Gilded Goat Brewing Co. - Building a Brewery

Hi friends and beer nerds,

We too are throwing our hat in the ring. Our family owned and operated brewery will open in September this year in Northern Colorado.

This adventure has been nearly 3 years in the making, and there is finally light at the end of the tunnel.

I know there are a number of people on here (namely @muddycreek ) who have posted about their trials and tribulations encountered during their startup. For my part, I want to be a resource (if I can) or a source of entertainment, and also squeeze as much info out of those in the know. Homebrewers and commercial brewers alike, this is an incredibly open and helpful industry, and we are excited to be a part of it.

Please ask any questions you might have, or provide commentary. I've been a member of this community for 5 years (and counting), so this isn't just a marketing ploy. I'll post updates as they come in.

You can find us on our website and facebook.

As a plus, there are involved!

I might as well tell everyone where we are in the process...

It has been a slow slog really. There are so many moving parts, each one requiring a ton of time and attention.

Our first step was finding a location. If you know Fort Collins, or just Colorado for that matter, there are breweries everywhere. Many of the breweries here are located in the north downtown area. Odell's, New Belgium are up there, along with many other "small" breweries. We wanted to get away from the downtown area. We heard that a terribly defunct mall in the center of town was slated for a major renovation...we also heard through word-of-mouth that Trader Joes and Sierra Trading Post were going to be the new mall anchors...and that they were turning the outdated, indoor mall concept into an shopping area with outdoor facing storefronts. Not only is this part of town currently seeing a major rebranding and rebuilding ("Midtown"), but it is surrounded by a ton of residential areas.

After nearly a year of negotiating the lease, greasing the wheels of the realtor and landlord, we signed our lease late last year. This location comes with many pros and cons. It will receive a yyuge amount of daily traffic (anchor stores, other shopping/restaurants, residential), but we are paying a lot for it (like a lot). Most of our lease negotiations centered around who would pay for what, basically. Breweries need a lot of process piping, gas/water/electrical runs, drains, etc. Our landlord is a shrewd negotiator, but he also really wants us to succeed (so we can pay rent obviously). After a lot of back and forth, he was willing to pay for enough of our specific needs during his part of the construction so that we could devote more capital towards a high level of finish in the space. As of today, he started excavating the new foundation of our storefront. I'll post some pictures of the space.

If you've read this far, thanks, I'll be quick now. Our state and federal brewing licenses are in the hands of the man. Those applications are a real task. When you consider how long the processing time is (currently ~150 days for federal app), you really need to submit them in perfect condition from the start. There are ways of pushing your app through a bit faster, which we will be employing soon. Our name and branding also took a long time. I can get into that more if anyone is interested. The layout and design of our space was also pretty tedious. These two things in particular require a lot of time and planning..once you decide you are pretty well stuck with it. We also have some really awesome brewing equipment coming from Alpha Brew Ops in Lincoln, NE. I can't wait to start playing with it.

Our current task is design details. Building plans will be submitted to the city this week, so we are focusing on lighting, outlets, sinks, drains, etc. We have the walls where they need to be, now we need to figure out what is going to be on them.

There are so many more details that I am happy to get into...QC lab, demand forecast, staffing, misc equipment. Even if no one asks anything, it's a bit cathartic just to write about our progress.

Good luck! I'm looking forward to following along as you you post.

I'll be out that way in late July, would love to see your progress at that point and talk about your beers.

Cheers.

Schemy said:

I'll be out that way in late July, would love to see your progress at that point and talk about your beers.

Cheers.

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Sure thing. Hit me up when you are in town. We should have the shiny new brewhouse in place by then.

OK, what breed(s) of goats are involved? (Golden) Guernseys?

Oginme said:

OK, what breed(s) of goats are involved? (Golden) Guernseys?

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Golden Guernseys are cool looking goats, especially the bucks. For now, it's just African Pigmy goats...and city health dept approval for goat visits to the taproom...

Following along...good luck!

I am in the beginning stages of this as well for when I leave the Air Force. I will be following along on your progress. Will you post your blog entries here as well?

bradleyhunt said:

I am in the bigger stages of this as well for when I leave the Air Force. I will be following along on your progress. Will you post your blog entries here as well?

