It's official starting my own brewing business!

The beers in my regular rotation now that everyone drinks, I have blown thru about 30 kegs of beer and cider since August (not to mention 50 gallons of Apfelwien and skeeter pee), so I have a lot of people drinking for free , are:

Nut Brown Ale
Irish Stout
Pale Ale
Red Ale
Full Moon Ale (Tastes Like Blue Moon)
Hard Cider (still nailing this recipe down I make it with apple juice not cider pretty much got the fermenting recipe down it's the backsweetening/spicing that I am still refining, chicks who don't like beer love this stuff, my GF alone has probably drank 4 kegs of the stuff)

Seasonal type beers: I made a Blackberry wheat with hand picked blackberries that was received really well, especially the 2nd keg which aged about 3 months in the keg.

I have a friend who has 20lbs of blueberries he picked waiting in his freezer for me to use in a brew.

I have a bunch of maple trees on the property that give really good amonts of sap (they've been tapped before) I plan on doing something with it.

I still need to perfect an IPA a lager and a black lager for my regular rotation, kind of waitng till I get my walk in done before I tackle lagers.

I make a Corona clone for my many friends who drink Bud Light, PBR, Corona to my eternal shame and sadness.

I am sure I will try other styles too like a Bock etc. My plan is to have a couple taps be "experimental" brews that I will sell for like $1 a pint and if people like them move them over to the regular rotation.

I'm also planning on naming my beers after my friends for example:

The Coach - An arrogant nut brown ale that thinks it's better than everyone else.

Cider123 said:

Ok, so I haven't read every page in this thread but scanned a bunch. Have you said where you brewpub is located? I live near the Augusta area and always looking for a new place. Portland is fine, but its too far away. When we we get out, we usually head down to the Liberal Cup in Hallowell. Good beer and food at good prices.
Have you considered what some of your regular house beers will be?

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What status are you at with codes, inspections, licences etc?

With everyone drinking for free I hope you don't have trouble transitioning them into paying customers.

ScotBrew said:

What status are you at with codes, inspections, licences etc?

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I chimed in on this before.... I am not remotely a "hater" and I wpuld love to see this be a huge success but two partners and I just opened a nano, and just a nano... Its not a bar, tavern, restaurant, anything... Just a brewery and the amount of sht we went through from the TTB, to our state ABCC, and then finally the various town inspectors.... It took us about 14 months and having to re-do a ton of stuff before we could get things completely 100% stamped and and approved for us to open.

Having gone through that... I can't even begin to imagine all of the landmines surrounding this.

Hell... Is the property zoned commercial? How about the septic system... is it rated to handle the volume of a "brewpub" on the premisis? We moved into psace that used to be a restaurant and the LAST signature we needed was the Board of Health... We were done... Finished... Ready to brew... Had accounts waiting for the beer, and the Health Inspector almost 100% shut us down because the old restaurant in our space had septic issues.

It seems like you're going with the "nah... It'll be fine" approach... And that scares the fck outta me knowing what I went through.

And I hear ya on "yeah but the town's up here aren't as strict up here" but like I was kinda getting at in my other post.... That rig catches the particle board behind it (just an example) on fire and someone gets hurt... The town is getting sued for letting something like that fly.

Everything is planned for example the wall s will be covered is galvanized metal. I'll do it my way.

Nothing is possible till I have a functioning walk in cooler. That's my focus next.

You have to understand that us mainers can be stubborn to a fault. I get out that way about once a year traveling through to family property on Prince Edward Island, once you are up and running I would be interested in checking your place out.

akthor said:

Everything is planned for example the wall s will be covered is galvanized metal. I'll do it my way.

Nothing is possible till I have a functioning walk in cooler. That's my focus next.

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Cool. As long as it is all tjought out. I think folks are just trying to pass along tips from experience.

Also.. Probably don't want to use galvanized since galvanized gives off toxic fumes (zinc oxide) when heated and since it is going to be next to your heat sources... I would guess someone could be made pretty sick.

