By Andrew Burns, Head Brewer
The previous iterations of this series have shown you the inside of our buildings, but now I want to give you a tour of our exterior. In a lot of ways, the work you can see from the road is how most people gauge our progress. When there is construction being done, and folks see the changes as they drive by, they know that something is happening. So when big changes pop up, like the deck, people instantly stop and notice. That's been a lot of fun.
What I'd like to do in this post is first show a little bit of the work that's been going on recently, and also walk you through why our site is laid out the way it is. Because it all comes back to the river. The Cannon River is maybe our greatest resource as a business. Rivers bring people together, and part of the draw of our taproom is the ability to sit on the deck, overlooking the river, with a craft beer in hand.
That's what it's all about
So we have to protect the River. The DNR has pretty specific rules on how our property has to manage its runoff. One of the things we've done to help with the runoff is use a permeable mix for our parking spots. This special mix of cement and porous material allows water to drain through, instead of running off towards the river.
In case you've ever wondered how they pour permeable cement mix, and smooth it into a parking spot, this is what that looks like:
Maybe you're not as in to mechanical stuff as me, but I think that's pretty cool.
The other big thing we've done to protect the river is plant a rain garden. The rain garden will capture water as it does run towards the river. Using only native plants, the rain garden allows that runoff to filter through more slowly. This helps filter out pollutants, protects the river from flooding, and provides habitat for pollenators, birds, and butterflies.
The rain garden
The exterior of our brewery isn't in its finished state, but it's getting closer. Here's a few other shots of our progress:
It sure does make me thirsty.
Andrew Burns
Head Brewer,
Chapel Brewing