Internal Brewsletter - March 10, 2021
UPCOMING PACKAGED RELEASES
*As with most of our releases, this will initially be available on Saturday via the Drive-Thru Sale, and then available at the Tap Room and Pub thereafter! Draft offerings will always go live the Friday before.
Releasing Saturday, 3/13
Selection Series, Centennial // IPA // This IPA was brewed exclusively with Centennial hops from Wyckoff farms in Grandview, WA. With an unobtrusive grist profile and soft water base as the canvas, this beer is meant for Centennial’s vibrant notes of candied orange, pine, and rose to shine. // 7% ABV // $4.00/can, plus deposit
The DAB Lab, Double Dab // Imperial IPA // Pairing a soft malt profile and a pair of juicy yeast strains, Double Dab elicits a double-take at the first sip, bursting with notes of pineapple and passionfruit, lemon zest and rind, and then eases into a wave of resin and dank herbs. // 8.9% ABV // $4.50/can, plus deposit
*This is the second to last Selection Series - next week is the last, Strata!
GENERAL UPDATES
Daylight Savings time is this weekend! Don’t forget to Spring forward!
With that being said, we should expect some later nights on the restaurant side of things as it’s lighter later and folks stay out a bit later!
INDOOR DINING BEGINS AGAIN!
Both the Tap Room and the Downtown Pub will reopen on Friday for limited indoor dining. While a lot of guests will be excited to come back inside for service, it is important to all of the managers that we are able to continue to maintain social distance as employees. This includes space behind the bar, in the kitchen, around server stations, etc. Please help us continue to maintain this distance to the best you can.
Occupancy Limits: The host has specific limits for indoor areas (we have the dining room broken up based on airflow of specific areas). As customers, please keep the host up to date if you have joiners, and overall check in with them to ensure that we are not exceeding those limits.
Reservations/waitlist: From our web site guests will be able to add them selves to the waitlist (Downtown only) as well as request a reservation (both locations). From the Block15.com homepage, you will select your location, and there will be more details and a form to complete to request being added. Hosting staff will still confirm all guest requests based on current availability/flow of the restaurant. All guests will be able to share their dining preference (outdoor only, outdoor preference, no preference, indoor preference, indoor only) to help the host best meet their needs.
Staff Distancing: As we increase the number of staff members in both locations, please make sure to communicate through signage or table tent positioning when a table is clear but still dirty. This becomes more important as we have more folks around and it is harder to talk to everyone directly.
Please see location specific details below!
On Friday, March 12th we will be launching some new Spring TRAVELER cocktails! Details are below (pricing will be TBD):
Earl Grey Paloma - Grapefruit, Orange and Earl Grey infused Olmeca Altos Reposado tequila with lime juice and simple syrup.
This will replace the Margarita for to-go, but we will still have the Margarita for in-house consumption.
Tradewinds - Flor de Cana Gold rum, Appleton Estate Reserve Blend Jamaican rum, apricot, lemon and house made coconut cream.
This will replace the Jungle Bird.
Rain Drop - SlapTail vodka, housemade lavender simple syrup and lime juice.
This will replace the to-go version of the Pear Flower.
The Whiskey A Goji will stick around for a few more weeks, but will be replaced with a Spring whiskey cocktail in the coming weeks.
These will also all be available for in-house!!!
MENU & FOOD UPDATES
HUMMUS PLATING
We have switched from using the boards at the Tap Room and the Pub for the hummus plate to the round brown and white Caves plates! There will be a procedure pasted in the kitchen, but the only major change is the plate it goes on!
QUICK FIRE MENU ITEMS
With us opening this Friday for limited in house dining at both our locations, we realize that we could chance some higher than normal ticket times out of the kitchen since we still want to maintain some sense of social distancing on the line. With this we want to be sure we are able to offer our guests the opportunity to order a quick fire appetizer if there is a chance their meal could take 25+ minutes.
Communication around food times is so important with tables, especially as we make yet another pivot! The expo screens now have color coded bars at the top of the order to help quickly identify how long since the order was fired to the kitchen. FOH staff, please pay close attention to these colors/times to help make sure that your tables are kept up to date on expectations.
Some great example language when telling a table about longer food times could be something like, “Because we are wanting to ensure social distancing among our kitchen staff, it is taking about XX minutes to get entrees out of the kitchen. But, we have made a couple of snack items high priority that we could get going as an appetizer if you would like.”
Listed below are the items that if they are ordered in a singled out ticket are priority fires.
TAP ROOM
Small and Large Nachos
Sides and Baskets of Fries
Chips and Salsa Roja
Pretzels
DOWNTOWN
Sides and Baskets of Fries
Chips and Salsa Roja
Pretzels
Chicken Wings
GTF GREENS
Starting this week we will be switching from the Arcadian salad greens we have been using to local salad greens from Gathering Together Farm!
PUB UPDATES
Upon reopening, we are going to offer glass pours of the Chardonnay and 3 Fools Superfool. No Grenache at the moment, but we may bring that one back in the future.
Lists are going to continue to be updated, so please pass feedback along to your manager if you see anything that needs to be updated on Sani, Opening, Closing or Shift Change and Delivery Driver lists.
Indoor Dining Updates
Caves Public House will not open for indoor dining at this time. We will evaluate reopening that space as we see the demand at the Pub and are able to bring on enough staff to make it possible to run efficiently.
Upstairs: For now, the upstairs will stay closed. As we gauge demand, and can adjust staffing levels we will communicate with you all as we prepare to open it. Please treat this area as an extension of the employee break room. Feel free to use the space for a mid-shift meal, but no post-shift drinking upstairs for employees.
Hours: Last seating will extend on Friday & Saturday to 10pm. Sunday thru Thursday will continue to be 9pm, but may extend at the bar managers decision. All guests need to be out of service areas by 11pm.
TAP ROOM UPDATES
Make sure you’re always comfortable in your role - if you feel like you need to do something else, let your manager/coworkers know! Especially on longer shifts, it’s easy to start to feel burnt out, so if you need to take a break from serving, stop hosting to go float, etc., communicate that!
Let’s try to keep that walk-in cooler looking gooooood! If you have time, reorganize/recycle extra boxes, stock beer, and tidy up in general if you can! There’s so many people coming through that space it’s easy for it to quickly get messy!
Indoor Dining Updates
Hours: Last seating will extend on Friday thru Sunday to 9pm. Monday thru Thursday will continue to be 8pm, but may extend at the decision of the FOH closer. All guests need to be out of service areas by 11pm.
Waitlist updates: The TR Waitlist app now allows you to assign a table to a reservation or waitlist person as well as allowing you to do two-way texting with guests. This should help in organization as we have more tables/options for folks.
EMPLOYEE UPDATES
A big welcome to Thomas Schmitt, who will be joining is in the Back of House!
WHAT’S UP ON INSTA??
COMING UP ON DRAFT
Fri 3/12 - Selection Series, Centennial / The DAB Lab, Double Dab
UPCOMING / IN PROCESS BEERS
*With the constant changing of everything, some of these releases may change/get pushed back, so please be aware of that when communicating with customers!
The DAB Lab, Hop Hash // IPA
Emerging Sunshine // IPA
Sticky Hands, Brewers Cut // Hop Experience Ale
THE PEOPLE’S PINT
MARCH’S PEOPLE’S PINT
CARDV // CARDV provides services and support to those affected by sexual and domestic violence and provides education and leadership within the community to change the societal conditions that cultivate these forms of violence.
*Block 15/Alpha IPA is the beer of choice this month for the People’s Pint!
DINE OUT INFORMATION
Check back in a few week’s for April’s Dine Out information!