But like you were saying, you're gonna do it you way so... Keep us all posted.

Cape Brewing said:

I chimed in on this before.... I am not remotely a "hater" and I wpuld love to see this be a huge success but two partners and I just opened a nano, and just a nano... Its not a bar, tavern, restaurant, anything... Just a brewery and the amount of sht we went through from the TTB, to our state ABCC, and then finally the various town inspectors.... It took us about 14 months and having to re-do a ton of stuff before we could get things completely 100% stamped and and approved for us to open.

Having gone through that... I can't even begin to imagine all of the landmines surrounding this.

Hell... Is the property zoned commercial? How about the septic system... is it rated to handle the volume of a "brewpub" on the premisis? We moved into psace that used to be a restaurant and the LAST signature we needed was the Board of Health... We were done... Finished... Ready to brew... Had accounts waiting for the beer, and the Health Inspector almost 100% shut us down because the old restaurant in our space had septic issues.

It seems like you're going with the "nah... It'll be fine" approach... And that scares the fck outta me knowing what I went through.

And I hear ya on "yeah but the town's up here aren't as strict up here" but like I was kinda getting at in my other post.... That rig catches the particle board behind it (just an example) on fire and someone gets hurt... The town is getting sued for letting something like that fly.

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My friend opened and has been running a brewery out of his house for the last few months on a half barrel system. The land is zoned AR (agricultural-residential). When I met with the county government folks, they told me this was flat-out impossible. Beer is not considered a value-added agricultural product in my state. My friend is a smart guy and fantastic brewer, so I hope he knows what he is doing. I'm sticking to incorporated, commercially-zoned property, so I have zero risk of getting shut down.


Some things to consider:

1. On a 10 gallon system you are going to have serious difficulty keeping up with demand. You will definitely need to brew double batches, if not triple. My friend sells a barrel a day he is open, and his location is his house that is pretty far off the beaten path.

2. You will definitely need to have some friends helping you, but you probably already have that. When my friend is open, it's very busy. You need to be able to pour and talk to people, because they are partially there to see you.

3. You need to research the codes and zoning ordinances. You seem pretty resistant to this, but it only took me a few emails and meetings. Add up all the time spent, and it was probably less than 8 hours. Considering all the time you are putting into this, why not? Entrepreneurs aren't risk takers, they are risk eliminators. You should be doing everything in your power to learn about the business.

4. Have you written a business plan? Liveplan.com is a great way to do it. It is very helpful. Also, if someone asks if you have written a plan and you say "no" they are not going to take you as seriously.

5. Have you visited your local SBA? Your town/county gov? These people really love to help you. When searching for a location I met with many, many government people and all of them were extremely helpful, going above and beyond their job duties to help me. The SBA is an invaluable resource. I've gotten free business counseling, tax law classes, intellectual property counseling, and tons of great info and contacts from them.

I think a common misconception that nano-brewers have is that this is a more casual, relaxed affair that doesn't need as much attention, when in reality it is the opposite.

rexbanner said:

My friend opened and has been running a brewery out of his house for the last few months on a half barrel system. .

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That is really surprising... I haven't heard of the TTB ever allowing a brewery to operate out of a residential property building, regardless of how it is zoned. My understanding is that, at a minimum, it needs to be a separate building altogether from the residence... and even then, the TTB is very picky about how it needs to be exactly set up.

Cape Brewing said:

That is really surprising... I haven't heard of the TTB ever allowing a brewery to operate out of a residential property building, regardless of how it is zoned. My understanding is that, at a minimum, it needs to be a separate building altogether from the residence... and even then, the TTB is very picky about how it needs to be exactly set up.

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I agree. Often times government people don't actually know the rules completely. My gut feeling is that something doesn't add up here, but he's going to be moving into a commercially-zoned location, so hopefully nothing happens until then.

I was describing the evolution of a homebrewer to a friend of a friend that was interested in the hobby:

1. I love beer! I'm going to make it myself!
   
2. Well, all-grain is the best way to make beer, you really have control over your ingredients. Also, here's my stir-plate.
   
