The Mayday Blog is Born Again

Hello all of you lovely readers. My name is Stephanie and Ozzy has asked me to take over the task of writing the blog for Mayday Brewery. I'll start with a brief introduction of myself. I was born and raised in the beautiful Murfreesboro, then moved to Paducah, KY in 2005. There's not much of anything going on in that tiny city, but that was where my story began. While there I started a cute little family and now have 3 super cool children. I was also introduced to powerlifting and am now a competitive powerlifter. Way cool, right?! Then, I went to my first brewery and instantly fell in love with craft beer. Also in my time there I became quite a foodie and reconnected with my hippie side, spending as much time as possible seeking adventure, exploring nature, appreciating art and developing a unique palette for food and beer. November 2015 I moved back home and this is where my story starts a new chapter.  Murfreesboro has completely changed over the last 10 years, and I have lost contact with many of my old friends. This was leaving me feeling as though I'm the new kid in a new city and trying to find a cool place to hangout. My brother had told me of Mayday so I looked them up and paid them a visit.
When I go to a brewery it is 75% the experience that hooks me, even when it comes to tasting the beer. I walked in at 4:30 on a Thursday with no idea of where I'm going or what to expect (my favorite way to embrace the experience). The first thing I saw was the very interesting entrance and the checkered walk path. Then  I turned the corner and  saw a super rad mural and the curvy checkered path continues. As I'm walking towards the tasting room my mind is just going wild with the brilliant stimuli already observed. I was full of energy and excited to see what was beyond the next door. As soon as I enter the tasting room I am greeted by the beautiful Emily, who knows her beer well (always an excellent quality). The entire space from the entrance, to the brewery, the tasting room and outside space is incredible! Then it's time to taste the beer...AMAZING! I'm sold!
After introductions and conversation Mayday volunteer Terron explains the Saturday tours and  lets me know that I have to check one out. Unfortunately my schedule would not permit me to attend until this past Saturday. WOW, WOW, WOW!!! Up to this point I had only been able to come on a few weekday evenings, and my experience was awesome every time. Everyone at Mayday (from Ozzy the owner to the bartenders, and the customers give off a very welcoming, super cool, chill vibe that anyone would love. I've met really cool people and made some new friends. But, the tour  takes the Mayday experience to a whole new level. It makes this place truly a one of a kind brewery that stands above any of the many breweries I have visited.
 On other brewery tours you walk around and listen to someone give interesting facts about the building, what they do and their brewing process and maybe a little taste of one of the beers. That's it, simple, cool knowledge and you've been in the space they brew their delicious beers. The Mayday tour is a whole new reality you will not find anywhere else. Ozzy is amazing! These tours all about loving the people, and creating an awesome time for them. He is full of life and energy and love and makes sure that you will be also. This tour is phenomenal. Every person has the ability to be an active contributor to this energy. Ozzy brings an element to your brewery experience that can't even be described with words. Just "you have to experience yourself to understand!" On this tour you will get some really cool facts and learn how the brewing process works, but in a way no other brewery does. Not to mention “ample samples” of their four core beers poured by Terron who isn’t shy in adding his wit during the tour. These tours have so much going on it is hard to take it all in on just one tour. So, plan to take more than one. It will be worth every penny and second spent doing so. I met so many people on this tour and discovered that several people had taken the tour several times. That is how rad this is. In fact, before taking this tour I've had multiple conversations with many people I meet through work that told me how crazy these tours are. This weekend I met folks from Hendersonville who brought their visiting relatives down through the snow to take the tour. So, clearly, Mayday Brewery rocks! I've been to breweries (both big and small) and none of them even come close to creating the experience of Mayday. Part of life (the most important part I believe) should be creating fun and happiness and making wonderful memories. What better way than in the presence of an awesome environment and phenomenal company and delicious beer? I'm already planning a gathering there with my friends from Paducah. Mayday has amazing local musicians play on Fridays and Saturdays with quite a variety of different musical styles.  And if you get hungry, My Roots food truck is there serving delicious food everyday that Mayday is open (try the veggie spring rolls...my fav!). Oh...and can't forget yoga in the brewery every other week. .

Mayday is also an excellent place to host a private event. They rent the space after hours for birthday parties, weddings, receptions, showers, reunions, and even memorial services. So, come by and check them out. Support the local businesses and musicians and the community and embrace the uniqueness of Mayday Brewery. I plan to write more of these blogs and would love to include you in them. The community is what helps perpetuate environment of Mayday, so make sure I get to meet you. Here are some fun pictures of recent tours. Come join one of them Saturday at 3:00, 4:00, and 5:00! Super excited to see you out there!

New Tour Concept - Guest Pourers!

First, let me apologize for not blogging since November of 2013. Good grief. 

In the spirit of always trying to make the Mayday Experience a truly unique one, I am going to start inviting some of my friends with various talents to pour beer on our tours. It may be people that you know, or it could just be someone that I think is cool and that will compliment what I am doing. 

