How serious are you?

[Jester369]

Of course it will be work, but unless I hit the lottery I'm going to have to work anyway! Why compound the obligation of working with the punishment of doing something you don't love? Pro obviously isn't for everyone, but I also don't think going pro mandates that brewing become a drag. I'm keeping my options open - never say never!

 

[Bob]

Pro obviously isn't for everyone, but I also don't think going pro mandates that brewing become a drag.

Thank you, Jester, for saying what I failed terribly to say so succinctly.

Bob

 

[John Beere]

Give me another two years and Deep Six will become a reality...

 

[Willy Boner]

I imagine there is quite a bit of difference between brewing great ale in a 6 gal. bucket and brewing enough to keep a brewpub in business. It's a great pipe dream but it would take a lot of time and training. I want to do other things besides make beer.

 

[Coastarine]

I want to do other things besides make beer.

MADMAN!! BLASPHEMER!!

 

[Padstack31]

I'm blown away, almost 1000 people have viewed this in the 5 days... yet still looking for that 200th response...lets keep those votes coming...

As for me, once I realized it was possible to combine my education and work experience with my favorite hobby I was hooked. I've been dead set on opening my own place ever sense.

What can I say, I'm just a blue collar boy in a white collar world...

 

[bearkluttz]

Perfectly happy to brew for myself and a friends who care to partake. trying to turn this into an income would take the fun right out of it.

 

[fat x nub]

I AM opening a brewpub one day

 

[Edcculus]

Probably. Still considering options. It definately won't be until I retire. I'm counting on my old roomate to make it big and become an investor. With my expertise and his capital (later down the road), I think I could open a kickass brewpub.

 

[wild]

Might own a brewery. This way I can help brew with the brewmaster or just get a beer when I want.

 

[Hagen]

I don't think my finances could handle the pay cut going pro would entail...

 

[elkdog]

Thank you, Jester, for saying what I failed terribly to say so succinctly.

Bob

Bob, I think you said it pretty well in your long post a few pages back, and I find little to disagree with there. I probably should just have said that I really like what I do (I'm a doctoral student, aiming at an academic career), and that I like the role brewing plays in my lifestyle. It's a relaxing hobby that I geek out on more and more, but that I do at my pleasure, and that yields me some delicious beer to drink. I don't think that I'd personally enjoy brewing full-time more than what I do now, but I love it as a hobby that provides me with an escape from the academics and politics that can wear me down. Basically, I'm not quitting my day job for brewing, but that was never why I got into brewing.

 

[Ryan_PA]

I really enjoy brewing what I want when I want. For me it is a hobby, and always will be.

I, selfishly, could not imagine committing myself to the time and stress involved in a restaurant/brewery ownership. I just enjoy my time with the family way too much right now. Being home at nights and weekends playing with my kid is better than brewing.

 

[Skipstr21]

I'm too old (48) to change careers now. I have wife/kids to support but after I retire...that could be another story. Unfortunately, our econmy probably won't allow me to retire until I'm 80...

 

[TommyBoy]

If I win the lottery I would open up a microbrewery to keep myself busy. Eventually I would hire a brewmaster to maintain the main beers and I would just constantly experiment for new beers. I would have the main setup behind glass behind the bar and then my little "R&D" section, which would consist of a 10 or 20 gal setup, would be close by.

 

[blacklab]

My wife told me awhile ago that I needed something other than work to focus on...so I started brewing again.

Brewing is one of the things I do to forget about work and relax...I can't see it turning into a job for me. Then it would just turn into more stress and work, which would defeat the purpose of doing it in to relax in the first place.

 

[AnOldUR]

I'm blown away, almost 1000 people have viewed this in the 5 days... yet still looking for that 200th response...lets keep those votes coming...

I didn't vote because there wasn't a, "It would be nice, but reality is a pain in the a$$", option.

I'm 55 and haven’t prepared well. I'll never be able to completely retire, but it's nice to think that I could make beer instead of metal chips to supplement my old age. But then there's the reality of it . . .

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

It's a hobby.


I don't like work.

 

[springer]

its a hobby plain and simple. I tried making a hobby into a profession once and while I made money I grew to hate it.

 

[cubbies]

I didn't vote because there wasn't a, "It would be nice, but reality is a pain in the a$$", option.

Well said, I did vote, I chose the "keeping my options open" because that is the closest to the way I feel.

The unfortunate thing is that the main reason I probably will not ever run a brewery/brewpub is because of the laws surrounding such places. I have always, and I mean always, even before brewing, wanted to open a restaurant. I have many people, including people that had zero reason to blow smoke up my arse, tell me that I shouldopen a restaurant. Of course, I dont know how realistic even that dream is, but it certainly is a possibility somewhere down the road. Ideally, the way my dream would work out is that in my restaurant I would have a number of microbrews on tap to attract the craft beer crowd and then every so often sell some of my beer. Then if people liked what I was brewing I could invest in larger equipment and merge the restaurant into a brewpub.

Unfortunately becuase of the stigma of alcohol, that will never work. If you want to start brewing for people you have to brew a lot. That means I would have to buy the large equipment up front and just take the risk. You can't ease your way into brewing commercially. You have to just go for broke. Personally, I am not much of a risk-taking gambler, and I can't see me risking my livelihood to risk something like that.

So, long story short, I would love to brew commercially. I would not fear the hours, the work, nor the inability to brew as many "experiments"; but I do not foresee me ever being in a position where I can take the risk.

 

[BrianTheBrewer]

Well said, I did vote, I chose the "keeping my options open" because that is the closest to the way I feel.

The unfortunate thing is that the main reason I probably will not ever run a brewery/brewpub is because of the laws surrounding such places. I have always, and I mean always, even before brewing, wanted to open a restaurant. I have many people, including people that had zero reason to blow smoke up my arse, tell me that I shouldopen a restaurant. Of course, I dont know how realistic even that dream is, but it certainly is a possibility somewhere down the road. Ideally, the way my dream would work out is that in my restaurant I would have a number of microbrews on tap to attract the craft beer crowd and then every so often sell some of my beer. Then if people liked what I was brewing I could invest in larger equipment and merge the restaurant into a brewpub.

Unfortunately becuase of the stigma of alcohol, that will never work. If you want to start brewing for people you have to brew a lot. That means I would have to buy the large equipment up front and just take the risk. You can't ease your way into brewing commercially. You have to just go for broke. Personally, I am not much of a risk-taking gambler, and I can't see me risking my livelihood to risk something like that.

So, long story short, I would love to brew commercially. I would not fear the hours, the work, nor the inability to brew as many "experiments"; but I do not foresee me ever being in a position where I can take the risk.

I agree with everything you said.

 

[Sager Brewing Co.]

I would really like to brew full time. I will probably open a restaurant in my local small town first, brew small batches and work my way up to larger batches and maybe some day move into off premises sales. It will probably be around 20 years or so though before I can do this so I hope that not too many other people in my area do it first. But at least that will give me time to prefect my recipes.