I owe you all an apology for what has happened to us on Wednesday Date Night’s, culminating in the events of Wednesday 7/28.

Since we started Date Night, we’ve seen the volume of people coming to get a pitcher and a pizza for $16 increase steadily.  The last few weeks that number has absolutely exploded.  While this is a good problem for a business to have, unfortunately I personally dropped the ball in not anticipating this and last Wednesday we weren’t ready and we essentially went down in flames due to our unpreparedness.  Stories of 90 minute plus waits for pizzas, 30 minute waits for beer and 15 minute waits just to see a waitress are common.  All of these aren’t acceptable for us to treat those of you who have supported us.

I’m not someone who just works here or manages the brewpub, I personally built Freetail from the idea stage to what it is today, so I take these matters very personally.  I hope you can trust me when I say I am going to do everything in my power to ensure it never happens again.  You may have already noticed a number of new faces on the staff, which is part of an ongoing effort to ensure things like this never happen again.  We are upping the staff in every aspect of the organization to make sure that you recieve first class service and your experience is a great one.

Thanks to all of you willing to give us a second chance after last week’s ordeal.  We want to do everything possible to make it up to you.  I personally promise we will do better going forward.

Scott Metzger
Founder & CEO

To create the beer, Freetail used a patented cryogenic freeze distillation process they hope to eventually sell to ethanol fuel production facilities.  “We’ve developed a very alcohol tolerant strain of yeast to produce our high-gravity beers, but even it stalls out at around 13%,” said Freetail Founder and CEO Scott Metzger.  “At that point we begin our cold distillation process.  We got the inspiration for our process by watching Encino Man starring Brendan Frasier and Pauly Shore.”

Metzger went on to describe the hopping process.  “I hoped this would never be made public, but I’ll go ahead and spill the beans,” Metzger said with a sheepish grin.  “We were responsible for the 2007-08 hop shortage.  To make one half barrel of finished beer we used over four thousand pounds of cascade hops in 120 barrels of wort.  We could have just as easily used a higher alpha hop at an earlier stage of the boil, but we didn’t want to lose all that terrific flavor and aromas obtained by this American noble variety.”

To mark the achievement, Metzger and Head Brewer Jason Davis ceremoniously poured the beer down the drain together.  Metzger explained, “It was quite the achievement, but who would want to drink this?”  Assistant Brewer John Lee was seen on the ground mouthing the words “Me!” while Metzger posed his rhetorical question.

“This was a horribly stupid idea,” said Davis.  “I consider myself a professional and I’m ashamed to have ever participated in such a waste of precious resources.”

Freetail plans to resume the production of completely drinkable and delicious beers immediately.

We would like to take this moment to send best wishes to all this Holiday season.  Thanks again to each and every one of you, whose patronage grants us the luxury of making & serving artisan, off-the-wall beer and pizzas for a living.

Holiday Hours:

December 24, 2009 – Open 11:30am – 4pm.  $2 Off Growler Fills on Christmas Eve! Share some beer with the family!

December 25, 2009 – Closed.

Normal Hours Resume December 26.  The Flamin’ Hellcats live on the Patio, Saturday December 26 7-10pm.

December 31, 2009 – Open 11:30am – 6pm. $2 Off Growler Fills on New Years Eve! Share some beer with your friends!

Normal Hours Resume January 1, 2010.

What’s In Store for Year Two.

As you all know by now, we turned the big ONE on Thanksgiving Weekend.  A lot of customers have been asking what’s in store for our little brewery in year two.

The first big project we are excited about is being dubbed “Ceres”.  Ceres was the first discovered dwarf planet in our Solar System named for the Roman goddess of growing plants, the harvest, and motherly love.  What Ceres is in terms of Freetail, is the first step into our long awaited barrel-aging program.

Friend of Freetail and local homebrewer, Mike Klueber, transported Ceres from the Four Roses Distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky to Freetail, where it now sits full of the remaining volume of this year’s batch of La Muerta.  Being the first fill of this freshly emptied bourbon barrel, La Muerta does not require a lot of contact time to absorb the flavors and aromas of the barrels.  Very shortly we will be draining Ceres and putting Barrel-Aged La Muerta on draft and releasing an extremely limited quantity of bottles.  Then we will fill Ceres will this year’s batch of Old Bat Rastard for extended aging.

