integer factorization algorithms for our cryptography, was waiting for us just north of the Manson Nixon line…

Fast builders, but you’d better enjoy drinking and dining by candlelight.

It’s time for a good, old fashioned “Amish Bar Raising”. Afterall, if they can throw a barn up in a day, how long could it take them to produce a bar? Unfortunately, transportation logistics proved to be a problem, as it would take longer for our plainly dressed, ant colony-like speed builders to get to Bel Air via horse and buggy than it will take us to rebuild the restaurant at our current rate of progress. (No letters, please! We have nothing but the utmost respect for the Amish community.)

We STILL have no new news to report, but next time… well, next time is “HAMMER-TIME”.

BIGFOOT

2007-03-07T11:07:00.000-05:00

There is a folktale that has been circulating around the incubator for claustrophobia that we’ve called home for the last few months (see previous entry). Some say it’s the result of trailer fever. Others swear the stories of elusive creatures wearing hard hats and tool belts, (as rare in these parts as Bigfoot) lurking about the ruins of Bel Air are true.

There is no shortage of circumstantial evidence: String-thin blue chalk outlines, wood and metal shavings, nails and screws and the most promising, muddy boot prints. But no actual visual proof exists to confirm that we have indeed been “visited”.

No grainy black and white photos.

So far, this guy is easier to find.

No shaky blair-witch-in-search-of-zapruder-film-youtube-quality video footage.

She’s an attention whore by comparison

Not even a sketchy drunken eyewitness account from a quiet loner with a replica of Mulder’s “I WANT TO BELIEVE” poster from The X-Files on his bedroom wall. This is where you come in. Please report any sightings of anyone remotely resembling

a CONSTRUCTION WORKER to Duclaw corporate. We’re counting on you.

Still no date to report; still no new construction. But next time, we’re “RAISING THE BAR”, so be sure to check back soon.

TRAILER PARK

2007-02-27T12:21:00.000-05:00

When DuClaw Brewing Company Bel Air was left uninhabitable by fire, smoke and water damage, more people than just our loyal regulars found themselves displaced…

16-A Bel Air South Parkway is not only home to the Pint Club members and DuClaw patrons of Harford County, but also the DuClaw Brewing Company Corporate staff. Marketing, Finance, Creative and IT were all housed in the upper level of the restaurant, leaving us (the corporate staff) not only beerless and foodless like the rest of you, but homeless as well. Without our humble offices, we had to act quickly and secure some sort of makeshift command center from which we could spearhead the rebuilding of Bel Air. The solution was obvious…

… but by no means tornado proof. On an average day, six people work in this tiny structure, but that total can climb to as high as twelve. Twelve weary, beerless, foodless people packed into a single wide wood and aluminum death tube, trying to re-open a restaurant before mother nature decides to smite our mobile base of operations with a freak category six hurricane. Don’t pity us too much, though, it’s a lot roomier on the inside than it looks from the outside…

So, for now, we’re stuck here; still without a reopening date, but optimistic that good news is coming soon. Next time, another progress update and reports of sightings of a creature as rare as “BIGFOOT”.

FRUSTRATION

2007-02-21T12:14:00.000-05:00

If you’re reading this, then you’re frustrated with the lack of progress in the rebuilding of DuClaw Bel Air. Believe us when we say, so are we! It has been almost seven months since a small fire destroyed a small corner of our bar and the sprinkler system killed the fire. And the rest of the bar. And the dining room. And, for health code purposes, all of our corporate offices as well.

The Bel Air dining room/brewery/bar area

So, here we are. Seven months have gone by and all we have so far is a gutted building and big plans. A new bar. A new dining room. Basically, a whole new establishment. And that, loyal DuClaw patrons, is the cause of our frustration.

The opening of “a whole new establishment” requires new architectural drawings, new government permits/approvals and a check from our insurance company (an entire industry not known for having a great sense of urgency when it comes to paying a claim). We’re discovering that the wheels of progress turn very slowly, and hence, the aforementioned frustration.

For some reason, these plans were rejected...

So, to sum up, we still don’t have a definitive date for the grand reopening, but the plans are made and as soon as we’re allowed to pull the trigger on construction, it won’t be long before the best beer in Maryland is flowing from taps in Bel Air once more. Hang in there with us a little longer, we’re doing everything that we can to get our first born back on it’s feet again as soon as possible. Cheers!

Next update on our progress will include a look at the DuClaw Brewing Company “TRAILER PARK”.