Cheers!!!

“Beer is proof that God loves us, and wants us to be happy.”  
          -Benjamin Franklin

Wise words from a wise man.  There is an ever wiser wo(man) however, my fiancée Kelly.  When we watched a “Renovation Realities” one evening where a young couple, such as ourselves,  installed a beer tap in their kitchen she said to me “we should do that!”  I stared deep into her eyes for a moment, kissed her passionately, then let her fall to the floor like John Belushi dropped Carrie Fisher in The Blues Brothers and started sketching up the blueprints for this…

BAM!!!

We’ve known for a long while there was an old chimney hiding behind some drywall in our kitchen, we just never knew what to do with it.  When Kelly had the beer tap-iphany, we knew the chimney’s destiny at once. 

BEGONE DRYWALL!!!

  (I wanted to start small and maybe have the chimney only PARTLY-exposed.  My "irregular" cutout with the router just wasn't right though.  In the end Kelly was right...it was all or nothing!)

Just as the brick smokestack of Boulevard Brewing Company has for years been a symbol of local brewing at its finest, so our little chimney would as well.  Cheers to you brick masons of 1912!

In a matter of days I found a fridge, CO2 tank, keg coupler, and beer faucet (yes...this is really what they’re called) on the cheap…where else, but on Craigslist.  I picked it up and somehow conned a friend into helping me hoist it down the stairs.  Cheers to you Travis M! 

(Andre pictured admiring my test-pouring setup downstairs...sorry we didn't get any muscle shots Travis)

(the gear...brand new CO2 tank and regulator...thanks again Craigslist!)

After one stop at Habitat Restore and another at our local Grainger, I picked up enough PVC fittings and a small, electric blower to put together a cold air-chilled beer line from our basement to the tap upstairs.

(you can see the back of the fridge in the bottom left)

(thank you Dad for handing down the fabrication skills!)

After one more stop at BedBath&Beyond (shudder) I found the perfectly sized tap tower mounting surface in the form of an upside-down, broken apart bamboo silverware tray.  Cheers to you for the idea Baby!

And finally cheers to you HGTV for coming up with Renovation Realities in the first place!  J

Bottoms up!