Also coming in the New Year will be our winter saison—Invierno Inexistante—brewed with dark cacao; look for a new batch of Torpor Porter and our fourth lager: Tim.   Watch for news of our Winter Strong Beer Tasting which will feature special releases of Old Bat Rastard, La Muerta, and American- and French-oak aged Sisyphus from Real Ale Brewing Co.

As the New Year rolls along we’ll be reintroducing you to some old favorites like Danny Mijo while bringing some new additions to our growing family of brews, such as our first take on a Belgian Dubbel, tentatively named TwoTail.

Celebrating First Tappings & the Vernal Equinox

Although we celebrated our birthday Thanksgiving weekend, this weekend is the celebration of another milestone for us.  December 20 is the one-year anniversary of the day we sold our first house beer.  We’ll be celebrating this moment along with Monday’s Vernal Equinox by lining up the following small-batch specialties over the weekend:

Sunday:  Double Honey One—anniversary ale refermented with Texas honey

Chamomile Witicus, Spiced Otoño III (White Cardamom), BrokeThesis (4:1 blend of Broken Promise and Hopothesis

Winter Solstice (Monday):  Starflower Wit, Spiced Otoño IV (Orange and Allspice), Brotoño (Otoño fermented w/ Brettanomyces)

Cowboys vs. Saints, Saturday on NFL Network

The Cowboys playoff hopes appear to be teetering on the edge disaster, but this Saturday they can salvage the season by beating the unbeaten Saints in New Orleans.  Whether you are rooting for the Texas team to pull off the upset or for the Saints to crush the ‘Pokes hopes – you’ll need the NFL Network to catch the action.  As we all know, Time Warner doesn’t carry the network, but Freetail does!  So come enjoy a beer, a pizza, and watch the football drama unfold.

Science community unsure of ramifications of brewing Hopothetical Ale– warn of universe collapsing upon itself.

Today we brewed batch #45, another La Rubia to replenish the quickly depleting stocks.  That means we are quickly approaching Batch #50, long ago scheduled to be hopothesis A.    Upon hearing the news, local scientists quickly warned us of the potential ramifications of such a brew.

Staff astrophysicist Klaus von Banderburghen weighed in on the subject:  “While the hop content of das bier is astronomically high and, quite frankly, categorically insane – these scientists are clearly suffering from torschlusspanik.”

The University of Chicago Institute of Cataclysmic Destruction (ICD) issued a statement last week saying the brewing of Hopothetical Ale, the construction of the Superconducting Super Collider Particle Accelerator in Waxahachie, TX and Global Climate Change are currently the largest threats to the viability of life as we know it, further adding that at least Global Climate Change is gradual and doesn’t run the risk of imploding the entire known universe overnight.

“The use of so much hops in a single beer is unprecedented,” said ICD Chair Regan MacNeil.  “And to be quite honest I find it to be irresponsible.  The addition of such high concentrations of alpha acids and unchartable IBU poses a threat not only to our children, but to our children’s children, and their children.”

“Das is crazy,” says Klaus.  “To say such hops are hier ist die Hölle los is silly.  When this brew works and I enjoy a sip of the first pint, I’ll be sie feiern bis in die Puppen!”

We’ll brew Hopothesis A in a few weeks.  Pray Klaus is right.  

Summer Beer Dinner

Summer Beer Dinner tickets are on sale now and are moving fast!  Taking place on 09.09.09 at 7pm, a $40 ticket (not including tax and gratuity) gets you the following menu.  Come reserve your spot before it’s too late.

Course 1: Warm Pear, Gorgonzola & Walnut Arugula Salad w/ Rye Wit Balsamic-Honey Dressing paired with Morning Wit

Course 2: Warm Oysters w/ a Morning Wit Sabayon paired with Verano Sin Fin Saison

Course 3: Your choice of the following paired with Freetail Amber Lager:

a)       Pork Spare Ribs w/ Nacho Sancho Ancho BBQ Sauce, German Potato Salad and Porter Baked Beans

b)       Baked Halibut w/ Nacho Sancho Ancho Glaze, Roasted Potatoes and Asparagus

Course 4: Peach Raspberry Cobbler w/ Bat Outta Helles Vanilla Bean Ice Cream paired with Witicus Double Rye Wit

Course 5: Rye Wit Macerated Fruit paired with Nacho Sancho Ancho

Broken Promise brew video on YouTube.