3. I'm starting a brewpub!

It seems that in phase three, brewpub=/=business for some people. I've been following this thread because it's a train wreck, business wise. It doesn't matter if you're making widgets or IPAs, a business needs a certain level of dedication and, more importantly, attention to detail. I'm just not getting that feeling from this undertaking because attention to detail is what makes or breaks a business. If you want a place where your friends can hang out and you make beer, great, fine, dandy, but the second you're selling a product, it's a whole new ball game.

Cape Brewing said:

That is really surprising... I haven't heard of the TTB ever allowing a brewery to operate out of a residential property building, regardless of how it is zoned. My understanding is that, at a minimum, it needs to be a separate building altogether from the residence... and even then, the TTB is very picky about how it needs to be exactly set up.

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I agree. It used to be allowed, but that has changed. Back in the 90s there was a guy in MA who ran a brewery out of his basement until he bought a nice commercial brewery. It was called Middlesex Brewing. I know he closed shortly after going large.

http://www.foggynogginbrewing.com/

This guy is a few streets over from me, running it out of his garage. Granted it's "taste and growlers to go only", and on tap locally.

While I tend to agree with everyone else, that it's probably well worth your while to check out the rules... I have to ask, how's the endeavors been going?

I was actually going to post an update things have been slow but now that winter is over its picked up. I started building my walk in cooler I will have pics up soon. I did brew A LOT and drink A LOT had lots of folks over and gots lots of great feedback on my stuff.

We got our hop rhizomes in and are planting them and making the trellises for our beer garden.

There is a Fransiscan (sp?) Friary here in the next town they actually operate a fairly legendary bakery called the Friar's Bakehouse in Bangor. I was invited to the Friary for the sunrise Easter service. Just so happens the Friars are into brewing and starting a brewery themselves. Different from mine in that they want to sell to stores and bars. They are in the middle of the licensing process right now and during the potluck breakfast after the service we talked beer, I tried some of theirs and I picked his brain about a few things and he agreed to meet with me in the future to walk me thru the process.

I dd find out that Yes you cannot have a residence connected to a brewery. The Friars tried and tried to get around this to no avail. We knew this might be the case and when it's time my "residence" will just move 3 miles away to my GF's house. He told me quite a bit of interesting stuff already. He did say it's a PITA but you just get thru it and yes its a process but its not that bad especially if you are 100 barrels a year. I felt really good after talking to him and am glad I will have him as a resource when I go thru it.

Also we hope to start cutting the camp road and campsites soon. I am working on getting a friend who has a back hoe to come in and do the work in exchange for the wood and we would pay for the diesel.

I will post pics of the walk in soon.

P.S. I love all the people who say I can't do this and I can't do that and that this is a train wreck yada yada yada. Just motivates me more and I will laugh last and laugh hardest.

akthor said:

P.S. I love all the people who say I can't do this and I can't do that and that this is a train wreck yada yada yada. Just motivates me more and I will laugh last and laugh hardest.

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Better to just ignore those people and let your friends and potential customers be your motivation. There have been plenty of people trying to cheer you on as well.

akthor said:

I was actually going to post an update things have been slow but now that winter is over its picked up. I started building my walk in cooler I will have pics up soon. I did brew A LOT and drink A LOT had lots of folks over and gots lots of great feedback on my stuff.

We got our hop rhizomes in and are planting them and making the trellises for our beer garden.

There is a Fransiscan (sp?) Friary here in the next town they actually operate a fairly legendary bakery called the Friar's Bakehouse in Bangor. I was invited to the Friary for the sunrise Easter service. Just so happens the Friars are into brewing and starting a brewery themselves. Different from mine in that they want to sell to stores and bars. They are in the middle of the licensing process right now and during the potluck breakfast after the service we talked beer, I tried some of theirs and I picked his brain about a few things and he agreed to meet with me in the future to walk me thru the process.

