So I would like to open a brewery...

[FS7]

I've been brewing for about three years. I've always enjoyed drinking beer, and my brother bought me an all-grain one-gallon brewing kit as a gift years ago (Warrior Double IPA, I believe). Not my favorite style, so it sat for a while. I occasionally hang out with my neighbors, and three years ago I stopped in for dinner and he handed me a hefeweizen and said "here, I made this." It was quite good, so I was surprised. If he could do it, anybody can. So I tried the old kit, with five year old dry yeast and all, and it turned out pretty good. I've experimented with a few things, but have moved to a five-gallon kettle setup, all-grain, milling my own, BIAB, lots of that. I've learned a lot. As a woodworker, I ended up building a bar. It was always a dream to build a bar in my own home to serve my own beer, so I did that.

Anyway, someday I'd like to open a brewery. Around here, there are more than a few breweries, and all do very well. It's odd, because few if any have any standout beers. I would describe most of them as remarkably average, maybe less than that. but it doesn't matter because people like to support local businesses. So that's the plan. I have the capital, just not the guts to take the plunge. Yet, anyway. Someday I will.

 

[Skeeter686]

Welcome! That's a beautiful bar!

 

[fluketamer]

great bar welcome your comic collection is really impressive.

Edit : I take it back your comic collection is insane !

 

[OleBrewing]

Go talk with the other establishments. Usually they are more than willing to have a chat then you will get an idea of what to expect. If you have the capital and are willing the risk (nothing is guarantee). you will need to make a business plan and go from there.

I know a brewery that opened right at the beginning of the covid ordeal and was able to pull through, albeit a small city and guidelines may have been loosey goosey.

 

[FS7]

great bar welcome your comic collection is really impressive.

Edit : I take it back your comic collection is insane !

LOL, I wish they were all originals. It's a good collection (and I do have a bunch of other good ones, like Punisher 1, Wolverine 1, Spiderman 300, and so on) not out because they're graded and in those big hard shells. Batman 1 is the first (only) full-size reprint, so that's actually worth $1000 or so. The other four are full-size original reprints too, but not worth that much. Maybe $100 or so. But nothing close to the originals, of course. Deadpool's first appearance I actually have two of. Same with Witcher 1.

Go talk with the other establishments. Usually they are more than willing to have a chat then you will get an idea of what to expect. If you have the capital and are willing the risk (nothing is guarantee). you will need to make a business plan and go from there.

I know a brewery that opened right at the beginning of the covid ordeal and was able to pull through, albeit a small city and guidelines may have been loosey goosey.

I've done that. Back in 2022 we had talked it over with my neighbor (the one who got me into brewing in the first place) and a few friends that were going to invest. We went to meet nearby with the head brewer at Three Fox, which is a winery that turned into a winery/brewery and had a couple satellite brewing operations. We talked extensively about business plans, and then into specifics about when you brew, how much you brew, the capital required, all of that. We had looked into buying equipment more than once. Two barrel systems can be had for what seems like a reasonable price. I think what discouraged me most was that the people were all (every one) selling not because they were unsuccessful, but because they got burned out. I kinda dread that more than failure. I'm a very hands on person and I think that's the hesitation.

 

[OleBrewing]

LOL, I wish they were all originals. It's a good collection (and I do have a bunch of other good ones, like Punisher 1, Wolverine 1, Spiderman 300, and so on) not out because they're graded and in those big hard shells. Batman 1 is the first (only) full-size reprint, so that's actually worth $1000 or so. The other four are full-size original reprints too, but not worth that much. Maybe $100 or so. But nothing close to the originals, of course. Deadpool's first appearance I actually have two of. Same with Witcher 1.

I've done that. Back in 2022 we had talked it over with my neighbor (the one who got me into brewing in the first place) and a few friends that were going to invest. We went to meet nearby with the head brewer at Three Fox, which is a winery that turned into a winery/brewery and had a couple satellite brewing operations. We talked extensively about business plans, and then into specifics about when you brew, how much you brew, the capital required, all of that. We had looked into buying equipment more than once. Two barrel systems can be had for what seems like a reasonable price. I think what discouraged me most was that the people were all (every one) selling not because they were unsuccessful, but because they got burned out. I kinda dread that more than failure. I'm a very hands on person and I think that's the hesitation.

i turned down an opportunity for a new brewery startup because 1) i already have a job, 2) it is a hobby and did not want to mix pleasure with more work along with other things in life. may have been a missed opportunity but i don't regret.

burnout from to many hours involved, would need to hire out dialed in brews/processes. smaller towns have a somewhat success rate for partially opened tap rooms, larger cities with fast pace if you are not open all the time then the assumption is you are closed.

