An Open Apology

This blog entry serves as an open apology for the length of time since the last post.  I am sure everyone has been waiting with baited breath for the next post.  Rest assured we have been busy harvesting and planning, especially with regard to the new building.  We never imagined we would be this far behind schedule, but we are moving forward and will be in our retail spot some time soon.

I can also report that we have now established wholesale accounts for almost everything we need for the shop.  It has been interesting that some businesses have very straightforward and fair policies for establishing wholesale accounts and some have essentially the opposite.  Some in the business literally require you to have an fully operational business in a narrowly defined storefront location with zero competitors in a 60 mile radius before they will sell to you.  Mind you, this is not an investment for them...but just a sale.  It can literally be an egg/chicken conundrum.  Luckily I have identified a large number of vendors that are interested in growing, rather than protecting business.  I am also lucky that I ran across the supportive vendors first, else I might have been dissuaded from further pursuit!  Anyone that knows me can attest that telling me I can't do something is not the best way to deter me.  By the way, if anyone wants to buy 50 wort pumps, let me know.

A Good Cause

 Windy Hill Hops is excited to be a sponsor and team member of Aleuminati Cycling (The not so secret society of better beer drinking cyclists) as part of the MS150 ride to raise money and awareness for Multiple Sclerosis.

You might ask what hops have to do with cycling and MS.  It turns out there are lots of connections.  This project is the brain child of David Kirk, a member of the local beer community.  Following the MS diagnosis of his wife in 2007 he participated in a fundraising ride and gained recognition for doing so on his old, 10 speed bike left over from his paper route in the 80's.  You see, an interesting thing about this ride is that, while there is a place for very serious cyclists in this event, it is characterized by normal people that would not necessarily call themselves cyclists committing to serious rides to raise serious money for a serious disease.  What better way to do this than a 5 day, 300 mile brewery hopping ride starting in Murphysboro, IL and ending in Colombia, MO?

The beer connection comes in further when, as the story goes, Shawn Connelly (aka The Beer Philosopher) took part in "David’s transformation from a “bad beer” drinker to an individual who is passionate about craft beer after the 2007 ride".  This is the inspiration for the team name, Aleuminati Cycling, which plays tribute to Aleuminati, an on-line social networking site created by Shawn that is  self-described as "the (not so) secret society of better beer drinkers".  Further, the ride is designed around local beer destinations, including Windy Hill Hops and Farm.

Here's the plan.  We will do a section of the ride along the beautiful Katy Trail, which is an old rail bed that has been converted to a biking trail.  The plan is to put kid #2 in the bike trailer behind me and the rest of the family will be on their own bikes.  We don't know yet exactly which parts we will do, but we will likely ride 2 days.  The trail looks beautiful and it is a wonderful time of the year (early September).

We need your support!  Donate to our team or ride with us on all or part of this fun, brewery hopping ride!  It is easy to donate as little or as much as you are able to contribute.  In fact, if all of our "fans" donated at least $5.00 (the cost of a beer in a local pub) we will exceed our fundraising goal!  We truly appreciate your support in helping us reach our fundraising goal in this fun event for a good cause!