Perhaps it was the energizing power of beer or the wall's taunting glimpses of the room next door, but as the hour wore on, the sledgehammer swings grew more ambitious. Within 45 minutes, the wall was reduced to twisted metal studs, a pile of yellow insulation and cardboard debris, and a dusty cloud of what we all hoped was not asbestos.
As people poured into the freshly excavated room, Carmer announced, "We're going to 1,000 beers!" And now the joint will be big enough to house them.