SUDS CLUB Update: Thanks + A Wee Bit More!

Well, the wonderful response we've had to our SUDS Club initiative and some fantastic outdoor ice-time this past weekend have us in a very positive mood this week!

Thanks to you stellar Townhouse supporters, we have already reached the halfway mark to our subscription goal! We really appreciate this concrete demonstration of community support, generosity, and confidence in our idea. So we've decided we'd like to give a little extra back to thank those of you who have already signed on, and to encourage others who may still be considering becoming SUDS Club members–if you're just finding out about the SUDS Club, please see our previous post here for some background information.

SUDS Club Member Bonus!
We're pleased to announce that a $1000 subscription will now give a member 12 x $25 coupons each year, or 1 per month, every month for 4 years. That's 2 extra coupons per year, for a total return of $200 on your generous investment in a community-supported pub! But you have to act quickly - there is a limited number of subscriptions available, and the deadline to sign up is February 11th.

We'd also like to clarify a few things that have come up in conversation with many of you:

- SUDS Club Membership
To become a member, please fill out the membership form (the information comes directly, and only to us). By subscribing you are helping to create Canada's first Community Supported Brewpub! The $1000 subscription entitles you to 12 x $25 food coupons each year for 4 years, redeemable once per month as soon as the Townhouse is up and running! That's your original subscription repaid with great food in your own local brewpub, plus an additional $200 of food (free!) to say thank you.

- Payment
Only after our location has been secured, and all other funding is in place, will we contact you to collect your payment and pick up your membership/coupons. In the unfortunate event that we are unable to secure the location or funding, we will thank you for your support, but you will owe us nothing.

- Group subscriptions?
We welcome group subscriptions! You can get another couple to go in with you, or form a group of friends to buy a subscription together. We can still only redeem 1 coupon/month, so it will be up to the group to decide how to share their redemption. You can take turns each month, or you might decide to meet up to enjoy a meal together, and put the coupon towards a shared bill. To keep things simple, elect one member to register and be our contact for payment/coupon delivery.

- 6 x $50 coupons/year?
We decided to offer an alternative redemption schedule for those of you who feel you might not make it out once/month (although we hope you do!),  and to make it easier for those of you sharing a subscription as a group, or living outside of Antigonish. A subscriber can elect to redeem $25 coupons once per month, or to redeem $50 coupons once every 2 months. We ask that you commit to one of these options each year to keep things simple (you can always switch the following year if you decide you'd like to try the other option out!).

- Are coupons transferable?
Yes! You are welcome to share your subscription with friends or family. However, we can still only honour one coupon/month.

- Miss a month?
Unused coupons will expire, which is another reason we wanted to offer you 2 extra $25 coupons per year (or 1 at $50). And remember, you can opt to redeem $50 worth of coupons every 2 months if you prefer.

- Not just beer!
For those among you who crave a cozy little local pub, but don't necessarily drink beer–don't worry. We are working to develop an excellent little wine list (we welcome your input!), and are also planning to stock a variety of tasty local and imported ciders. We will also offer coffees, teas, and local sodas and spritzers.

- Deadline?
The deadline to subscribe is February 11th. We expect to be collecting payment early in the spring and hope to open our doors as early as May or June.

Once again, thank you from the Townhouse!
To those of you have already signed up for a membership, we thank you heartily. Your support could make all the difference! If you're still thinking about it, we encourage you to join us in launching Canada's first community supported brewpub. As always, we're happy to hear whatever you're thinking–don't hesitate to get in touch with any questions, comments, or concerns.

We'll leave you with a few recent articles of interest:

Vibrant Village Bucks the Trend
A great article about Tatamagouche, it's local pub, barter system, CFAs, and commitment to local food...

Ontario Brewery's Community Supported Eco-development project

Halifax's Hop-heavy Rockstar Brewer

Garrison's Maritime Home-brewing Competition

Maritime vineyard's getting respect


Cheers,

Rose and Terry

Anatomy of an All Grain Brew Session

Hello again one and all,

An Update:

Our Suds Club campaign is off to a great start–hats off to those of you who have taken the plunge! Your support is truly essential and deeply appreciated! Those of you still thinking about it, feel free to get in touch with any questions or concerns. We know it's not something everyone can do at this point, and we have also had a number of inquires about sharing memberships. While we wholeheartedly encourage this activity, we just want to clarify that we will still only be able to honour one coupon per month–this just means that you will have to work out amongst yourselves how you'd like to share the coupons, either by taking turns redeeming them, or by making monthly dates to meet up for a tasty meal and libations, and putting the coupon toward a shared bill. 

Attention non-beer drinkers:

While we will naturally be promoting excellent craft brewed draught beer at the brewpub, our own and a number of the Maritime's finest, we assure the less beer-inclined among you that there will also be an excellent little wine list, and some terrific ciders available as well. In fact, we'd love to hear what you think about having cider on tap (how many of you would actually order it?) and what you'd most like to see on our wine list! Comment on the blog or drop us a line!

And now, back to the main event...

The Great North Grant Pale Ale Session

Recently our friend Tom and I brewed a batch of English Pale Ale in Tom's cozy and rustic barn/personal brewery in North Grant. We thought some of you might like to see the process as it unfolded. This is a very basic description of the process, there are awful lot of very complicated chemical processes taking place, we'll just highlight the most rudimentary ones.

Welcome to The Suds Club!

Happy new year, folks, and apologies for the long hiatus. We trust the holidays were memorable, and that everyone is off to great start for 2012! When not participating in a higher than normal volume of Christmas/New Year's festivities, we've been working furiously behind the scenes, working out cashflow projections, meeting with accountants and lawyers, and we are pleased to announce that we are ready to take a major next step in launching the Townhouse! 

We need to raise a modest amount of money to help us secure the perfect downtown location and meet our working capital requirements, and we'd like you to help us do it. The "next step" is to launch our CSR, or Community Supported Restaurant subscription program, which we've decided to call the "Suds Club." 

Background on CSRs