I dd find out that Yes you cannot have a residence connected to a brewery. The Friars tried and tried to get around this to no avail. We knew this might be the case and when it's time my "residence" will just move 3 miles away to my GF's house. He told me quite a bit of interesting stuff already. He did say it's a PITA but you just get thru it and yes its a process but its not that bad especially if you are 100 barrels a year. I felt really good after talking to him and am glad I will have him as a resource when I go thru it.

Also we hope to start cutting the camp road and campsites soon. I am working on getting a friend who has a back hoe to come in and do the work in exchange for the wood and we would pay for the diesel.

I will post pics of the walk in soon.

P.S. I love all the people who say I can't do this and I can't do that and that this is a train wreck yada yada yada. Just motivates me more and I will laugh last and laugh hardest.

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You can't just say your "residence" is somewhere else. It's called zoning, one of the many things you need to learn about. Maybe you are allowed to operate a brewery in residential zone in your state, or maybe it's like my state where you aren't. My friend's nano got shut down for this reason. That's why I had to start my nano in a commercially zoned space within town limits.

You should listen to myself and others who have done what you are trying to do. You are trying to start a business and saying that looking up codes is too hard is ridiculous.

If you are going to criticize at least read everything. Zoning is the last thing I need to worry about. There is a junk yard/construction contractor next to me and an art gallery across from me. We have dealt with zoning when property was leased to the cell phone company to put a tower on the property. Zoning is not an issue. This is not a residential area. If it is not zoned already for what we want we will get it zoned for what we need.

From now on I will not address any you cant do this you cant do that posts. Unless you have opened a business in a town in Maine with a population of less than 600 you have no clue of what I need to do and do not need to do. I appreciate help but I live here I have an MBA I have started and run businesses for other people. Stop talking to me like I am stupid. You do things the way yyou want and work for you. I will do it my way. Enough the horse has been beat to death. The only reason I dont just close this thread is for the supportive people and maybe it can help soneone else.

akthor said:

If you are going to criticize at least read everything. Zoning is the last thing I need to worry about. There is a junk yard/construction contractor next to me and an art gallery across from me. We have dealt with zoning when property was leased to the cell phone company to put a tower on the property. Zoning is not an issue. This is not a residential area. If it is not zoned already for what we want we will get it zoned for what we need.

From now on I will not address any you cant do this you cant do that posts. Unless you have opened a business in a town in Maine with a population of less than 600 you have no clue of what I need to do and do not need to do. I appreciate help but I live here I have an MBA I have started and run businesses for other people. Stop talking to me like I am stupid. You do things the way yyou want and work for you. I will do it my way. Enough the horse has been beat to death. The only reason I dont just close this thread is for the supportive people and maybe it can help soneone else.

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Changing the zoning ordinances costs $9,000 in my area.

And...wow dude, you have an MBA? Guess you know best. Not researching and learning codes and regulations because it isn't as fun as the other stuff is really, well, stupid.

I sort of do have a clue actually because I started a nano. Maybe this thread should be closed because it's a perfect example of how not to start a business.

I read 38 pages in hopes that you got passed the troubles you were having and had moved into brewing in a nice nano setup. All I got was that no one knows anything while you know everything, or so it seems that is the thought process. I wish you the best, but it seems you are moving backwards...quickly.

If it gets off the ground I think Napoleon Brewing is in order

I think something gets lost in translation by typing on the Internet. I don't know akthor, but being from maine I know our culture which a lot of people find to be abrasive. We have a very stubborn attitude that probably comes from years of being broke, surviving long winters that often return in June and having to do things ourselves. Down east maine is doubly like this as it is very economically depressed and the original people from this area were fisherman who are some of the hardest workers around.

