(WSB photo from February)

Two and a half months ago, we told you about the Best of Hands Barrelhouse, coming to the southeast corner of 35th/Webster. Last night, we heard from proprietor Nicholas Marianetti, who is asking for neighbors to keep an eye on the site, after metal thieves struck:

We began working at around 2:00 PM (Monday, May 8th) at the former site of John’s Corner Deli (we’ve been demoing there since mid April), and noticed that someone had come by between then and Sunday night when we were there last, and had cut apart and stolen copper piping from the back of the building. It looks like they may have been scared off by something as they left one large piece of piping behind as well as a tool they were using.

Earlier in the day, a reader had in fact asked us how Best of Hands was coming along, so we asked about that – here’s the reply:

So, right now we’re aiming for a December opening. Of course, this will depend on how quickly permitting works its way through the city and the Federal governments. According to our architect, we should expect to see our building permits sometime early-mid June. We plan to demo the rest of the month and perhaps into June, and be ready to build out as soon as the permits arrive. Hopefully build-out will be done by September, and we’ll be able to test-batch while we’re waiting for our federal TTB permits to clear (they were about 6 months out when we applied in April). We’ve already acquired a 7BBL brewhouse, so we’ve got our ducks in a row.

John’s Corner Deli closed in late January.