We call it Plant Magic. It’s been happening more often in the last few weeks. I talk about it to a certain someone (she knows who she is) and it just happens!
We have all the signatures that we need for our Certificate of Occupancy! (please insert cheers, clapping, a happy dance, or whatever else you want)
It’s been a long road from the time we approached the town about which areas were zoned for our little microbrewery. Once we knew that, we had to find a space that was not only available, but that we loved since we will spend A LOT of time there. When we found The Plant within Chatham Beverage District, fabulous owners, and quirky indoor and outdoor spaces, we fell in love and things moved along. We signed a lease, we engaged an architect, hired a general contractor, and applied for the appropriate permits from the town. <insert screeching halt sounds> We had some speed bumps with our initial permitting process. Who knew a sewer allocation was so hard to acquire? Are we one of the only businesses that actually benefitted from COVID? Our 105 seat allocation was on hold, but we were able to secure an allocation for 40 seats, pending a full site plan, so we were off to the races.
Our whole journey to now has been hurry up…. wait…. hurry up….wait. Concrete cutting took weeks because the floors are thicker than 24 inches (who knew?). Electrical got stalled because our electrical equipment was older than Methuselah and to take advantage of some of the power generated by the solar arrays (solar made beer, wahoo!). Remember all the rain? That didn’t help, either. But finally, the concrete is cut, electrical and plumbing are buried, holes are filled, floors are sealed (remember to check out the blue floor in our production room), the many inspections are done. We have running water, electricity, heating, air conditioning, overhead fans, a walk-in cold box, a really cool BATH HOUSE, and signatures on paper.
What’s next, you ask? When will bmc brewing actually be brewing? That’s a tough one! Now that we have the CO, we have to get approval from the state to legally brew beer to sell and approval to sell the beer we brew. Today included a drive into Raleigh to the ABC Commission to turn in the ream of paperwork for the permits to brew and sell beer. We want to do everything by the book, even if it means we have to wait a few extra days to open. So stay tuned!