Hiya!

We had our city inspection last week! There were a couple days of frantic, last-minute adjustments and not a ton of sleep, but we made it.

Everybody from the city was incredibly nice and supportive and seemed as excited about us getting this place open as all of you have been. Let's hope these are all good omens and tidings. It's been a very looooong slog to get this place up on line, so, some fresh, encouraging winds were very welcome.

We've been getting a lot of questions - in fact, a nice lady just popped her head in as I was writing this - about when we'll be open. Believe me, we want to be open as bad as you want us to be. It seems plausibly realistic that we could be open by mid-July if all goes modestly OK, which, you know, is all we can really hope for these days. Facebook or Instagram are your best options for immediate news on when we're opening. And, of course, this lovely newsletter as well.

I hear tell that we've got some kind of holiday this weekend. The one where every damn person in my neighborhood extends every inch of their will to give my dog a nervous breakdown. Well, I'm here to report: she remains steadfast. Alice has not yet given up all hope, though she just spends a lot more time following us around the house, shaking, drooling and panting like Nixon in front of the press. She'll be ok, though, I think, we just keep front-loading her with beer. So have at your dumb fireworks and, please, enjoy your weekend.

To assist in your incendiary indulgences, we've dropped a fresh batch of FRUIT CREEP and TRUSTlager out to our accounts. The city got theirs on Tuesday and, as always, we're doing western burbs today, north tomorrow and south burbs & Rockford on Friday. Utah is getting some Fruit Creep, too. You should see that towards the end of July.

Don't forget to go to our TERRIBLY DESIGNED web store and buy one of the sexy new shirts we had made recently. These are real nice looking shirts. Real nice. We'll also have these available at our tap room when it's open along with some other fun, limited swag. But, if you buy a shirt now, you can wear it to the opening and then everybody will know, beyond any shadow, that you are serious about your love of IBW. And what could be a more important way to express your individuality than that?