So am i crazy???...thought of going pro.

[ericbw]

I think you either explained or hinted at all of that in your original post. There are just a ton of threads or comments on this forum where people want to "go pro" after 2 batches. It's an industry that doesn't make it easy for small start ups. Just like if you had $100 million, you would still have a hard time starting a small bank. The industry, even with farm brewing, has hurdles.

But what you described was buying property with a barn and getting the license, then selling at farmers markets. That hurdle is very low. Even with a 1bbl system, you could probably break even, depending on how well-trafficked the market is and if you can do it year round.

1bbl gets you 60 growlers plus samples. If you fill a growler for $15, you net $900 per batch, then subtract the ingredients (cost of goods sold). Then subtract the cost of your market spot and transportation to the market plus any paid help. Maybe you're ok with breaking even and having fun at this.

Amortize your equipment costs over the life of the equipment and account for licensing, inspections, and maintenance to the property.

When you're regularly selling out of beer at the markets, then it's time to open a tap room for growler fills - not a tasting room, just a place for people to fill a growler on the way home from work on Thursdays and Fridays.

When that is successful and you're routinely getting foot traffic, then you build out your tasting room and open for a few hours Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturday afternoons.

The sale of the actual growlers, pint glasses, and other swag helps to underwrite the sales of the beer and build your brand.

If you have a scenic space, you can also rent it out for private events (weddings, etc.). You work with others in that industry (event planning, wedding planning, catering, etc.) and that adds to your bottom line with little cost.

Fill in the numbers, and that's the (very!) rough outline of a business plan. Each step has a checkpoint where you figure out if it's working. You decide then to stop, continue as-is, or advance. Obviously, you need to drill down into all of these areas and check for feasibility.

I think the problem is not just having a business plan, but also being willing to accept the answers when you come to them. And it might be that you're not profitable, but you're breaking even.

 

[ericbw]

Just giving you some personal insight to my job and homebrewing.

I just brewed 11 five gallon batches for a wedding and my bands album release. I personally sat up and served at the album release and built the bar along with the whole dispensing system at the wedding plus bottled, labeled, shrink capped 60 bottles of wine.

There was a massive amount of planning for the wedding, a massive amount of planning and practicing/promotion for the album release plus I work as a lead hand carpenter/cabinet maker at 45 hrs a week starting at 7:00 am every morning.

The whole process from when we started recording the album to when I finished the wedding this weekend was average of about 14 hrs a day work for me and started in September and ended in this past weekend.

I definitely have had moments of such deep anxiety and mental/physical fatigue that I've wondered why I am even doing any of this.

It was a massive pay off and worth it, the feeling of providing music and quality drinks to people (and it was free for everyone btw) was the most rewarding and soul building thing I've ever done.

What I'm trying to get at here is that you cannot keep this up I don't care who you are or how slack your day job is physically, In order for your business to be successful you need to have a plan to eject yourself from your desk job.

Your new business requires you to be energetic and passionate always. If you are so run down that the thrill of providing a quality product/experience to people doesn't break its way through than the bond between you and your customer will be broken.

The hard work is a selling point to the customer, many craft beer drinkers analyze beer by flavor of course but also the blood, sweat, and tears put into the product and business. This isn't a sellable factor if you have nothing left in you.

I am guessing that 11 5-gallon batches (less than 2 bbls) takes longer to brew and keg than one 2bbl batch or even a 3bbl batch.

An album release party and wedding at the same time?

 

[marjen]

So I got to say something and it might be their beer talking but.....

I made. Trip to my favorite brewery over the weekend. I came back with 4 different beers, beers I have had before and loved. I tried one of each tonight and man I wish I had beer from my 4-5 best batches right now as I honestly feel those were better. At least to me. My wife sampled two of them and she agreed. And anyone who thinks who cares it's your wife, after 20+ years of marriage trust me she tells it like it is, lol. She has told me the last couple batches sucked but also agrees that she got spoiled by the good batches.

That's all.

 

[Murphys_Law]

So I got to say something and it might be their beer talking but.....

