- Joined
- Nov 26, 2006
- Messages
- 3,996
- Reaction score
- 94
Of course, at some point, the idea of opening a brewpub crosses every homebrewer's mind. With most people, that idea quickly gives way to the realities- the need for a business model, the need for trained management staff, the need to hire servers and bartenders, and purchasing expensive equipment. It's not just a brewery, it's a brewery, restaurant, and business! It's a lot of work. And it's a 6 day-a-week (at least), 18 hours a day job when you start. I know I wouldn't really be interested in that.
Awhile back, somebody posted a link to a site that indicated that the cost of a brewpub liquor license in Arizona is only like $150 a year. So then I got to thinking...
What if, instead of a brewpub, you just sold beer out of an old train car or an industrial park? Your cost would be your equipment and ingredients, you would only be open maybe one or two days a month. You would sell your beer, start another batch, and then go home for the rest of the month.
Sure, you'd need to hire someone to come in once every few days, check on things, etc., but that wouldn't be so bad.
Then, again, reality set in and I realized that I wouldn't really care for even doing that much work by myself. No, this is definitely the kind of thing that would require partners.
So... I was thinking... how cool would this be? A bunch of people throw in a few thousand dollars. You convene once every 5 weeks in Arizona (or any other destination with generous brewpub laws), you brew a huge batch, you take a few gallons of finished beer for yourself, you sell the rest to the public (legal with your brewpub license) and use the money to reimburse your expenses and then with whatever's left, you buy more equipment and grow the operation. In addition, you have a rotation- maybe twice a year, each member meets up with another member and makes an extra trip out to the brewery to do "light duty" transferring the beer to secondary, or whatever else has to be done in the periods between when the group meets.
Let's face it. 80% of brewing is really just waiting for it to finish. I think this could be a fun way of brewing, making a sort of "for profit" club.
Of course, this is just a silly wild idea... but I thought I'd throw it out there since I've been thinking about it for quite awhile....
Awhile back, somebody posted a link to a site that indicated that the cost of a brewpub liquor license in Arizona is only like $150 a year. So then I got to thinking...
What if, instead of a brewpub, you just sold beer out of an old train car or an industrial park? Your cost would be your equipment and ingredients, you would only be open maybe one or two days a month. You would sell your beer, start another batch, and then go home for the rest of the month.
Sure, you'd need to hire someone to come in once every few days, check on things, etc., but that wouldn't be so bad.
Then, again, reality set in and I realized that I wouldn't really care for even doing that much work by myself. No, this is definitely the kind of thing that would require partners.
So... I was thinking... how cool would this be? A bunch of people throw in a few thousand dollars. You convene once every 5 weeks in Arizona (or any other destination with generous brewpub laws), you brew a huge batch, you take a few gallons of finished beer for yourself, you sell the rest to the public (legal with your brewpub license) and use the money to reimburse your expenses and then with whatever's left, you buy more equipment and grow the operation. In addition, you have a rotation- maybe twice a year, each member meets up with another member and makes an extra trip out to the brewery to do "light duty" transferring the beer to secondary, or whatever else has to be done in the periods between when the group meets.
Let's face it. 80% of brewing is really just waiting for it to finish. I think this could be a fun way of brewing, making a sort of "for profit" club.
Of course, this is just a silly wild idea... but I thought I'd throw it out there since I've been thinking about it for quite awhile....