It s obvious that there are people on here that have way more knowledge about setting up a nano, people that actually have done it and either failed or who have become successful. If I were the one setting up a nano I would listen to everyone, and filter out the nformation that didn't pertain to me. I don't think it is fair to jump on akthor because he tells people that something's that they suggest don't apply to him. A lot of rural towns in maine have little to no oversight regarding what you do with your land. This obviously doesn't supersede state and federal law but where as on person paid 9000 to re zone their land I bet others around here could trade some homebrew to a survey company to map out their land and a minimal cost through the town to change the tax map. This doesn't take Ito account that there are still incorporated townsin maine that don't even maintain property tax maps which raises the question "how does the town accurately tax their residents."

I think we should get the thread back on track, knock off the I told you so,s , not get on each other if we don't agree with each other and just watch to build unfold. This is aktors build, he is going to do it the way he wants and sink or swim, right, wrong or indifferent we are watching his process to see him succeed (hopefully) no different than how we follow threads where people are building electric systems, hop gardens or designing recipes. Their processes might differ from ours but in the end they still have created something functional.

Everyone likes pictures... how about some pictures?

best of luck and ill be watching for more!

Love this thread. The naysayers can impart helpful info, but most don't fully realize the political situation in the small towns of Maine, Vermont, etc. building codes, variances, zoning and things lack that which are seemingly insurmountable obstacles in communist communities in Ma, Ct or Pa often don't exist in these small towns.

If you haven't lived in rural Maine, then you basically don't know as much as you think you know about what it takes up there.

So, great thread, love the inspiration and determination, and I'm not going to post any "warnings" or rain on your parade.

I don't think many folks were doubting it being a much less strict regulatory environment, I think most folks were simply suggesting some investigation into what, if any, regulations exist before building the entire thing only to find out that a law or regulation doesn't allow something and it has to be ripped apart and re-done.

But hey... If Maine is the land of the free and supercedes the TTB and the Feds, awesome, have at it and keep us posted!

Subscribed

I used to live in rural Maine. Most people do what they want until they are forced to comply. It's the way of life up there. Yeah there aren't a lot of local rules but the State and the Feds will end up being the hard@#$%.

Rawlus

obstacles in communist communities in Ma, Ct or Pa often don't exist in these small towns.


Ok
Now unfortunately that IS funny

I am still trying to figure out how "you should check out any requirements before you start building things" is some sort of commie satanic naysayer statement.

Good Luck Bro! Cant wait to see your pics!

akthor said:

I was actually going to post an update things have been slow but now that winter is over its picked up. I started building my walk in cooler I will have pics up soon. I did brew A LOT and drink A LOT had lots of folks over and gots lots of great feedback on my stuff.

We got our hop rhizomes in and are planting them and making the trellises for our beer garden.

There is a Fransiscan (sp?) Friary here in the next town they actually operate a fairly legendary bakery called the Friar's Bakehouse in Bangor. I was invited to the Friary for the sunrise Easter service. Just so happens the Friars are into brewing and starting a brewery themselves. Different from mine in that they want to sell to stores and bars. They are in the middle of the licensing process right now and during the potluck breakfast after the service we talked beer, I tried some of theirs and I picked his brain about a few things and he agreed to meet with me in the future to walk me thru the process.

I dd find out that Yes you cannot have a residence connected to a brewery. The Friars tried and tried to get around this to no avail. We knew this might be the case and when it's time my "residence" will just move 3 miles away to my GF's house. He told me quite a bit of interesting stuff already. He did say it's a PITA but you just get thru it and yes its a process but its not that bad especially if you are 100 barrels a year. I felt really good after talking to him and am glad I will have him as a resource when I go thru it.

Also we hope to start cutting the camp road and campsites soon. I am working on getting a friend who has a back hoe to come in and do the work in exchange for the wood and we would pay for the diesel.

I will post pics of the walk in soon.

P.S. I love all the people who say I can't do this and I can't do that and that this is a train wreck yada yada yada. Just motivates me more and I will laugh last and laugh hardest.

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Unfortunately I feel like this is the first of many hardships you are going to experience with this endeavor. It's too bad because it would have been awesome to live right there. Then again maybe it will be a good thing to have a place to go home to that is away from the craziness of the business. After all, we all need respite from our passions from time to time (Even Ron Jeremy takes days off ).