I made. Trip to my favorite brewery over the weekend. I came back with 4 different beers, beers I have had before and loved. I tried one of each tonight and man I wish I had beer from my 4-5 best batches right now as I honestly feel those were better. At least to me. My wife sampled two of them and she agreed. And anyone who thinks who cares it's your wife, after 20+ years of marriage trust me she tells it like it is, lol. She has told me the last couple batches sucked but also agrees that she got spoiled by the good batches.

That's all.

Amen to this! My wife of 30 years is all too quick to say I suck when I suck! I seek criticism more than praise, I think. It helps you grow when people are honest. I always tell people I want their real opinion and to not hold back because if they say it's good and its really not then they will keep getting bad beer and have to continue to lie!

 

[MapleGroveAleworks]

So I got to say something and it might be their beer talking but.....

I made. Trip to my favorite brewery over the weekend. I came back with 4 different beers, beers I have had before and loved. I tried one of each tonight and man I wish I had beer from my 4-5 best batches right now as I honestly feel those were better. At least to me. My wife sampled two of them and she agreed. And anyone who thinks who cares it's your wife, after 20+ years of marriage trust me she tells it like it is, lol. She has told me the last couple batches sucked but also agrees that she got spoiled by the good batches.

That's all.

Do you treat your water? Do you measure mash pH? Have you had your beer judged or evaluated by a completely unbiased registered judge? Everyone thinks their beer is the greatest thing ever, just like their kids are cuter than everyone else's kids. I have a strong feeling that after 13 batches your beer isn't as great as you think it is, sorry.

 

[ericbw]

These threads have a typical pattern:

I want to go pro.

It's too hard; the brewing industry is saturated; you don't know about licensing/real estate/marketing, etc.

You need a business plan, not just good beer.

You don't even make good beer, so why bother?

("Do you measure mash pH" is a new one at least!)

 

[Dcpcooks]

These threads have a typical pattern:

I want to go pro.

It's too hard; the brewing industry is saturated; you don't know about licensing/real estate/marketing, etc.

You need a business plan, not just good beer.

You don't even make good beer, so why bother?

("Do you measure mash pH" is a new one at least!)

Lol. Was talking to a veteran brewer of 25 years last weekend. I was asking all sorts of questions about going pro.

Me: Do you have a DO meter?
Him: no I know my beer is still good after 6 months in the keg. Don't need one. But buy a co2 meter and a ph meter

Me: how often do you test your water?
Him: I'll check it monthly but I know my beers and I know my water so I can usually anticipate seasonal changes. I only need a bit of acid for light beers. Nothing for anything else.

Me: Do you filter your water? RO system?
Him: No I'm on a well that's 100 years old and the brewery is on a granite slab. It's a 900 foot deep aquifer. It's stable. I'd notice a flavor change in the wort before it got to the fermentor.

Me: what's the best take away for a new brewery?
Him: you've got to make the best beer you can and offer a fun place to drink it. Save your money as you'll need it. Plan for two to three times as much beer as you think you'll need. You can't afford to not have enough beer to sell and you can't afford to scale up equipment and loose money on old Equipmemt.

Me: is 10 bbl enough if I have 20 bbl fermentors?

Him: maybe but doubtful. You need 40 bbl's of your flagship beer and you should have two guest taps to start.

Me: any more advise?
Him: ya don't be surprised when you realize the first beer you drink in your brewery will actually have cost you 600k to 1 million. With a good business plan and good beer the SBA and your bank will be more likely to fund a larger system than a little one. They like that your planning to actually make money and not have to hope you can make it through the first 5 years scraping by. Remember you have to want it more than the next guy.

 

[ericbw]

Lol. Was talking to a veteran brewer of 25 years last weekend. I was asking all sorts of questions about going pro.

Me: Do you have a DO meter?
Him: no I know my beer is still good after 6 months in the keg. Don't need one. But buy a co2 meter and a ph meter

Me: how often do you test your water?
Him: I'll check it monthly but I know my beers and I know my water so I can usually anticipate seasonal changes. I only need a bit of acid for light beers. Nothing for anything else.

Me: Do you filter your water? RO system?
Him: No I'm on a well that's 100 years old and the brewery is on a granite slab. It's a 900 foot deep aquifer. It's stable. I'd notice a flavor change in the wort before it got to the fermentor.

