LHBS Owner or Microbrewer

I honestly think I would prefer to be a store owner and just be a homebrewer

I thought of both. LHBS owner would be my preferrence.

Being a microbrewer would make me too snobbish. Most people are ignorant and think good beer is like BMC. It'd piss me off to hear comments from the cluesless.

Either would be cool

I chose LHBS owner, because I have found that doing your hobby for a job can really ruin your enthusiasm for the hobby. I would hate to see myself "tired" of brewing because I had to do it all day every day.

enderwig said:

I chose LHBS owner, because I have found that doing your hobby for a job can really ruin your enthusiasm for the hobby. I would hate to see myself "tired" of brewing because I had to do it all day every day.

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I agree 100% - Don't want to ruin a good thing.

And I would be doing the world a favor. The LHBS Owner is the more likely of the two to give BAD ADVICE to people. At least I'm not afraid to say "I don't know....Let me check HBT.com for the answer to your question."

Microbrewer. I don't know if I could deal with super basic questions everyday. Don't get me wrong, I was definitely there once, like we all were, but really, explaining the same things over and over seems like it may get old.

The owner of both. That my choice. Though I'd hire a brewer for the micro. To much work otherwise. lol Micro would be a brewpub.

Microbrewer. I think as the brewmaster I wouldn't have to interact with the public as much. Plus I live in an extremely microbrew-friendly town, and one of the most brew-friendly states!

I would rather own a LHBS. I used to own a small auto parts store and loved the day to day interaction with people. Now I work at a large place and miss the personal one on one sometimes wacky customers. A small brew pub would be cool, too, like some of the ones I have read about out west. The brew pubs and micro breweries here are all very large and that seems unreachable.

LHBS for me. I wouldn't want to risk ruining a hobby I love by making it a job. LHBS supply owner would combine work and the hobby without ruining the hobby I think. Provided the store is profitable of course.

Microbrewer for me. SWMBO wants to open a bar someday anyways, so I think a brewpub might be in order

My local microbrewery isn't great. All their beer tastes roughly the same, and is rather inconsistent - at best, it's "okay", but sometimes it's rather bad. And there are plenty of other microbreweries I've tried that offer pretty unspectacular beers.

Yet there are plenty of homebrewers that can make some very tasty, interesting brews. I sort of get the impression that for microbreweries, beer character often has to get sacrificed a bit in the name of reproducibility and appeal to the average consumer, among other things. Of course there are outstanding microbreweries, but for every great one there are dozens or hundreds of them that are far less interesting. I don't think I'd want to dive into running a microbrewery and have to see my preferred recipes get 'watered down' to satisfy the borderline BMC crowd just to keep the business afloat.

Though, I'm not really into customer service either, so I'm not so big on the LHBS owner option either.

I think my real preferred option would be to win the lottery (or become independently wealthy by some other means) and be able to have a larger-scale brewing rig, brewing in my spare time, acting as a small local microbrewery brewing small batches of whatever I wanted, without concern for whether I'd make enough profits off the BMC crowd.

Local Homebrew store owner now.... Brewer later.

Forrest

Microbrewery Owner. That's hard work! I'll manage it though.

Opening new LHBS as we speak.

Austinhomebrew said:

Local Homebrew store owner now.... Brewer later.

Forrest

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Forrest, how did you get into the lhbs business anyway? and what's your plan to start a microbrewery?

Open a brew pub without a doubt.

So - I just graduated from Georgia Tech. I have a pretty decent resume for a student. How do you get your foot in the door to these industries?

I also need to make enough money to support myself.

drsocc said:

So - I just graduated from Georgia Tech. I have a pretty decent resume for a student. How do you get your foot in the door to these industries?

I also need to make enough money to support myself.

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Make friends with as many head brewers as you can, and if they aren't hiring assistants, offer to volunteer at their place just for the experience.

Owning a small brew pub would be cool and might be workable since the competition is such crap here. 90% of Korean brew pubs off:
A watery overpriced Heffe
A watery overpriced Dunkel
A watery overpriced Hefeweizen

And that's it!

When I'm old and I have some money and am semi-retired I'll probably open a brewpub in the Seoul foreigner ghetto and try to undercut the crappy places...

I would want to own a lhbs with a bottle shop so not only could I help people make better brew but I could also recommend tasty brews and possibly drink them from time to time

Brew pub for sure! I would try to make it a friendly open kind of place as I could. I am a huge fan of Spinnaker’s in Victoria; they make some very interesting brews and are very serious about beer. I had a pumpkin stout a few years ago that was so good! Not many places will really experiment with beers like that. A very cool thing is they use the old style beer pumps. The kind that was around before we had CO2 tanks and stainless steel kegs. It is a great pub to visit if you get the chance. Would love to run a place like that!

Brewpub owner would be good - having the excuse to buy and operate equipment you could in no other circumstances justify to SWMBO. Being able to create beers that you are proud of and can serve with pride to people that appreciate good beer. And (hopefully) make a living by it - brilliant.:rockin:

SuperiorBrew said:

Opening new LHBS as we speak.

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Congratulations!

I picked owner because I like to help people and it seems like the guy that owns mine has a great time in there.

Austinhomebrew said:

Local Homebrew store owner now.... Brewer later.

Forrest

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Yeah, I would have been shocked if you had answered differently...

How 'bout a microbrewery that also had a shop inside of it? Sort of like hardrock cafes have a big giftshop in them....

You could even carry your own brand of yeasties....clone kits of your brews...all sorts of stuff. That way you could have the best of both worlds....

So Forrest, when you going to do the reverse, and add the brewpup wing on your store?? That way you could have all the beers of your kits on tap....