I am stoked for this upcoming Saturday when Emily Isabell and Joey Fletcher will be helping me to make this the most phantasmagorical tour experience possible, all for 8 small dollars.

Come check out the premier of this new series coming up this Saturday at 3:00 4:00 and 5:00. Then at 6:00 enjoy some acoustic jam with Fletcher, Bell and Ward. 

Happy Thanksgiving

Wow, what a year. So many so many awesome people have come into our lives this year that we will never had the opportunity to meet without the brewery. We have had a year of trying our best not to suck and it doesn’t come without a ton of help. We have produced more than 1,500 barrels of beer this past year. That is 46,500 gallons. We have hosted lots of private parties, done a few of tours, given some beer and money to several charities, and had a ton of fun. This being the season of Thanksgiving, I want to thank so many people. I will forget someone, but suck it up, it wasn’t intentional.

·        To all of the people who have bought our beer both at the tasting room and at local restaurants and bars. Thanks for buying our beer and thanks for raising hell when places don’t have us on tap.

·        To our regulars at the tasting room who have kept  us company week after week.

·        To our investors and their family members for helping us whenever we needed it whether it was manning festival booths, promoting us, or working behind the bar in the tasting room. Lisa McCormick, Lisa Stevens, Katie Caplenor, Jennifer Nelson, Sydney McCormick, Suzanne Hall, Intern Matt., Ashlee and Dustin Smith, Kelsey Nelson, the ‘other’ Nelson kids Emma and Elisha, and Allison Sims. Thanks Clay Gupton for coming in and busting ass to help us every week.

·        To my old man Bob “Bobarino” Nelson and Gary Fryery who did a ton of mechanical, plumbing and electrical work over the past 14 months.

·        To Karen Winford who documented our events in awesome photographs.+

·        To Austin Gray whose graphic art talents have branded us so well.

·        To my brother and his wife Tracy and Mary Nelson who have helped out almost every Saturday doing whatever needed to get done.

·        To my wife Pamela and son Wyatt who have been neglected while I pursue my dream, and who have been there to keep the ship sailing in the tasting room and paying the bills.

·        To my brewers John Overby and Nick “Wiz” Wisniewski for making great beer and working to continuously improve our processes, and for helping with the sound on special events.

·        To Tommy McCormick for always being there. What a bromance.

·        To Charles Nelson for kicking total ass on social media and booking bands.

·        Mike Stevens for doing anything behind the scenes that he can and sporting and awesome mullet.

·        Mike Caplenor for sharing his gift for carpentry, business and his sweaty bald head.

·        All of the bands that have come to play. A special thanks to all the bands who have come from out of town to play in the brewery. And for  those who have come back a second time, Thelma and the Sleaze, Crazy Aces, Static Revival and Them Vibes.

·        Charles Pierce & Worxgroup for being Mayday merchandise central.

·        To our distributor RS Lipman. Go sell some more beer.

·        To Ashley Francis who has been loving the people and selling our beer.

·        To Randy Jubilee and Mark Dunkerly for bringing us Jubilee and the attitude that goes with it.

·        To Dave Baughman and the crew at Allied Boiler, Mike at Walter Hill Plumbing and Rick Young at Diversified Metal Engineering. Your support has been awesome, and I’m sure the check is in the mail.

·        To all of the restaurants and bars that carry our beer. I love you.

·        Dawna, Joe and Michelle at the Art Barn.

·        Melinda Hudgins Noblitt and Nancy De Gennaro for the great press.

·        The Yeasty Boys

·        To “BAM” Dave Tratchet for etching those cool Jugs of Fun for event prizes.

·        Food trucks, My Roots, Two Guys in a Lunchbox, Shorty’s Pizza Bus, Miller’s Grocery, Govenor’s BBQ, and everyone else that has helped us out with food.

·        To Jarrod Franklin and his hungry dairy cows for picking up and properly disposing of our spent grain.

·        To Matt and Rent the Big Event for the use of the trailer and corn-hole sets.

·        Jamie Jennings at Broad Street Tobacco and Mike at Liquid Smoke for promoting our beer all over town.

·        Panther Creek. Thanks Melvin, JT and Jeremy for the lighting and advice as well as all of the support.

·        To Art and the MidState Brewcrew.

·        Tyler at Rebel Brewer for his hardware advice.

·        Sean “Talk to the Hand” for his fancy coffee for the “Talk to the Hand Coffee Stout.”

And Brandon Hanna Custom Tattoos for the never fading Evil Octopus.

·        I feel very loved. 

·         

·        Thank You

·        Ozzy

Festivals. Can't Live With 'em, Can't Live Without 'em.

Beer festivals are fun. Pay one price, get to try a ton of awesome beers all in one place with a bunch of cool people. Who wouldn't love that?