Me: what's the best take away for a new brewery?
Him: you've got to make the best beer you can and offer a fun place to drink it. Save your money as you'll need it. Plan for two to three times as much beer as you think you'll need. You can't afford to not have enough beer to sell and you can't afford to scale up equipment and loose money on old Equipmemt.

Me: is 10 bbl enough if I have 20 bbl fermentors?

Him: maybe but doubtful. You need 40 bbl's of your flagship beer and you should have two guest taps to start.

Me: any more advise?
Him: ya don't be surprised when you realize the first beer you drink in your brewery will actually have cost you 600k to 1 million. With a good business plan and good beer the SBA and your bank will be more likely to fund a larger system than a little one. They like that your planning to actually make money and not have to hope you can make it through the first 5 years scraping by. Remember you have to want it more than the next guy.

That's interesting. 40 bbl of beer = 10,000 pints. That's not a nano brewery. If 100 people buy a beer EVERY day, you would brew once every 3 months (or twice if you have a 20 bbl system).

I've also read that 3bbl is too small to make money, etc. But it all depends on the expectations you have for making money.

 

[markstache]

Sell shovels to the miners.

Brewing beer is not the only way to be in the beer industry. If you are going to buy a farm, why not start a hop yard and/or a malt house? As has been pointed out elsewhere in this thread, local ingredients are the bottle neck in many of these farm license systems. Build a business serving that need, and then get into beer production if/when the ingredients business is in a good place.

 

[SanPancho]

Sell shovels to the miners.

Brewing beer is not the only way to be in the beer industry. If you are going to buy a farm, why not start a hop yard and/or a malt house? As has been pointed out elsewhere in this thread, local ingredients are the bottle neck in many of these farm license systems. Build a business serving that need, and then get into beer production if/when the ingredients business is in a good place.

yes, this. at both the 15bbl level and a little 3bbl level both our operations would love to see something like this in our neck of the woods.

and it will provide a much more stable revenue stream which you can then use to support brewing operations when you get there.

one thing i will say- distrubution sucks. when you're bottling/canning and sometimes even just kegging, what you're really dealing with is a factory that makes widgets. its all about marginal costs, mass production, and quantities of scale. nanos dont qualify. the only way for nanos like that to succeed is to have very good beer and crappy competitors (locally), be in a place that has almost no competition, or to have started like 10-15 years ago.

the competition for shelf space or taps in a bar is fierce in most places. you're up against distributors selling other people's beer with salesmen, marketing budgets, incentives, etc.

much better and more profitable to cut out the middle men and sell directly to the public at retail- i.e. a brewpub, a tasting room in a well trafficked location, or a venue like farmhouse/bnb/etc with a bar open to public.

a hop farm or something to that effect could be a very base to build on. your beers are "just a little side project" and folks are more forgiving of recipe misteps vs a commercial brewery. if your beer sells, and sells well, then take the plunge.

 

[bbohanon]

I can honestly say I have given this road alot of thought myself...ALOT.

I have been brewing for well over 4 years now, have built (and overhauled) my e-brewing setup, have had my beers win competitions and even had my stout recipe made at a local commercial brewery as a grand prize (and was there for the entire brew day helping make it and got 4 kegs of it for myself!).

I also have the business plan together, have talked to many other pros (even hanging around during brew days to look at different systems and how they all operate), done the brewery layout/equipment breakdowns and depreciation cost models/licensing costs/distribution (self or not)/etc. and even have potentially all the investors lined up if I decide to pull the trigger..

The one thing that keeps me away from it is the fact that right now, there is alot of saturation in the market (and my 3 kids who I have to support). I know the beer bubble is a debatable topic, but I do think there is alot more risk in jumping in now as opposed to 2-3 years ago..especially if you dont have alot of experience homebrewing or if you have ANY concerns around your personal financial well-being.
The other problem with the latest craft beer saturation is that many of the new startups around here are just not making good beer....like at all.

I have had to dump quite a few of the local offerings due to me picking up on off tastes due to bad brewing practices (many of them I had myself early on when I started up that I did not realize I had until I started to enter my beer into comps).

I do agree that you have to want it more than the next guy or its destined to fail before it begins and you have to clearly understand what you are sigining up for with this and have the beer to back it up.

