Marketing commercial property to breweries

[bmarko27]

How important is a good water source to the decision to purchase (or lease) a property for a brewery?

If there is a commercial property with its own source of high quality well water (tested yearly), is that any kind of selling point to attract breweries?

(The property is currently home to a warehouse, with plenty of land to turn into parking to boot.)

 

[skraeling]

I don't know anything about breweries but can the well keep up with the demand placed on it? Any health regulations related to using well water in breweries?

 

[madscientist451]

It depends where you are. Here in PA, its my understanding that breweries have to be connected to a municipal water source. Right across the border, in Maryland, the state allows "farm" breweries that use well water. Water is only a very small part of the decision of where to locate a brewery. These days, breweries rely on selling beer out of their tasting room to pay the bills. So the presence of a large population of "drinkers" is way more important that a well water source.
The price of the property is another deciding factor. Startups aren't going to want to spend much money, existing breweries looking to expand will have their own list of priorities.

 

[gl_az]

I can only speak about my area which has its own troubles with water. A steady, high quality and low cost source of water is _the_ barrier to entry here. Our municipality is trying to fund a multi-million dollar pipeline and treatment facility on the backs of small/new business based on their anticipated water usage and not on existing rate payers. A simple example is a small restaurant (30 seats) will be assessed over $100K in water impact/connection fees whereas the same restaurant in other cities within the region would only be assessed $5-10K. So here, a brewery, even nano, is out of the question. As others suggest, you should do your research and compare to municipal rates and fees validate city, county, and state regulations on water sources and also consider practical traffic for tasting/tap room.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

BTW you seem to be new here. Which is cool

But a question like this makes more sense at a professional brewer's site like probrewer.com

I suspect they'll know more about the commercial property aspects. Plus, you might just find that someone there is looking for property near you.

 

[Dcpcooks]

Brewing water needs to hit a few key numbers. The best thing to do is have it tested by ward labs. They can send you a kit to pull samples and give you a breakdown of what's in the water.
The second question is will the municipality allow it.
The third question to address is waste water disposal.

Four question is the water quality subject to seasonal fluctuations.

For most Breweries a clean stable source of free high quality water would be a big benefit.