Ever wonder what a day at the office is like for the brewers at Freetail?  Check it out for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr93gL5k0VQ

San Antonio Beer Tour

Patrick Beach of the Austin American-Statesman and Travis Poling of Beer Across Texas recently took a beer tour of San Antonio which included a trip to Freetail.  Read about it here: http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/bws/entries/2009/08/10/my_perfect_day_trip_san_antoni.html

A link in case the embedded doesn’t work for you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr93gL5k0VQ

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Cheers!

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American Birthday Bash just around the corner!

Our 1^st Annual American Birthday Bash is just a week away!  If you’ve already got plans, cancel them.  If you are making plans, the work is done for you.  We’ll be celebrating America’s 233^rdbirthday with music on the patio and $2.33 pints of Freetail beer all day.  Music starts at 2:00pm with a set by the South Texas Destroyers, followed by The Hotrod Hillbillies around 4:30, The Flamin’ Hellcats around 7:00 and the South Texas Destroyers closing it down with a second set around 9:30.  Bring your appetite as well, because we’ll be rolling out the grill for burgers and brats in addition to our famed pizzas.  Happy Birthday, USA!

Christmas in July & Other Gifts from Cerveza Claus

The fun doesn’t stop with July 4^th.  On Monday the 6^thwe’ll roll out some winter seasonals we’ve been saving specifically for this occasion.  Christmas in July will feature our highly-rated winter seasonals: La Muerta, Old Bat Rastard, and 4Shadow.  We’ve also got a little bit of Rahr & Sons Whiskey Warmer we’ve been saving.  This will most definitely be the last time to taste any of these beers until La Muerta is brewed for it’s November 1 release (with 4Shadow released a few weeks prior), and Old Bat Rastard unfurls his withered wings on January 1^st.  (Unless of course you are going to GABF this year, where small quantities of La Muerta will flow for the masses).

Our Christmas in July celebration will include a couple of cask-conditioned beers.  First up, we’ll tap a firkin of Simcoe dry-hopped Torpor Porter and once that has felt it’s final pull of the beer engine, we’ll immediately follow it up with a firkin of Real Ale’s Lost Gold IPA.

HELL ON EARTH – remember those chilly 90-degree days?

Living here in South Texas, you are already well aware that we’ve set the record previously held by The Sun for consecutive days over 1,000,000° F.  We’ve been working very closely with NASA in order to develop a beer that mimics the effects of flash freezing your inner organs to cool your body temperature back down to earthly levels.  Federal Label Approval still pending.

In the meantime, you can try to beat the heat with any one of our existing or upcoming beers that are designed with our fire-and-brimstone-like climate in mind.  In addition to perennial favorites La Rubia and Rye Wit, we’ll have Verano Sin Fin (our summer Saison), and Bat Outta Helles (a Munich-style Helles lager) scheduled for mid-late July release.  Keep an eye on our website or this newsletter for exact release dates.

New Merch

You spoke, we listened!  New t-shirts have finally arrived.  We’ve gone back to our iconic over-lapped logo in an assortment of colors, and we also have a Freetail Ale logo tee currently available.  If you are one of the many people we’ve talked to over the last month or so, you know these go FAST so come pick one up before it’s too late.

USA Soccer!!!

Right on the heels of their historic upset of Spain, the National Team will take on heavy-favorite Brazil in the FIFA Confederations Cup Final.  This tournament is already a huge success in preparations for next year’s World Cup in South Africa as it’s the first time the USA has ever made the Confederation’s Cup Final and only the second time in US history we’ve beaten the #1 ranked team in the world (Spain).  Come on out to Freetail at 1pm Sunday to root Landon Donovan and the rest of the team on as we seek to make even more history!

Finally… WiFi!!!

Perhaps even more historic is that owner Scott “Meatball” Metzger finally got around to getting WiFi for the brewpub!  Available in the coming weeks, WiFi (which, as commonly known, stands for Wireless Fi-something-or-other) will bring our technology up to 2003 standards.  Hooray!