I also think (and no disrepect here at all) that just having your wife or friends you are giving free beer to is not a good measure of your beer quality.
You need to get it into competitions and have it professionally tasted/reviewed. You will be surprised at how many things are wrong with with your beer that YOU did not pick up on that others who are seasoned beer tasters will but once its pointed out, you realize the issue and can correct it.

You fail to do this and your beer is yet another one of the sub-standard or "meh" offerings on the shelf, you become part of the larger problem and then you will be struggling to keep repeat business (or win new customers).

Not trying to be a wet blanket with it as I do think if you can make beer that you can market properly and lives up the hype, there is still alot of room for success, but if not....I might be the one buying your brewery equipment on probrewer when you have to shut the doors.

 

[MHBT]

Are you good at business?

 

[oceanic_brew]

I am guessing that 11 5-gallon batches (less than 2 bbls) takes longer to brew and keg than one 2bbl batch or even a 3bbl batch.



An album release party and wedding at the same time?

Of course, it takes much longer. But a brewery is much more to pull off than brewing and kegging 11 5-gallon batches.

My point was more so about how much work all this was even though I didn't have my future riding on it. It's not a discouragement. I love the work, I'll like manually work myself into the grave. Just my nature.

 

[Brownalemikie]

JMO, but maybe the OP should get a few hundred batches under his belt before jumping into a very competitive market. The worst case scenario is you'll be able to drink excellent home brew. Best case...you could become the next Sam Adams of beers. Just sayin......

 

[bob1852]

So I got to say something and it might be their beer talking but.....

I made. Trip to my favorite brewery over the weekend. I came back with 4 different beers, beers I have had before and loved. I tried one of each tonight and man I wish I had beer from my 4-5 best batches right now as I honestly feel those were better. At least to me. My wife sampled two of them and she agreed. And anyone who thinks who cares it's your wife, after 20+ years of marriage trust me she tells it like it is, lol. She has told me the last couple batches sucked but also agrees that she got spoiled by the good batches.

That's all.

Don't discount the effect of drinking your beer at it's peak time while comparing it to someone else's beer that may be past it's peak....

Storage and serving condition time really changes the character of beer. Usually in a bad way.

Just something else to consider (that I don't think anyone else brought up yet)...

 

[ericbw]

yes, this. at both the 15bbl level and a little 3bbl level both our operations would love to see something like this in our neck of the woods.



and it will provide a much more stable revenue stream which you can then use to support brewing operations when you get there.



one thing i will say- distrubution sucks. when you're bottling/canning and sometimes even just kegging, what you're really dealing with is a factory that makes widgets. its all about marginal costs, mass production, and quantities of scale. nanos dont qualify. the only way for nanos like that to succeed is to have very good beer and crappy competitors (locally), be in a place that has almost no competition, or to have started like 10-15 years ago.



the competition for shelf space or taps in a bar is fierce in most places. you're up against distributors selling other people's beer with salesmen, marketing budgets, incentives, etc.



much better and more profitable to cut out the middle men and sell directly to the public at retail- i.e. a brewpub, a tasting room in a well trafficked location, or a venue like farmhouse/bnb/etc with a bar open to public.



a hop farm or something to that effect could be a very base to build on. your beers are "just a little side project" and folks are more forgiving of recipe misteps vs a commercial brewery. if your beer sells, and sells well, then take the plunge.

From what we know, he's a more experienced brewer than a farmer.

 

[Lmanning507]

This is all the advice you need; if you're passionate about it, then go for it. End of story.

 

[bob1852]

This is all the advice you need; if you're passionate about it, then go for it. End of story.

If he's passionate about making money, yes.

Passion for just brewing beer won't make for a successful business....

Good brewers (especially at the homebrew scale) are a dime a dozen.

I'd argue to run a successful brewery, the emphasis shouldn't on the owner being the brewer. You can hire a great brewer for cheap....

 

[Murphys_Law]

Do you treat your water? Do you measure mash pH? Have you had your beer judged or evaluated by a completely unbiased registered judge? Everyone thinks their beer is the greatest thing ever, just like their kids are cuter than everyone else's kids. I have a strong feeling that after 13 batches your beer isn't as great as you think it is, sorry.