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Thanks Brad. Let me know if you have any questions. I will definitely be cross-posting updates.

ColoHox said:

Golden Guernseys are cool looking goats, especially the bucks. For now, it's just African Pigmy goats...and city health dept approval for goat visits to the taproom...

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I'm sorry, but when you said 'pigmy' all I could think of was "tasting room and barbecue stand."

I really need to get the local dairy goat people near Ft Collins to sponsor the ADGA convention out there again so that I have an excuse to come out and see your brewery. Heck, I might need to spend most of my time there...

Thanks for posting....Do you have time for questions?
Here's a couple:
--What is the total initial investment needed to get your doors open and pour your first pint?
--I'm assuming you'll have a tasting room, that's why you wanted a location with high traffic, do you have a projection for ratio of tasting room sales/bulk keg or other packaged sales?
I have a lot of other questions, but realize you are probably pretty busy, so I won't hit you with all at once. Thanks for your post. I'll tell my Colorado friends to stop in!

madscientist451 said:

Thanks for posting....Do you have time for questions?
Here's a couple:
--What is the total initial investment needed to get your doors open and pour your first pint?
--I'm assuming you'll have a tasting room, that's why you wanted a location with high traffic, do you have a projection for ratio of tasting room sales/bulk keg or other packaged sales?
I have a lot of other questions, but realize you are probably pretty busy, so I won't hit you with all at once. Thanks for your post. I'll tell my Colorado friends to stop in!

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I replied to your email. Happy to answer any questions that I can.

Oginme said:

I'm sorry, but when you said 'pigmy' all I could think of was "tasting room and barbecue stand."

I really need to get the local dairy goat people near Ft Collins to sponsor the ADGA convention out there again so that I have an excuse to come out and see your brewery. Heck, I might need to spend most of my time there...

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We may need your professional opinion on our goats...and our beer. Bingo...excuse.

Lots of luck, my sister/brother in law live about an hour or so from there. Might have to stop in and have a few pints the next time the wife and I visit!

John

ColoHox said:

Thanks Brad. Let me know if you have any questions. I will definitely be cross-posting updates.

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Awesome

@madscientist451 , just realized that email wasn't from you. Send me a PM.

jcav said:

Lots of luck, my sister/brother in law live about an hour or so from there. Might have to stop in and have a few pints the next time the wife and I visit!

John

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Please do...lots of other things to try while you are here!

Great to see a post like this! How about some pics?

Man, too bad I don't live in Loveland anymore. I'll keep an eye on your progress and hopefully be able to swing when I visit family!

ImNoExpert said:

Great to see a post like this! How about some pics?

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Yessir! Pictures incoming. Here is our floorplan...for now.

View attachment GGBC floorplan.pdf

As a goat owner and homebrewer in Loveland (work in FOCO) really looking forward to this :rockin:

Just looked a bit more into this, and WoW! Your location is going through some HUGE transformations.
Way back in the early 80's, that area was a hot bed, but has gone through serious decay for many years. With Trader's and Sierra there now and the whole Foothills make-over, you've got a prime location. Will the brewery actually be located in the old "Square" Mall?
How exciting!

chunkwagon said:

Just looked a bit more into this, and WoW! Your location is going through some HUGE transformations.
Way back in the early 80's, that area was a hot bed, but has gone through serious decay for many years. With Trader's and Sierra there now and the whole Foothills make-over, you've got a prime location. Will the brewery actually be located in the old "Square" Mall?
How exciting!

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Yes, we are right next door to Trader Joes in the newly remodeled Square (north side). The Square Mall was in terrible condition for the last 10-ish years, and it is finally getting a much-needed facelift. The whole area is being renewed. We think the location is going to be excellent. I'm glad you can appreciate the necessity of this remodel in the area.

Here are some pics of our space in its current form. We will receive a "core and shell" on June 1. That means we aren't doing any of this demolition ourselves. There was a shoe store in our location, which has since moved to another spot in the shopping center. We will be taking over their space, plus about 500 sqft of "new" space that is being added on to the front of the building. These pictures aren't very relevant right now, but they will be once we can compare the look of the old space to our new buildout.