Take this with a grain of salt as everybody does things a little bit differently However, I too have an education in BUS MGT (and other fields) and I know the most responsible and necessary thing for carrying out a long term venture like this is to have a very solid business plan, mapping out expenditures and scheduling the development of your venture. It would have been a pain in the backside but you at least would of had a guide (from the looks of this it would have been a couple hundred page Bus plan but it would have at least been mapped out). You're just kind of bouncing around, doing things here and doing things there. You are essentially giving away your product from the sounds of it (I get trying to perfect your recipes with feedback but man, thats money down the drain). You have completely put off checking into Fed/State/Local req'ts. Your initial post(s) stated that you planned to be open for business last fall or this spring at the latest. From all I have read and researched regarding this matter you are at least going to be 6 mos out and probably more with the legal process that must take place prior to getting the licenses necessary. All's I'm saying is you could have potentially been in business by now if you would have done the legal work first, got the establishment open with some type of revenue flowing in, then worked on the details as time progressed with this added revenue flow helping fund this. If you would focus all of that energy, and man you've proven you have plenty of it, you could be an EXTREMELY successful entrepreneur.

I'm not a hater man! I'm honestly not! I'd love to see you succeed! It just seems like you refused to take advice from guys on here that have been down the road you are traversing and it is going to end up costing you a substantial amount of time before this investment can start generating revenue for you......................... I don't really see anyone busting your balls here. They are just trying to get you to open your eyes to the legal side of this and you have just absolutely refused. Ultimately you will be the one to pay but you can't say these guys didn't try to help.

I hope this turns out the way you want it and I hope you don't take my words as harsh, for if I ever make it up that way I would LOVE to visit. But man, buckle down and go all the way with this. It would truly be a sight to see and you will have successfully differentiated yourself from 99% of all other brewpubs in the US because there will be VERY few like yours.

Best of luck and get focused. Eye on the prize!

Oh and I would pass around the tip jar (with a wink ) before pouring your friends their first drink.

You know sometimes you just gotta jump in and learn how to swim. Studying it to death is not the way some people do things

Boar Beer said:

You know sometimes you just gotta jump in and learn how to swim. Studying it to death is not the way some people do things

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I am not much for drowning, just sayin

Boar Beer said:

You know sometimes you just gotta jump in and learn how to swim. Studying it to death is not the way some people do things

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I know he didn't choose to take out a loan to do this like 90% of entrepreneurs do and kudos to him but for the rest of the world that does, " studying it to death" aka developing a business plan, is a requirement prior to procuring the funds to undertake an operation like this................. why not plan and be prepared?

I'd rather defend and support the right for the guy to do what he wants in the way he wants than be the one to tell him how he should do it.

He's working things out in real time, he's solving the problems as they happen because he chooses to, to make it more enjoyable to him, or because he does not want to take the hobby part out of the business just yet. We've all heard the stories of people who make their hobby their business (I like to cook so I opened a restaurant! Now I hate running a restaurant...) maybe he's choosing to keep the hobby/enjoyment alive for as long as he can... It's his choice.

I think solicited advice is cool. I think telling someone they're doing it all wrong, and suggesting they pursue their dream the way you'd pursue yours is a bit overbearing. He's been clear its a casual thing, developing as it goes, he's got no loan over his head so his progress is dictated by him alone. I think that's cool. I don't think he's said, I don't know what I'm doing, I'm in over my head, someone tell me how to do it. He's just sharing his approach. I wish their was more support for him in this than "advice"



Nobody is going to jail over this, it's not a crime against humanity or anything. It's a very frugal, practical, DIY type Maine thing. And that's ok. Really.

It is a long hard road but one well worth venturing to fulfill dreams! Keep the good fight going!!!

WW

rawlus said:

I'd rather defend and support the right for the guy to do what he wants in the way he wants than be the one to tell him how he should do it.

