Getting intoBrewing

[ohill1981]

Hey folks, i have been wanting to get hired working in a brewery for a long time!. Like many of you, i have dreamed of eventually becoming a brewmaster or starting my own. I really want to work in the Brew house side and begin getting hands on experience on how the commercial equipment works. With that said, I have an opportunity to " get my foot in the door " as a bartender in a local craft brewery, but it would be as a bartender. The brew house is not hiring at the moment or the near future i was told. I already have a couple of other jobs, more money is always nice , but its not the driving force behind wanting to work there. Im thinking about pursuing it since it could potentially lead to where i want to end up, but i was curious what you folks thought about it ?

 

[HopHeavy]

Nothing but pouring pints? Doesn't sound like heavy lifting... Might lead to some good contacts elsewhere, even if they do not take you onto their brewery operation directly. Good luck!

 

[Dcpcooks]

My buddy brews professionally and bartends at the brewery on Saturday nights to make extra cash. He pulls down $400-600 on a Saturday night. The reality is brewing doesn’t pay much until your at the top. I’d say if you love the brewery and you can get an in go for it.

 

[BoozeMedic]

I concur with both HopHeavy and Dcpcookd, but I'd like to throw in another idea: volunteering.

I've been wanting to learn how to brew professionally for years, but my actual money-making career never allowed for it. Still, I started working weekends a few years ago as a bartender at a local microbrewery brewpub. They never ended up hiring me in the brewhaus and I kind of gave up the dream as just not practical. I did, however, end up making good friends with another brewer who frequented our brewpub and who recently ended up needing a part-time/flex-time person to CIP tanks and clean kegs. I agreed, but only if he let me brew with him on brew days. Since I don't need the money and just want the knowledge (and he knows how bad I wanted to learn the commercial side) he agreed-- so I come in and do the not so fun but completely necessary and required to learn parts of brewing -- cleaning -- for a small paycheck, and I volunteer on brewdays. I also had the gumption to ask that I get lunch and a growler fill for my unpaid/volunteer brew days and surprisingly they agreed.

Might not work for everybody, but it gets your foot in the door. (1) Everybody loves free labor, and (2) once you get your foot in the door by constantly showing up, it's pretty easy to move up the chain.
Just my two cents.

 

[ohill1981]

I concur with both HopHeavy and Dcpcookd, but I'd like to throw in another idea: volunteering.

I've been wanting to learn how to brew professionally for years, but my actual money-making career never allowed for it. Still, I started working weekends a few years ago as a bartender at a local microbrewery brewpub. They never ended up hiring me in the brewhaus and I kind of gave up the dream as just not practical. I did, however, end up making good friends with another brewer who frequented our brewpub and who recently ended up needing a part-time/flex-time person to CIP tanks and clean kegs. I agreed, but only if he let me brew with him on brew days. Since I don't need the money and just want the knowledge (and he knows how bad I wanted to learn the commercial side) he agreed-- so I come in and do the not so fun but completely necessary and required to learn parts of brewing -- cleaning -- for a small paycheck, and I volunteer on brewdays. I also had the gumption to ask that I get lunch and a growler fill for my unpaid/volunteer brew days and surprisingly they agreed.

Might not work for everybody, but it gets your foot in the door. (1) Everybody loves free labor, and (2) once you get your foot in the door by constantly showing up, it's pretty easy to move up the chain.
Just my two cents.

Thanks for the response! I suppose it never hurts to give something a try and like you said maybe something unexpected can come out of it . Hope your still Brewing!