This is looking from where the brewhouse will be into the bar area


This image is where the brewhouse will be located


The outside of the building looked terrible for a decade. This is what it looked like in ~2008ish (from google maps). Our spot will be in the area that is behind the white truck.


This is what it looks like as of last week. They have finally started excavation of the exterior, so i'll have to snap a few more pics this week. Again, we will be in the area just to the left of the new-looking building on the corner.


We are so close, I can almost taste that beer. This week we are meeting with our engineers to design our plumbing and electrical. We are trying to get our plumbing in the ground before they pour our concrete floor, which will save us thousands of dollars. We also need to figure our our hot water needs (outside of the brewhouse) so we can complete the county health dept. license.

Today I will make my weekly call to the TTB and (respectfully) pester them about the status of our federal brewing license.

While I am sitting at work (on HBT ), my Dad and brothers are moving furniture. A very nice steakhouse in town went out of business and the building is being turned into an office. We found out who owned what a few weeks ago and made them an offer on their bar, shelving, indoor and outdoor tables/chairs, bar stools, benches, stainless sinks, etc. Nearly all our furniture...and nice furniture at that. They accepted our low-ball offer as long as we moved it out right away. We had a similarly sweet, albeit fast, deal with our walk in cooler. It is amazing what people will throw away.

Thanks for reading

From the floor plan I see a "tax determination area". Just curious of what this is and how it is used.

So what kind of beers do you plan to have on tap? You going for a niche or doing the broad range of all the beer styles? I spend a good amount of time in Fort Collins and drink lots of beer would love to have a new place to check out. Let me know when you are open. FoCo is getting pretty thick with breweries so good luck

ChrisRyan said:

From the floor plan I see a "tax determination area". Just curious of what this is and how it is used.

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Good question. The Feds want to make sure that you are paying taxes on the beer that you make. For that reason, a brewery has to have a point in their process (usually at the end) that the volume of beer is accurately measured and the amount of tax owed is calculated.

The TTB (federal agency that licenses breweries) requires that the floorplan be labelled with an area that will contain beer that that tax has been paid on (or calculated) and that it be separate from the area that holds non-taxpaid beer.

In our situation (which is similar to many other operations), finished beer will be pumped into brite tanks in the "tax determination area." Before any beer is moved from that tank, the entire volume will be recorded and reported on our quarterly (or monthly) tax filing. After taxes have been recorded, we can dispense the beer from that tank into kegs, glasses, growlers, etc.

How do you measure volume for tax purposes - markings on the brite tanks or...?

FoCobrewguy said:

So what kind of beers do you plan to have on tap? You going for a niche or doing the broad range of all the beer styles? I spend a good amount of time in Fort Collins and drink lots of beer would love to have a new place to check out. Let me know when you are open. FoCo is getting pretty thick with breweries so good luck

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Any and everything? There are so many good styles and flavors that we didn't want to pigeon-hole ourselves. As you mentioned, there are a ton of breweries here already, and they make some damn good beer. We will have loads of competition. The drinkers around here expect high-quality beers and are used to interesting ingredients, techniques, and flavors. We don't have to cater to craft-beer newcomers. Of course, we will have plenty of styles that are approachable for those people.

My background is in microbiology, so we will have a pretty extensive sour program starting right away. We will have to make what sells, despite my particular preferences, obviously. We will have to avoid what doesn't sell as well, but that will be hard to know in advance.

To answer your question directly:
1. Belgian Quad
2. Kolsch
3. American Rye
4. IPA (with native CO hops and CO grown malt)
5. Traditional Bock
6. Blonde
7. Chocolate Stout
8. Berliner Weisse
9. Kentucky Common
10. Coffee Pale
11. English Bitter
12. Scottish Ale

And yes, that is a lot. We plan to open with at least 6 beers, and increase to 12 available beers by the end of month 3. Theoretically, our equipment should allow for that schedule, but it will depend on a number of factors.

MeanLowerLow said:

How do you measure volume for tax purposes - markings on the brite tanks or...?

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Yep! A properly calibrated sight-glass (or other measuring device) is really all that is required by the TTB. We will also be using a flow meter during each transfer for additional measurement and to keep better records of equipment losses.

