What does it take to sell beer?

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humann_brewing

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So my wife has noticed that my beer obsession has gone past a hobby and thinks I do a pretty good job. She has mentioned that if I have the passion I should take it to the next level.

Now first off, I am not talking about opening a brew pub tomorrow or anything close to that at this point. I am wondering if anyone has sold beer to local bars or retail stores of any kind and what does it take?

I am looking into bulk bottles and a labeling system but am not finding much with my searches.

At this point, I want to get a few recipes down and make sure I have great beer to have people sample and well... get hooked so they will buy some.

What kind of licenses does it take? Is there a way to start on a super small scale? I don't anticipate making any money on a small scale but just want to get a product out and see what people think. If demand picks up, I will pick up production.

I plan on talking with a couple of local brew pub owners to see what they think but thought I would see if anyone on here has tried something like this.
 
Dude, you can't sell alcoholic beverages like chocolate chip cookies at a church bake sale. It's obviously not impossible but you will require federal licensing, inspection and approval of brewery site, filing of brewer's bond, approval of labels & names, not to mention whatever state and local rules, regulations and fees apply. You can look here: http://http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=15122 for a basic discussion of the topic. :mug:
 
It takes a dedicated space that can be inspected by the health department, a load of permits, the equipment to brew it, the kegs to put it in, and the time to sell it. You're in CA, so you can sell straight to bars and the like without a distributor, but in order to offset all the costs necessary to start up, you're looking at a 7bbl system minimal if you plan to not lose money. Even that would be cutting it. More like a 15 bbl system.

Oh, you also need grain and a hops contract and a place to store that, you need to figure out how you will maintain and handle yeast, a name, a label, tap handles, and all that comes along with all of that.

It ain't cheap.
 
Oh, and if you plan on bottling, you will need a bottle filler. and a capper. and a labeler. A single head filler, no crowner is about 1500 used.
 
Check out this too:
TTBGov

and look below the posts here for similar threads.
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I did take a look before posting. I was just hoping there was someone that got past the asking stage. I never saw anyone come back excited that they were selling their beer from one of those links :(

It does look like a lot of work especially when I already have a full time job and also a lot of money. I was I could start out on a really small scale and not 7 barrels at a time.
 
yeah. From a selling standpoint, you're out of luck. I give a LOT of beer away. I want to enter the professional arena eventually, and I know it is good to get my name out there. However, at the point we're at, it is a hobby and we just can't for the sake of health and ATF laws.
 
A lot of good info in this thread. I'm thinking there ought to be a sticky somewhere on this forum with the appropriate links. The only observation I would add- if I were thinking about getting into the beer business, the first thing I would do (apart from all the research indicated above) is get a part-time job in a working craft brewery, maybe even volunteer in exchange for an education in all aspects of the business.

The difference between homebrewing and commercial brewing is like the difference between cooking in your kitchen and going to the CIA (Culinary Institute of America). You don't go to the CIA to learn to cook, you go to learn to make money running a business.
 
Here are some Federal Regulations:

Electronic Code of Federal Regulations:

I am currently researching everything about starting a microbrewery or brewpub in the future to see if it will be feasible. I am meeting with the owner of a local microbrewery to talk about it, and my uncle/lawyer can help me with the massive amount of legal stuff. My relatives own a few pubs/restaurants, so I am also going to talk to them about it. I will also need a good business plan. It's not easy. It's a big undertaking and the future will hold the feasibility of it.
 
You might look into building a fuel alcohol still first. There are both state and federal guidlines to meet, I am familiar with NC but not CA on this one.

Anyway, you can build a system and maybe let the still operations pay off your equipment.

As of 2007 (in NC) you needed a "building not used as a dwelling" to house the still and you needed (in NC) to build the still (inside the building not used as a dwelling place) before you could even apply for the federal permit. Once the federal permit was in I could apply for the NC permit, but I could not commence operations until the NC permit was issued.

If I had it to do over again I would have put 2 of 3" towers on a 55gal continuous process boiler. I built smaller than that and shot myself in the foot doing it.

I suspect this path is one you will not choose; but if you are accustomed to running 99.4 to 99.7% on the brewhouse efficiency side it won't hurt you as a pro brewer.

The down side is you'll have to brew beer other people will drink. Lots of other people. Lots of Fizzy Yellow Beer. Best of luck.
 
What your talking about is nano brewing and people war doing it. I think there are two places in WA and more around the country. Most of them are just one or two barrels. You'd probably want to do just kegs to keep costs down and you probably would be lucky to break even. But it's a good stepping stone. You prove you make good beer and you can sell it, then all you'd need to do is convince someone to front you the money on a full scale operation.
 
It is possible to start with a 1/2 barrel system. I know several brewers who did. One local has been running a one barrel brewery for over a decade. There are a number of breweries in the area that run 4-7 barrels.
 
It is possible to start with a 1/2 barrel system. I know several brewers who did. One local has been running a one barrel brewery for over a decade. There are a number of breweries in the area that run 4-7 barrels.

Yea I'm looking into if it would be better to start 1-2bbl, or more. I was thinking about just kegging at first. There's a brewpub near me that just sells kegs to different places locally, which is what I was wanting to start out like. Bottles would be awesome, but that's a project in itself it seems.
 
I heard that the Stone founder/brewer started with $70k. Sierra Nevada started as a homebrewer, Russian River started as a homebrew. You can do it. A lot of people will tell you that it's impossible, but most of those people are too scared to do it themselves.
 
I heard that the Stone founder/brewer started with $70k. Sierra Nevada started as a homebrewer, Russian River started as a homebrew. You can do it. A lot of people will tell you that it's impossible, but most of those people are too scared to do it themselves.

There's a lot of truth to that. I firmly believe that there are very few people who truly enjoy their jobs. And it's mostly because at one point, everyone has to make a decision. Do you take a chance and pursue what you're really passionate about? Or do you go the safe route and take something you know will provide for you?

There's nothing wrong with taking the safe route. That's what I've done so far. I like my job, I wouldn't say I love it. But it affords me a comfortable lifestyle. I just have to keep telling myself that it's only temporary.
 
Let's also remember that SN started decades ago, even Stone happened in a different era.

Vinnie's parents owned a winery and his family helped retire a large portion of his debt enabling him to have the type of brewing freedon that most do not enjoy.

Everyone's story is different, but money- efforts to get it or strategies to work around a shortfall- is unavoidably the controlling factor.
 
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