Then someone comes in and isn't sure what kit he wants to brew, so you send him next door to try a sampler of your beers on tap?!?

(If you do this I think I should get a cut for giving you this stellar idea....Heck I'll take it in Hops...or gear!!!):fro:

Brewer for me. More people drink beer than brew it.

Having been a part of a full scale microbrew venture, I can say it's so much work it's hard to enjoy what you're actually doing. I'd prefer to do the LHBS thing, since I've decided, at least for myself, that home brewing is more rewarding that microbrewing. My only concern would be that profit margins would be so low at the LHBS, what with the cost of raw beer materials, you wouldn't be able to keep in business. If I had a dollar for every shut down LHBS I've tried to get a hold of, I could brew barleywine on that budget.

Not encouraging. But I want to congratulate anyone who has the juevos grande to actually follow through and commit to something like that. We salute you! :rockin:

Revvy said:

How 'bout a microbrewery that also had a shop inside of it? Sort of like hardrock cafes have a big giftshop in them....

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Bring this idea...and Your Cash (and Credit) to Colorado. I'm In!:rockin:

BigKahuna said:

Bring this idea...and Your Cash (and Credit) to Colorado. I'm In!:rockin:

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lol, I'm just a poor underpaid clergyman.....but if I'm I win the lotto, I'll be there!:rockin:

I'm surprised that no-one out in your neck o the wood's, the mecca of beer hasn't thought of it....

BigKahuna said:

Bring this idea...and Your Cash (and Credit) to Colorado. I'm In!:rockin:

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Dude, I could really see a theme here...Instead of Tables, they could be little tiki huts!!!!

I could get to wear my collection of tacky Hawaiin and FLordia shirts to work EVERYDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think if would be fun to run a LHBS and a Microbrewery. Taste before you made. How cool...

I would have to be very wealthy so I could careless if turned a profit.

Initially I'd serve easy beer-pairing food like, chili, pizza and BBQ. I think I'd try to keep this stuff cheap to keep people in the bar after happy hour and so they aren't driving w/ too much ABV in their system.

Then start stepping up to lunch/dinner specials that would go with the seasonal beers.

Schlenkerla said:

I think if would be fun to run a LHBS and a Microbrewery. Taste before you made. How cool...

I would have to be very wealthy so I could careless if turned a profit.

Initially I'd serve easy beer-pairing food like, chili, pizza and BBQ. I think I'd try to keep this stuff cheap to keep people in the bar after happy hour and so they aren't driving w/ too much ABV in their system.

Then start stepping up to lunch/dinner specials that would go with the seasonal beers.

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I've been toying with the Idea of a bed and breakfast/Inn that brewed & served my own beer, made my own cheese and cured/smoked my own meat. It would have a "prix fixe" dinner menu paired with the beer....Of course my dream would be to move to Ireland and do it there....

I've also wondered about the legality here of doing it, but not charging for the beer....hence not needing a brewpub license...but I'm sure there's a million other restrictions on it....

Revvy said:

How 'bout a microbrewery that also had a shop inside of it? Sort of like hardrock cafes have a big giftshop in them....

You could even carry your own brand of yeasties....clone kits of your brews...all sorts of stuff. That way you could have the best of both worlds....

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Michigan Brewing Company does this. Things Beer is in the same building, and they sell clone kits of some of their beers. The time I made it out to MBC I realized "You know, I do need..." It might be dangerous to my wallet to combine drinking and buying brewing supplies

GeorgeH said:

Michigan Brewing Company does this. Things Beer is in the same building, and they sell clone kits of some of their beers. The time I made it out to MBC I realized "You know, I do need..." It might be dangerous to my wallet to combine drinking and buying brewing supplies

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Yeah I thought one of them here in MI did it...In fact I was talking to my GF about it today...Actually I thought it was Bell's that did it, not MBC....

But you're right it could be dangerous!!!

http://www.michiganbrewing.com/Home.jsp

Their kit prices are not bad either....

GeorgeH said:

Michigan Brewing Company does this. Things Beer is in the same building, and they sell clone kits of some of their beers. The time I made it out to MBC I realized "You know, I do need..." It might be dangerous to my wallet to combine drinking and buying brewing supplies

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Thats a No-$hitter. I'd come home with a trailer HERMS/RIMS attached to my hitch.

SWMBO - "WTF is that???", "How much did you spend??" " Its coming out of your allowance". "F-No, take it back now!!!!"




HEY 1600 POSTS!!!!!!

Although I would likely never do either, I picked Microbrewer. I like being creative and that would be my outlet. I've thought about how it would be cool to do both. One of those things you think about when you're sitting in traffic on the way home after a long day at work. But an LHBS has low margins and I don't know that I'd want those hours.

And unless I won the lottery and/or got ahold of an ungodly amount of money, allowing me to hire a bunch of people to run the business and still afford to lose my shirt, I wouldn't want to own a micro or a brewpub, either. Just let me brew, oversee the brewery and give me my paycheck every two weeks.

I'd rather own a LHBS and have a good set of employees to run it, thus freeing up my days to brew as I please.

Better yet, I'd like to own both the LHBS and a Microbrewery, just in case I stumbled upon a recipe that I'd like to make 10bbl of.

olllllo said:

Congratulations!

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Thanks ollllo they are unpacking Blichmann boilermakers and conicals as we speak. Should be ready to open in about 2 weeks.

SuperiorBrew said:

Opening new LHBS as we speak.

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Congrats....I've noticed you had a vendor designation and always wondered why, and kept meaning to ask you!

You gonna take pics to show us when it's open?