Great I love the sours and would love a new brewery with more unique offerings. I feel like some of the small breweries around here don't get enough rotation on their taps and it's hard to differentiate their core offerings because they are just the standard blond pale ale porter. Sounds like you are not going that route so good luck. I think you are right that there are enough educated pallets in northern colorado you don't need to water it down for us.

A Coffee Pale? That's a new one on me..All the 'coffee' beer I have seen have been really dark..Certainly would be game for it if I were there..

Also nice to see what all goes into starting a brewery, as a friend of mine asked me if I was going to do that..I was like, I dunno..Well, now I DO know, and for me, I think that answer is no...LOL..Wishing the best for you tho!

Pantherjon said:

A Coffee Pale? That's a new one on me..All the 'coffee' beer I have seen have been really dark..Certainly would be game for it if I were there..

Also nice to see what all goes into starting a brewery, as a friend of mine asked me if I was going to do that..I was like, I dunno..Well, now I DO know, and for me, I think that answer is no...LOL..Wishing the best for you tho!

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I thought it was an interesting combo of flavors. Another local brewery made one last year and it was fantastic. A chocolate blonde is also on the docket. These "dark beer" flavors can actually do well in lighter beers. Thanks for the kind words.

ColoHox said:

My background is in microbiology, so we will have a pretty extensive sour program starting right away. We will have to make what sells, despite my particular preferences, obviously. We will have to avoid what doesn't sell as well, but that will be hard to know in advance.

To answer your question directly:
1. Belgian Quad
2. Kolsch
3. American Rye
4. IPA (with native CO hops and CO grown malt)
5. Traditional Bock
6. Blonde
7. Chocolate Stout
8. Berliner Weisse
9. Kentucky Common
10. Coffee Pale
11. English Bitter
12. Scottish Ale

And yes, that is a lot. We plan to open with at least 6 beers, and increase to 12 available beers by the end of month 3. Theoretically, our equipment should allow for that schedule, but it will depend on a number of factors.

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Nice going and congrats dude. But how do you have a damn kentucky common and golden coffee beer but no farmhouse ale? That is whats going to sell, I promise you

m00ps said:

Nice going and congrats dude. But how do you have a damn kentucky common and golden coffee beer but no farmhouse ale? That is whats going to sell, I promise you

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Hey thanks. I like the Common, but I also anticipate that it won't be a big seller. We'll give it a try though.

The sour/wild/farmhouse beers are coming, trust me. They just aren't on our "opening" beer list (which is also subject to change). I will do some quick sours (sour mash/kettle sour) to hold people off until the real sour beers are ready. We are also going to make session versions of a few of our offerings for the day-drinkers with responsibilities.

Curious how you are funding it? Investors or personal loans, crowd-funding, etc.

I am starting the foundation for a small nano in one of the smaller neighboring towns that has money and market for it as well and have finally gotten a logo and started conversations with the city planner who is also the former mayor so things are moving albeit slow..

I also have another guy I know starting up a 3bbl brewery and they have not even started their paperwork nor had a beer menu/niche beer planned out yet it are acquiring space which seems a bit backward to me.
Good luck and I will certainly be reaching out to you on PM.

bbohanon said:

Curious how you are funding it? Investors or personal loans, crowd-funding, etc.

I am starting the foundation for a small nano in one of the smaller neighboring towns that has money and market for it as well and have finally gotten a logo and started conversations with the city planner who is also the former mayor so things are moving albeit slow..

I also have another guy I know starting up a 3bbl brewery and they have not even started their paperwork nor had a beer menu/niche beer planned out yet it are acquiring space which seems a bit backward to me.
Good luck and I will certainly be reaching out to you on PM.

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This is a family funded adventure based on equity financing. We have a detailed corporate structure and family members are shareholders in the corporation. We don't have any debt financing...yet. Unfortunately, when planning a brewery, there are a lot of dominos that have to fall at the same time. You can't submit your license paperwork until you have a location and/or lease. Let me know if I can answer any other questions.

Your space looks great! It's nice to see you moving forward!

Congrats! Looking forward to watching the progress.

So it looks like a 7 bbl brewhouse based on the fermenter sizes? And what is the space behind the 'tax determination area'? Is that your space as well? Room for expansion?