I'd like to give you the inside scoop from the brewer's perspective if I may. As I see it, there are three types of beer festivals:
The Givers: Those who are run by people who volunteer their time and give all of the proceeds to charity. We support these festivals and will participate and promote these as much as we can.
The Buyers: Those who make money on festivals, give a portion of the proceeds to charity and purchase the beer at wholesale from the brewer. We participate in these when it makes sense logistically.
The Takers:  Those who make money on festivals, give a portion of their proceeds to charity, and ask the brewers to donate beer in exchange for "exposure" for their breweries. The Tennessee Brewers Guild has taken the stand that as a group, we will not participate in these festivals. Mayday agrees with the guild. We take great pride in our beer and we believe it is worth the wholesale price that festival organizers would have to pay for it.  You, the craft beer lover, will gladly pay for the opportunity to attend their festival to drink our beer, but the organizers are unwilling to pay for the beer being served.

This is why Mayday will not participate in Brewsboro coming up October 12.

If you want to come by the brewery, buy a beer and discuss it, I'd be happy to.

Ozzy

The People's Questions Answered

Mustaches

Life is too short not grow a mustache at least once and take a picture and post to the world wide web. Even if you say you can’t grow a mustache, then you grow the greatest mustache of all, the DTM (Dirty Teen Mustache).

Stouts

It is easier to make a good stout than any other style in my opinion. I like stouts

How to properly cut jorts

1.      1.Get your favorite pair of acid washed skinny jeans.

2.      2. Lay them flat on a table and fold them leg over leg.

3.      3. Stick your hand in a front pocket, take a sharpie and mark the end of the pocket.

4.      4. Very Important, turn front pockets inside out.

5.      5. Take scissors and cut at least 1 inch above the marked line.

6.       6.Wash and tumble dry for proper fraying.

7.      7.Wear proudly with your best cowboy boots and halter top.

Mullets

The only thing better than my grandmothers smoked mullet is some dude pumping gas with a mullet.

The people he meets at Mayday

This gets it’s own blog.

How affable the guys in Crazy Aces are and how Rad their music is..........or something about beer is good too, LOL

I can’t wait to see Crazy Aces play because we were on vacation the first time they played at Mayday.

The different grains and hops and when / why they are used.

Go on the tour.

I’d like an online tour of the brewery. It would be cool to see how it all works, at least until I can come in and take an actual tour.

Online would not do it justice. Come in and take a tour.

Black Sabbath

I just finished reading Tony Iommi and Ozzy Osbourne’s memoirs. Very funny and informative. Their first 3 albums, Black Sabbath, Paranoid, Master of Reality are timeless. The new album 13 is right up there.

How he makes Evil O..

Put just enough dark grain in it to make it dark. Then hop the dog doo out of it.

His opinion of good/bad beer.

This gets its own blog.

Guest Breweries

We love Panther Creek.

Chuck Norris!!!

We strive to be the Chuck Norris of breweries. No nonsense and take no prisoners.

Wedding Crasher

We rent our tasting room/bar out to private parties after hours. We have been looking forward to this weekend, because two of our regular patroons, Dustin and Sarah were having their wedding reception from 8:00 to 12:00 Saturday night. Dustin and Sarah are awesome people, so we knew that their friends would be just as cool.

Another one of our regulars is Dave. Dave owns his own metal fabrication/powder coat/sand blast shop just across the railroad tracks from the brewery. Check out his work BAM Customs. Dave works on Saturday, and has always shows up around 7:00. The first time we met Dave we were having a private party that night and he shows up and stays thru the entire party, not knowing he was the only stranger there. So, now it is running joke that every time there is a private party, Dave will show up and hang with the actual invited guests.

Last night was no exception, we had bets going behind the bar about what time Dave would show. He strolled in about 7:35 and ordered his usual Angry Redhead. We made fun of him of course, because he has a reputation to live up to. Dave sat and drank with the regular patrons and actually met the groom. He finished his beer at about 10:00 and left saying he would come back.

The wedding reception went on and everyone forgot about Dave not being there.

 At 11:30, the limo driver arrived to pick up the bride and groom, and the party was still going pretty strong. Shortly behind the limo driver, in walks Dave with one of our Jugs of Fun in his hand. He had taken a jug and sandblasted a message for the newly weds. He said later that when he saw the limo go by his shop that he had better hurry up.

Dustin and Sarah loved the gift from the 'wedding crasher' and I (Ozzy) filled it with Angry Redhead to take on their hornymoon.

What Took Me So Long?

 We have been a little busy since we opened, and I have needed to update this blog for some time. I thought I would just give you a few photos of the place and encourage everyone to come out to the tasting room. We are open Thur-Fri 4-8 and Saturday 1-8. If you don't know where we are, using Google Maps or Mapquest, just type in Mayday Brewery, Murfreesboro TN (or other software 521 Old Salem Rd Murf) and it will take you to our parking lot that looks a lot like the photo below. You will have to walk down a couple of long hallways, but it will be worth it.

Our brewery has some interesting "features"