He's working things out in real time, he's solving the problems as they happen because he chooses to, to make it more enjoyable to him, or because he does not want to take the hobby part out of the business just yet. We've all heard the stories of people who make their hobby their business (I like to cook so I opened a restaurant! Now I hate running a restaurant...) maybe he's choosing to keep the hobby/enjoyment alive for as long as he can... It's his choice.

I think solicited advice is cool. I think telling someone they're doing it all wrong, and suggesting they pursue their dream the way you'd pursue yours is a bit overbearing. He's been clear its a casual thing, developing as it goes, he's got no loan over his head so his progress is dictated by him alone. I think that's cool. I don't think he's said, I don't know what I'm doing, I'm in over my head, someone tell me how to do it. He's just sharing his approach. I wish their was more support for him in this than "advice"



Nobody is going to jail over this, it's not a crime against humanity or anything. It's a very frugal, practical, DIY type Maine thing. And that's ok. Really.

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Awesome stuff. I gotta admit I had a different take till I read your post. You are right. What this country needs more of is ruged individualism. Good stuff.

rawlus said:

He's just sharing his approach. I wish their was more support for him in this than "advice"

Nobody is going to jail over this, it's not a crime against humanity or anything. It's a very frugal, practical, DIY type Maine thing. And that's ok. Really.

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I don't THINK I, personally, have been critical other than simply making the suggestion that he figure out the applicable regulations before he build out a full brewery, although I think others have been more direct with some criticisms.

The TTB not allowing a brewery to be part of a residence is a perfect example of what I've been trying to point out. That's not a "Maine thing". It is a Federal regulator that, if you want any other part of this to be legal, has to be satisfied first.... and they don't are how laid back Maine is. You can't have a brewery as part of a residence.

I haven't paid that close attention but i think I saw that the solution to this would be that he would simply move off the property. When we filled out our TTB brewer's notice docs, we needed to supply a deed or executed lease on the property along with all of zoning info from the town. Whether you live there or not has zero to do with whether it is zoned as "residential". The town has to zone the property as such. Maybe it is already zoned appropriately. Maybe in Maine, they're just rubber stamp a re-zoning. I have no idea. My point all along as simply been to check that stuff out before building the entire thing out... Because... maybe it isn't zoned right for the Feds and for some oddball reason the town can't change it. Now you have a big full brewery that took a lot of time, effort, and money... That will simply be a really cool homebrew rig.... Which doesn't really strike me as being "frugal" in any way.

And that is ONE thing (TTB residence thing). We had a couple dozen of those types if things pop up before we opened. Given the headaches we had, having someone who had gone through it give us advice on were the landmines were and how to get around them would have been the best possible support we could have gotten.

Unfortunately, thats been largely met with "F U commie from Mass we are from Maine where we do it our way". So.... Ok. Have at it. I am looking forward to some pictures and hopefully swinging through someday and having a pint with a side of crow.

*sigh*

And from the very beginning I have stated that I am building what I am building because I want it for me not just because I want a business. I said from the very beginning if I start the business and I fail worse comes to worse I have a cool place to brew and drink beer.

I want an all grain brewing setup, I want a brew room, I f@cking need a f@cking walk in cooler! Not sure about other folks but being able to only carb 4 kegs at a time is a royal PITA!

Hence the not borrowing money. Quitting my job. Blah blah blah. People act like I'm turning my life upside down and risking a whole bunch of resources by doing it this way. I find it to be the exact opposite doing it like this. It seems that those who have succeeded found it to be some sort of horrible, stressfull experience. Sorry if I refuse to participate.

I do what I want when I can if you flat landers want to call it a stupid Maine thing then whatever.

Had my gf's graduation party this weekend she just completed nursing school. Had BBQ and I had the trashcan kegerator out serving brew and cider had many compliments and enthusiastic endorsements. One of my neighbors is on the planning board and is all for a nano and a campground.

Rained all weekend will try and post some pics today.