What if he does treat his water (or really doesn't have to)? And maybe he owns a really kick ass pH meter! And random strangers love his beer, including a judge.

And his kids are really great looking...so much so that random people come up to them (even beer judges!) and remark about their especially good looks.

Is his beer OK then? Even after 13 batches?

Or maybe you don't have an idea what this dudes beer is like, or his plan/process to improve, sorry.

 

[Sbe2]

From what we know, he's a more experienced brewer than a farmer.

Yeah, investing 10k per acre just to grow hops(not including processing) and not knowing what you really have until the third growing season is difficult to swallow. Plus the environmental factors of the NE vs that of the PNW make it a challenge. There is way more to hops than just planting and forgetting.

But to the OP, YOLO. Could be easier to know the result than to ask yourself what could have been for the rest of your life.

 

[Dcpcooks]

That's interesting. 40 bbl of beer = 10,000 pints. That's not a nano brewery. If 100 people buy a beer EVERY day, you would brew once every 3 months (or twice if you have a 20 bbl system).



I've also read that 3bbl is too small to make money, etc. But it all depends on the expectations you have for making money.

Our plan is to self distribute so that's where the 40 bbl fermentor idea came from.

Op can probably get by with a 5 bbl system. It's a bit small but if he designed it well he could do double batches once a week and maintain four beers on tap. A five bbl set up with 5 10 bbl fermentors and 1 10 bbl bright tank is roughly $105-110k. You'd have good resale potential if needed

If you go 10 bbl hot side and 20 bbl cold side you bee closer to $150-160k. Probably better resale potential.

A 2bbl set up is probably around 25k if you do it right and get jacketed conicals and bright tanks. I'd want a grain out door on the mash tun. Stout or Brewers hardware are probably the best bets for that set up.
I see this set up having limited resale value. It to big for homebrewers and not really big enough for commercial production so you'd need to find the right buyer.

 

[SanPancho]

nano systems are not hard to sell right now. lots of nano buyers, and bigger guys looking for small pilot systems to play on.

if you're not making lagers then poly conicals are fine. get the cooling coils, install CIP balls and get a good ass pump. invest in a small pressure washer and you should never need to touch them with a brush or scrub them.

chinese stainless tanks are probly 2000-2500 for 4-5 bbl serving tanks, and brite/fermenter is probly 3000-3500. quality has some a long way in past decade.

manual bottle filling rigs can be made for less than $1000 with 4-6 heads. keg washers for less than $500.

lots of DIY stuff in the nano scale. just remember, you're building a factory. if you skimp on capital you need to spend more on labor.

 

[madscientist451]

I quit a good job and started a business (not beer related). Lots of ups and downs until the big recession of 2008 put me out of business for good. Found another job, (one that I really don't like) but it pays good and has above average benefits.
Sure, I've thought about opening a farm type brewery/winery/cidery. I actually already have the farm, as well as a hobby cider orchard, vineyard and small hop yard but its not happening as a business for me, at least not right now.
I've been there, done that, with running a business and know how hard you have to work with absolutely no guarantee that you will make any money. Those wineries you visited in Italy have been making wine for hundreds if not thousands of years and are well established. You are starting from ground zero, basically a rookie homebrewer. I'm not saying don't do it, but I am saying is be careful with your money and don't allocate too much of your resources, you don't want to put yourself in a hole that is difficult to get out of (like I did).
So my 2 cents is this: 1. Don't quit your day job. Second, decide how much money you are going to sink into this project. Buying the farm property, fixing it up, getting some equipment and getting the license is all going to cost lots of money. Take that initial estimate and double it. 3. Decide how much money you are going to spend keeping the business afloat for the first two years. If you can't turn a profit in 2 years you should probably shut it down. 4. Think about how you'll feel if you don't turn a profit and eventually decide you've had enough. 5. Discuss all of these things with your spouse, especially the part about investing money that may not ever earn any any return and could result in a net loss.
The only other thing to add is to make a three to 5 year plan. During those 3-5 years, you'll visit every other farm brewery within a 250 mile radius, see what beers they make sell and what doesn't, see what you like and don't like about their operations. Brew like crazy at home, get as many brews as possible done. Get involved in local brew clubs and attend the national AHA conference. After all that you may decide to go ahead and start your business or you may change your mind. Either way, you'll have fun checking it out. Good Luck!

