“You know, this is a pretty heavy bit of deja-vu.” I surmised, watching the inspector as he fiddled with a dial on the stainless-steel pressurized fermentation tank. Well, it looked like stainless, but it was actually a special alloy made with shellback shells.
“Whuzzat?” The elderly dwarf in the black robes of a senior Master Brewer grumbled. Master Brewer Blunt knocked the tank with his fist a few times and frowned, his white beard and moustache twitching with disapproval.
“This is tha second time this year I’m bein’ inspected. Though tha first time was an auditor.”
“How long ago was that? Start o’ tha year?”
“Aye. Doesn’t feel like it, though! Phew! The Octamillenial is comin’ up fast!”
“Not surprised yer bein’ inspected so much.” The inspector grumbled. “By Barck’s Beard, I dunno what halfa this junk is! Shiny though!” He flailed his arms in exasperation and gestured at our shiny new brewroom.
I took a slight step away to dodge the stench of onions that wafted off him. It seemed some traditions were universal in Crack, including onion-bearing overbearing Master Brewers.
“It’s all brewing equipment. Top of the line. It’ll make enough beer to make yer moustache curl!” I said.
“Hah! Yer just lucky ya finished it with two weeks ta spare! If’n half tha’ tales Master Brewer Malt has been sharin’ with tha Guild are true, it’ll do somethin’ all right!”
We shared a laugh, though mine was a bit forced. Malt! What were you telling them about us!? Annie and I were going to need to set aside time to visit the Kinshasa Brewer’s Guild now that construction was done, before it was too late!
The Guild inspector was visiting to ensure we were ready to represent Minnova for the Octamillenial celebrations. They were just two weeks away, and the energy around the tavern was electric. As soon as he was gone we were going to fire everything up and have our first brew! We could’ve just provided the inspector with a fresh beer to prove we were ready, but we really wanted to show off.
The past three-and-a-bit months were a blur, with unending work to prepare our new Thirsty Goat for prime time. We’d started with gutting the main building and installing a multi-tiered seating area, with a large number of bolted down tables, and a small stage for performances. A stone fireplace had been set up in the center, providing a nice cozy warmth no matter where you were in the dining room.
I’d managed to convince Annie to put a double hinge on the front circular door for ease of dwarf-tossing. Now it went both ways, just like Freddie Mercury.
The back furnace and workshop area had been transformed into our new brewroom, and it was full to the brim. We had a lauter tun, a mash tun, a boiler, a hopback, ten enormous shiny new pressurized fermentation tanks, and more. It looked almost exactly like a modern day brewery, with a chrome finish to nearly every surface. Pipes in the walls lead to a dozen maturation tanks in the basement, where lagers or matured ales could spend a few months before being piped back up.
This left zero space for an actual kitchen, but Annie had come up with an excellent solution.
We simply bought out the bakery next door and added it on to the building. Dwarven [Mattershapers] made it as easy as pie, and the previous dwarven proprietor had been more than happy to sell. He’d been worried about all the competition from the Octamillenial contestants, and had been thinking about leaving town. We provided the gold, and he provided two feet out the door. The bakery was now seamlessly attached to the restaurant area and converted into a well-appointed kitchen, with half the wall between them blasted open so patrons could watch the chef at work.
Bran said he hated the attention, but he also kept posing when he worked recently.
The hardest part had honestly been all the running around. Between City Hall, tradesfolk, and some basic exploring, I had a lot of new milestones and quests.
Quest Complete: It’s All About Brew!You’ve created, designed, and built a new kind of brewery!
Gained 0.4 Charisma! Your new Charisma is 17.8!