 

[starview]

I've been brewing for about three years. I've always enjoyed drinking beer, and my brother bought me an all-grain one-gallon brewing kit as a gift years ago (Warrior Double IPA, I believe). Not my favorite style, so it sat for a while. I occasionally hang out with my neighbors, and three years ago I stopped in for dinner and he handed me a hefeweizen and said "here, I made this." It was quite good, so I was surprised. If he could do it, anybody can. So I tried the old kit, with five year old dry yeast and all, and it turned out pretty good. I've experimented with a few things, but have moved to a five-gallon kettle setup, all-grain, milling my own, BIAB, lots of that. I've learned a lot. As a woodworker, I ended up building a bar. It was always a dream to build a bar in my own home to serve my own beer, so I did that.

View attachment 844509

Anyway, someday I'd like to open a brewery. Around here, there are more than a few breweries, and all do very well. It's odd, because few if any have any standout beers. I would describe most of them as remarkably average, maybe less than that. but it doesn't matter because people like to support local businesses. So that's the plan. I have the capital, just not the guts to take the plunge. Yet, anyway. Someday I will.

 

[starview]

Ahh the age old dream It's the hardest thing I've ever done! Be ready for a lot of work and long days. BUT yes it can be done! For me it took a while to raise the money. When you figure Capital needed make sure to include good startup cash flow. Doing a lot of work yourself saves money but requires much more time! Took me 3 1/2 years to get my place open from the day I started the concrete cutting till opening. Important to find a good location. You can checkout my place at my website Starviewbrews.com Keep on dreaming and if you dec

 

[tracer bullet]

I'm not a fan of "working for the man" but it's nice to ditch work after 8-9 hours and be done with it for the day, or the weekend. Owning a brewery would be like an 80 hour a week job. With a family I don't think I'd be up for that. It's a business for sure, you have to provide customers what they want. Average beer might be what sells best unfortunately.

 

[Bassman2003]

I have been around homebrewing for over 20 years, and this has come and gone for me a few times. My main reason for not starting a commercial enterprise is possibly having to brew beers just for market trends or sales. Pastry stouts or rose petal IPAs etc... I have no interest in playing the game along with social media and crazy marketing graphic designs. It all seems so overblown to me at this point in time.

If you have only brewed beer for 3 years, I would say keep on learning. Imho, that is not a lot of time. Have you read Kunze? Are you well versed in pH management and packaging O2? I would fear that moving to a professional level with only three years under your belt would lock your overall potential at a lower level. Meaning once you start the financial clock, there is not a lot of room for learning/growth outside of putting out the immediate fires.

My ideal brewery would be in a smallish town where I had no distribution, just what was brewed at the brewery. It would not need to be a huge investment and also not need to produce huge returns. I would brew mainly what I am familiar with and like with some room for new things. Basically a pipe dream!

 

[Kickass]

I think a lot of homebrewers fantasize about this. I’m friends with a couple of brewery owners in the small town, but very populated surrounding area, where I live. Some of the aspects I see as negatives are the long hours and small profit margins. These, ultimately, I could live with.

What I couldn’t bring myself to do is focus brewing beers or gimmicks I that I have little or no passion for only because they keep the lights on. It would kill me to have to focus on hazy IPA, seltzer and fruited slush crap. I’d never make it because I’d never be able to separate the money making business from the passion of brewing beer flavored beer.

If you’re a “hip” brewer or willing to make a Faustian bargain, you might just have what it takes.

I’ve also heard buy once cry once. You’re wasting money if you convert you one bbl to a two bbl to a five bbl to a ten bbl to a…

 

[pvtpublic]

I've gone pro. I'm not the owner, but I'm the head brewer, bar manager, sales guy, distributor, and everything short of owning and bartending (most of the time). It's A LOT of work and hours. I honestly thought I would lose my passion, but it's only strengthened. Brewing on the homebrew scale is great for piloting recipes, but learning how to scale them properly to the big system is a challenge. It's crucial to keep measurements of dead space, equipment losses, and temps in every part of what you do. Otherwise, you'll lose efficiency, and efficiency = money here. Depending on how big of a system, a 5% change in efficiency could cost a decent chunk of change.
Then there are the laws. I thought my wife's laws were bad at home, ha! I'm in Montana, so that means I can only serve 48 oz of beer per customer per day! Health regulations, tax regulations, ABV regulations, all the daily logs, inventory, etc. It's a lot to take in, and can be a bit overwhelming. But don't think I'm trying to discourage you, just illustrating life as a brewer. I love my job. I'm glad I took the leap.

Oh yeah, one last thing - you think you hate cleaning out your mash tun now, heh heh, wait until you have a commercial one...

 

[mac_1103]

I think a lot of homebrewers fantasize about this.

I don't, but my BIL fantasizes about me opening a brewery at his farm. He doesn't seem to think that there's much difference between running a commercial enterprise and me just brewing a nice five gallon batch of whatever I feel like once a month or so. He is bat-crap crazy though, but in the best possible way.

