There have been enough/sufficient repetition of questions that another Q&A is in order. Without further ado, The Questions!
Question 1: Why do you only offer the special production stuff in 750ml bottles? Why can’t I get a Death Wish Jug of Madness?
Answer: 4L of Death Wish BBotE?!? I worry about you guys sometimes. Honestly, I can put anything in any kind of container I want. The reason I default to 750ml bottles is that it lets me divvy out a small run into enough bottles that more people will get a stab at picking one up. Making jugs of the special runs would tend to suck up most of that production without sharing. With that said, if you want a different size of something special, all you have to do is ask and be understanding that it may cause some delay.
Question 2: Are you going to sell/license BBotE to Starbucks/Stumptown/Dunkin Donut/etc.?
Answer 2: Not intending on it, no. I also kind of doubt it’s their thing. Coffee is a very high profit product for them that accompanies the sale of various pastries. BBotE, simply put, isn’t. The coffee input, scientific apparatus, and space/time commitment defeat that at all levels. I’ve also found BBotE production doesn’t scale well, so you can’t just have someone minding a giant vat in the back because geometry matters to the flavor. On that note, I’d just like to say that it’s really disturbing to have a lesson I learned in Criticality Safety apply to coffee.
Question 3: Are you ever going to tell any more Antarctica stories?
Answer: As my Lovely Assistant can attest, you are hard pressed to get me to not tell them but free time is the great limiting factor. I’d actually been contemplating a very vital Antarctica topic while I was in Reno: toilets. It’s also is likely to fulfill one of the legs of the Tripod of Humor (puns, groinings, poop jokes) so it is a tale that demands to be told. Another day.
Question 4: Why don’t you have the HDPE watertight lids for the normal Steins of Science instead of just the rugged style?
Answer: Because I’m a slacker? A better excuse is that the HDPE lids are a lot of work to make, each one is unique to the Stein of Science it’s made for (not to mention that the fit tolerance is rather tight), and the demand hasn’t been all that high. I did the original spec work last year for the rugged 665ml which has slightly different dimensions than the normal FMJs, but different enough that I can’t use the HDPE lid designed for one on the other. And then, well, I kinda moved on to other projects. Someday though…