 

[MapleGroveAleworks]

What if he does treat his water (or really doesn't have to)? And maybe he owns a really kick ass pH meter! And random strangers love his beer, including a judge.

And his kids are really great looking...so much so that random people come up to them (even beer judges!) and remark about their especially good looks.

Is his beer OK then? Even after 13 batches?

Or maybe you don't have an idea what this dudes beer is like, or his plan/process to improve, sorry.

Most of that didn't make sense to me, so I am unable to answer.

If I had to guess though, you're wanting to give me attitude for suggesting that maybe because his wife says his beer is great that is really isn't. This is a huge investment of money and time, so perhaps he should make sure first that he is consistently making excellent beer before jumping in. If he is already doing that after 13 batches, then a major brewery should hire him immediately. I'm guessing the answer is no though.

 

[Mainer]

Reading through these comments, it occurs to me that there may be some selection bias here. The name of the site is HOMEbrewtalk. Thus, most of the people on it are home brewers, ie people who have already decided going pro isn't worthwhile. So if you ask about going pro, it's only natural that you'll be met with skepticism. It's probably worth shelling out some cash to run your idea by a professional business coach or consultant, somebody who (unlike me, and perhaps most of us) hasn't already concluded that it's a bad idea before you even asked.

 

[Mainer]

Every time a new brewery opens in my town, I think, "this is it. We're finally at saturation." There are at last count 23 breweries and counting in my town of 60,000 people. And yet, the demand keeps coming. In the last 10 years, only one local brewery has failed, and it was because the partners had a personal fight. (Don't know for sure, but I've heard rumors somebody was sleeping with somebody else's wife.) One of the partners has since opened a new brewery that is thriving.

 

[ericbw]

Again, it all depends on expectations. I was just at a small brewery yesterday that brews 1 barrel batches with 1/2 bbl fermenters. They're working full time jobs and doing this.

The beer was decent (from "meh" up to very good) and reasonably priced at $5 a pint and tasters for $2.50.

A lot of the skepticism on here is BS. Go find and entrepreneur forum where they won't crack on your beer that they never tasted.

 

[Qhrumphf]

Reading through these comments, it occurs to me that there may be some selection bias here. The name of the site is HOMEbrewtalk. Thus, most of the people on it are home brewers, ie people who have already decided going pro isn't worthwhile. So if you ask about going pro, it's only natural that you'll be met with skepticism. It's probably worth shelling out some cash to run your idea by a professional business coach or consultant, somebody who (unlike me, and perhaps most of us) hasn't already concluded that it's a bad idea before you even asked.

On the contrary, I'd wager that 95% of craft brewers started as homebrewers. It says nothing about wanting to stay that way. The number of us who've made/are making the pro plunge in various capacities likely (definitely in my case) have accounts from before going pro and still visit the site.

No doubt that most folks on HBT will never go pro. But that doesn't mean anything.

 

[MapleGroveAleworks]

Again, it all depends on expectations. I was just at a small brewery yesterday that brews 1 barrel batches with 1/2 bbl fermenters. They're working full time jobs and doing this.

The beer was decent (from "meh" up to very good) and reasonably priced at $5 a pint and tasters for $2.50.

A lot of the skepticism on here is BS. Go find and entrepreneur forum where they won't crack on your beer that they never tasted.

Pardon me for suggesting that after 13 brews he probably isn't making good enough beer to be professionally sold. It's not BS at all, and I don't have to have tasted his beer to be able to come to that conclusion.

 

[65C]

I looked at this as a side project for about 20 minutes until I did the maths on it

I really don't see how brewing can be anything other than a hobby until you hit 3 or 4 digit barrel numbers - even then it looks underwhelming for the effort

 

[ericbw]

Pardon me for suggesting that after 13 brews he probably isn't making good enough beer to be professionally sold. It's not BS at all, and I don't have to have tasted his beer to be able to come to that conclusion.

That's an assumption, not a conclusion.

 

[MapleGroveAleworks]

That's an assumption, not a conclusion.

