HELP! Great lil Brew Pub in Danger of Shutting Down

abeeraday · 03-01-2009, 10:25 PM

Water Street Brewing and Ale House in beautiful Port Townsend, WA., has been hit hard by the economy and local factors. This place opened in 2004 and the owners are great people, they helped out my wife and me when we were just starting off on our own and now I'm trying to help them out. They're hosting a silent auction March 8th and they're also offering other forms of donating (like buying shares in the company). This place sparked my first interest in brewing and great craft beer and they do great things for the community, it would be a shame to see them shut down.

Here's a link to a story:

Water Street Brewing Fights for Survival

And here's a link to their auction/donation page:

Water Street Brewing & Ale House

Thanks

fratermus · 03-02-2009, 01:15 AM

Any accountants out there know if buying shares in a company like this could make my taxes more complicated? I'd like to help out but I don't want to get into a situation where the IRS is stalking me.

tarheels · 03-02-2009, 02:04 AM

not sure if i just didn't fully understand the buying shares but something just didn't seem right. $10 a share and they are selling 25,000 of the 400,000 shares. shouldn't that mean the company is worth $4 million. i could be way of here. great brewery with really good beer, hate to see them close down

fratermus · 03-02-2009, 04:09 AM

I saw the share agreement .pdf, but couldn't figure out how to make the buy. I emailed Nina for guidance.

abeeraday · 03-06-2009, 01:59 PM

Just another reminder to mark your calendar for the Water Street Brewing "silent" auction on Sunday. If you live in the area, check it out:

Water Street Brewing & Ale House

Lots of neat stuff to bid on, lots of great music, food and most important, great beer!

abeeraday · 03-06-2009, 02:04 PM

Sorry, forgot to mention Water Street Brewing is in Port Townsend, WA. So if you live in the northwest, go for it! Water Street Brewing & Ale House

McKBrew · 03-06-2009, 02:07 PM

I've never been to Water Street. I've drove by Port Townsend brewing and had a few of their beers before.

Hope their fight is a good one. The Olympic Peninsula is a rough place to run a small brewery.

fratermus · 03-07-2009, 01:08 PM

I made contact with them, got a response, and still couldn''t get any information on how to buy the shares. I guess they are busy and are focusing on locals.

**david_42** · 03-07-2009, 02:22 PM

When a company goes public, they have to set a total number of shares to be issued. They can limit the number sold in an offering, which appears to be what they are doing. The remaining shares are held in reserve and can be sold at a later date.

The restrictions on trading are unusual and I can't find if they filed this sale with the SEC. That could be big trouble down the road.