1,600 gallons of propane. If that’s not madness, I don’t know what is.

My phone rang shortly after my dearest friend and Melvin Brewing Operations Director, Rob Albee, left the brewery on a critical errand. The tone in his voice was oddly familiar–a tone that is just short of laughter, slightly concerned but utterly confident in the validity of his question: “Before I purchase 1,600 gallons of propane, can you please confirm this what you want?” Frankly, I highly doubt that this little store in Jackson Hole has ever fulfilled an order of 1,600 gallons of propane before, but considering we were about to throw a mini burning man-esq party in the sleepy tiny town of Alpine, WY, it was indeed 100% accurate.

Madness Days took a turn this year– “turn-up” the hip kids might call it. When John Ripley, Founder of Imagine Nation, suggested we incorporate poofers and fire-breathing torrent guns, I was equally as intrigued as I was delighted. Grinning slyly and heart jumping I thought, “pure madness.” Shortly thereafter, Jeremy Tofte, Founder, dropped a line to me confirming an intimate Friday night hip-hop show with none other than the Bay-area native, Lyrics Born. To top it all off, we hosted Wyoming’s largest skydiving rendezvous to date. Let’s just say that this year’s Madness Days graduated beyond the humble class of “backyard camping and BBQ.”

If there is one thing that seems to be consistent in the world of Melvin Brewing, it’s momentum. It’s as if we hit that flow state when the creative ideas and positive encouragement to attain nothing less than the “impossible” starts to peak. The concept of Madness Days sparked over a sinful amount of beers in the corner of Thai Me Up about four years ago, and here we are hosting over 500 guests, over 5 bands/djs, countless amounts of pints and a festival beyond what we dreamt up. We nearly doubled the population of Alpine, WY for this weekend. Momentum. As for the momentum of the weekend specifically, well that started over a cup of tea inside the decrepit Chevrolet art car so tastefully placed atop a random hill of dirt on the property. After months of planning, a week of building and many sweat-drenched brows, we gazed towards the entrance of the property witnessing an entourage of vehicles ready to experience the madness set forth.