 

[FS7]

I think the biggest problem would be adapting to market trends. In the ideal case, I don't need the brewery to make a substantial amount of money. Thus I wouldn't need to worry about brewing seltzers and sours and other things I have no interest in either brewing or drinking. Ten years ago I spoke with the brewmaster at Against the Grain in Louisville. This was long before I even thought of brewing. But he mentioned that he specifically tried to make a bad pumpkin beer. Not undrinkable, but not even remotely good, because he particularly disliked pumpkin beers. Nonetheless, it was a huge hit, and it sold out very quickly. That's the sort of thing I would struggle with.

I think the ideal case would be to have a brewery where you make enough money to cover your general manager and your brewmaster, and you don't have to put in 80 hours a week. That requires independent wealth, which is not exactly practical. I've worked for a few early stage and pre-IPO startups, so maybe I'll get lucky and have the capital to not worry about turning a profit or really anything other than breaking even. Maybe it's just nice to dream.

 

[Bassman2003]

One thing in your favor is all of the used equipment out there now from the others' with the dream that failed.

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

I occasionally dream about a few things and there are some corresponding websites, for brewing probrewer.com classifieds is a fun place to look at. For my other hobby it's bringatrailer.com .... someday....

 

[AlexKay]

I’ve thought along those lines myself, but try to stay realistic about my own skills and knowledge and chances of success. My advice:

• Brew lots. Continually try new styles and new ingredients. Do side-by-side comparisons of hops, yeasts, fermentation conditions, process changes, you name it.
• Drink lots. Don’t limit yourself to the styles you like. Go to every local brewery and work your way through their tap lists. Buy commercial beers. Take notes and keep them to refer to later.
• Become a BJCP judge and/or a Cicerone. Judge homebrew competitions.
• Get some serious formal brewing education. It’s expensive if you look at it as money spent on a hobby, but cheap if you consider it a brewery start-up expense.
• Join professional associations. Go to the Craft Brewers Conference.

 

[pvtpublic]

I have to add this, and this is very crucial; bartenders. This species is the whiniest form of humans you'll ever encounter. Go ahead and hire someone in addition to what you have. I dare you. YOU are taking away from THEIR tips, even though they have asked for additional help on a Friday or Saturday night.

 

[redrocker652002]

I have to admit that has been a fantasy of mine as well. But, as most have said it, it just makes it seem like another job and not a hobby. My wife used to do ceramics, mold them, fire them and paint and refire. She did it as a hobby for a long time. Her and a friend decided to try and run a small business and do local Xmas fairs and stuff like that. Within a year they hated each other and ruined a friendship I had with the other husband that was started when we were both 13. It sucked and she realized that going from a hobby to a business puts a whole new spin on it.

 

[Bassman2003]

Imho, hobby to a business is easier than a hobby to a business partnership. People all handle money and their affairs differently. Gluing two people together in the hopes of making some money feels 'safer' for some but is often not the best way forward. The brewing world is so expensive on the front end that partnerships are almost required to gather all of the capital needed. No thanks!

 

[Gadjobrinus]

Imho, hobby to a business is easier than a hobby to a business partnership. People all handle money and their affairs differently. Gluing two people together in the hopes of making some money feels 'safer' for some but is often not the best way forward. The brewing world is so expensive on the front end that partnerships are almost required to gather all of the capital needed. No thanks!

+1. Legal nightmare to remove a "partner" who truly wreaked havoc. Vowed to never do it again.

 

[BB_]

Beautiful woodwork. Have you thought about making a beertap handle for some of your brews? I love seeing unique designs at bars.
Starting a brewery is also a dream of mine, and recently my buddy and I made a promise to each other that if one of us got serious, the other would join in.

 

[Bobby_M]

Having owned a homebrew shop for 10+ years, we have a bit of an inside joke that pretty accurately represents how long someone is going to stay in the hobby. The shorter the time period between their start of brewing (first batch) to the moment they say "I plan to open a brewery", the sooner that person quits the hobby. So far, it hasn't failed us. On the extreme end, someone will walk in cold having never brewed before and they say "it" in the same visit. They leave with an equipment and ingredient kit and I never see them again. If they say it in the first year after a few batches, they have maybe another two batches in them. I can't completely account for why this is, but since you've already been brewing for 3 years, it probably doesn't apply to you.

Best of luck working towards your dream. Brew often and figure out what the vision really is.

 

[madscientist451]

. As a woodworker, I ended up building a bar. It was always a dream to build a bar in my own home to serve my own beer, so I did that.

View attachment 844509

Anyway, someday I'd like to open a brewery. Around here, there are more than a few breweries, and all do very well.

Hey that looks great, but being a clever woodworker and a homebrewer isn’t going to prepare you for running your own business. (I had my own biz for 10+years). How much working capital do you currently have? Have you looked at what it costs to rent a commercial space in your area? Right now, there is plenty of used small brewery equipment for sale at low prices. What does that availability tell you about what’s going on in the brewing business? I ran all the numbers a few years back and I couldn’t make it work with the cash I had. Things have changed though and I encourage you to follow your dreams but spend wisely and hire a consultant to guide you through the process. If you have the money you can buy a small farm in Maryland and start a lower cost “farm brewery” . PM me for more ideas if you’d like.