Hops & Grain 'Stool Sample' Project

No, not that kind of stool sample. Hops & Grain, a new brewery that's starting up business in East Austin, wants you to design the stools that will grace their tasting room. You have until May 1 to submit a stool, and no, you don't have to be a carpenter. Here's the details:

The Hops & Grain Brewery is pleased to announce the Stool Sample Project. On the surface the SSP is a custom bar stool competition but at its core it is much, much more. The idea is to offer a select few the opportunity of having a custom bar stool of their own creation reside in the H&G tap room. We will be awarding 40 bar stools membership in the highly sought after Stool Sample Project. Every time the tap room is open for tours and tastings everyone in attendance will see and sit on these bar stools. No two stools will be alike and we wouldn’t have it any other way. We are giving a 4 week time frame to create a stool to submit for the competition.

Assuming that we have more than 40 entries, all stools will be presented before a panel for judging. The winning stools, and their creators, will receive a custom Stool Sample Project T-Shirt and membership card, which holds possibly the greatest reward for the SSP. All card-holders will be invited to the tap room for periodic sensory panel tastings of the latest creations from our 3 bbl pilot system, The Greenhouse. Stool Sample Project members will be the first to sample these Greenhouse creations, and sit comfortably on their stool!

If you plan to participate in the competition you must email your name and contact information to stoolsample@hopsandgrain.com by April 1st. Deadline for submission is April 30 and the winners will be announced on or around May 1st. We will be holding a special event at the brewery to celebrate and welcome the winners with plenty of beer on hand and an all around lively time. While this contest encourages creativity and ingenuity, there are a few guidelines:

#1- All stools must be meet certain height and width requirements. Our bar top is approximately 44 inches tall and the underside of the bar is 40” from the floor. All stools should have a seat no higher than 32”, standard height is 30”. Total height of the stool should not exceed 72”. No stool, in its entirety, should be more than 24” wide, standard bar stool width is 16”.

#2- Must be a custom design. Each bar stool submitted must have some level of customization. This could be anything from painting an already built bar stool or creating your own from scratch. Remember, creativity is the name of the game and the winners will be chosen based on this. And after all, the people sitting on these stools will be drinking beer, so make it cool.

#3- All bar stool creators must be ok with other patrons sitting on their bar stool at any given time. You cannot be selfish with your creation and all winning stools will be sat upon on a first come first served basis. Only exception being the Stool Sample Project special tasting events. Here you will be expected to sit upon your own creation, and brag about it all night.