That's super bro. Good for you.

 

[ericbw]

That's super bro. Good for you.

But even better for you, my friend.

 

[cmac62]

I read this whole thread, all eight pages. I have been home brewing for the last three years, and have made some good ones and some not so good. When someone asks or I briefly think about going pro, I always think I know myself well enough to know I really don't want to work that hard. I may enjoy the brewing, but not all the other stuff that goes with running a successful business. Good luck to anyone who has the nerve to turn their hobby into a real business.

 

[Turkeyshot]

Well after reading all the pages on this thread and all the negative comments, I can come to one conclusion. That most of the negative replies come from people who would probably never undertake opening any kind of business. Brewing related or not.

If you have the passion and a good business plan, then by all means go for it.
Don't let a bunch of naysayers get you down.

 

[ericbw]

Well after reading all the pages on this thread and all the negative comments, I can come to one conclusion. That most of the negative replies come from people who would probably never undertake opening any kind of business. Brewing related or not.



If you have the passion and a good business plan, then by all means go for it.

Don't let a bunch of naysayers get you down.

That's probably the primary dividing line. Good point!!

 

[mongoose33]

Well after reading all the pages on this thread and all the negative comments, I can come to one conclusion. That most of the negative replies come from people who would probably never undertake opening any kind of business. Brewing related or not.

If you have the passion and a good business plan, then by all means go for it.
Don't let a bunch of naysayers get you down.

You can have the passion, and you can have the business plan, but if you don't have the beer, the first two aren't going to matter.

We had a guy here about 2 years ago start up a taproom (if you can call it that) where he was selling his homebrew. I presume he was properly licensed and everything--no reason to presume he wasn't.

However, his beer largely sucked. I tried, and tried, and I just couldn't like it. He'd try all sorts of weird flavors and screw them up (Coconut anyone? How about BBQ beer?). On top of that, his beers tended to be overcarbed.

He's no longer in business. His storefront was cheap. I'm sure he was passionate. And a business plan would have been fine considering his cost structure.

He lacked only one thing.

Quality beer.

 

[Turkeyshot]

You can have the passion, and you can have the business plan, but if you don't have the beer, the first two aren't going to matter.

We had a guy here about 2 years ago start up a taproom (if you can call it that) where he was selling his homebrew. I presume he was properly licensed and everything--no reason to presume he wasn't.

However, his beer largely sucked. I tried, and tried, and I just couldn't like it. He'd try all sorts of weird flavors and screw them up (Coconut anyone? How about BBQ beer?). On top of that, his beers tended to be overcarbed.

He's no longer in business. His storefront was cheap. I'm sure he was passionate. And a business plan would have been fine considering his cost structure.

He lacked only one thing.

Quality beer.

Not having tasted his beer I will have to take your word on that, but tastes are subjective. Maybe that is why he failed or maybe it was some other reason.

The bottom line is he had a vision and tried to make it happen. He might of had some crazy ideas for beer flavors, but there are quite of few of those out there now. You surely can't succeed if you never try.

 

[Brownalemikie]

JMHO, but everybody has their favorite beer style. Just because a Brewer loves strawberry cream ale doesn't mean he'd be able to sell tons of it in his tap room.

My advice to the OP would be to go to a popular craft brew tap room on a busy night and watch what style of beers are selling the most. Usually there are 4 or 5 flagship beers for a reason. My guess is that the list of flagship beers will consist of an IPA, cream ale, brown ale and milk stout or Porter.

Then all you have to do is perfect recipes for those styles. Our local brewery also sells mead and wine. You're also going to want a food truck in the parking lot. Like I said, JMHO.

 

[ericbw]

Starbucks sells a lot of their coffee, and I'm pretty sure it's not because it's the "best" coffee out there. I think it's because they're selling an experience - 25 years ago, Starbucks was a West Coast thing. When it came east, it was unique and hip.

Some people like it, but I bet most customers are buying a milk drink with coffee in it. Which is also more expensive. Now they're ubiquitous, but the coffee isn't any better.

Look at any chain - and if selling a lot is the measure of success, then you have to consider them. They don't make the best product, they just make the most product. That's all about the business plan, etc.