Whoa, look at the time.
It’s been a while since we posted a blog - to the tune of about a
month. Sorry ‘bout that, guys. Can you blame us? December was nuts, with all the big brews,
holiday festivities, & actual, legitimate DAYS OFF!!! Might have gotten a little distracted, &
maybe a little resistant to getting back to the grind – not like writing this
blog feels like work, mind you. But
procrastination comes easy this time of year.
Moving from Christmas into 2014 has given me pause to
reflect on what was a pretty big year here at The House. We did some remodeling, & for a while the
place felt like a Lego set, with walls & shelves torn down & moved
around. The register moved to the side
& back again, the Mix & Match section opened up, the wall to the bar
area got chopped in half (now there’s a clear line of vision from one end of
the building to the other), the front seating area got some booths, we
installed a kitchen.
Oh yeah – we now have a real kitchen! With a grill!
And an oven! And a fryer! And a real menu, with food made
on-premise! This is the biggest change
that’s happened to The House in years (maybe ever, really). It’s awesome seeing people stick around for dinner
rather than heading home or to another restaurant for something substantial to
eat. We launched the new menu in late
October & so far have gotten some very positive feedback. The menu will continue to change, but focus
on a tight, quality spread. Sadly, this
meant saying good-bye to our friends in the food trucks, & while we’ll miss
their delicious grub, this has been a real step in the right direction for us
at The House.
Obviously, beer is what we do best, & 2013 was full of
it. We had fun with some great
events. Dave auctioned off his private
stash early in the year, spreading the love around to some high-rollers with a
beer jones. We spotlighted some great
drafts throughout the year: KBS & Bourbon County Stout come to mind (both
kicked within a couple hours). There was
the tapping of Voodoo’s 2 Live Grand Cru, Vol. 1 that kicked off Pittsburgh
Craft Beer Week for us, followed a week later by the return of The Sour &
the Funky, southwestern PA’s only sour & wild beer festival. There
were events with Great Lakes for their 25th anniversary, another
Voodoo barrel-aged beer tapping, Rogue, A’Chouffe, & Finch’s. We continue to be a launch point for the PA
Brew Tours excursions - which, if you haven’t jumped on one, you really should
check out. There were weekly glass giveaways,
monthly Top Shelf Thursday tastings, & the introduction of our Sunday
Tap-ins. And day-to-day fun, hijinx,
& beer – always lot of good beer.
We said good-bye to some much-loved Ho1KB faces in 2013:
Emily, Zach, & the legendary Meghan moved on to bigger & better things,
& will always have a place in House lore.
But we gained a big asset in T.J., a dude who’s beer-wise beyond his
years & has brought facial hair to heights never before seen among our team. A big thank you to all our associates – the contractors,
consultants, & reps with whom we rub elbows to make our magic happen. And the most love goes out to our friends who
spend their hard-earned cash to buy a little slice of heaven, one glass,
bottle, or can at a time. Our customers
are our lifeblood, & it makes our hard work worthwhile knowing that folks
come out of their way (sometimes waaay out of their way) to get the good stuff.
2014 will have some fun stuff in store, no doubt. We’ve already got some more events in the
works, putting together the next Top Shelf Thursday, as well as some special
Goose Island beers going on tap soon.
And there have already been the rumblings of change – just announced
that we’re tightening our tap selection from 40 down to 24, & there’s
already a tumult of response on Facebook.
Ah yes, the only constant…
From all of us at The House, a happy, healthy, &
prosperous 2014 to all!
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