I got my Brewer's Notice!

[Phunhog]

Good Job!! I am starting down that road out here in CA. Thanks for the inspiration!!

 

[sp1365]

Congrats. I will be sure to look you up if I am ever in the area.

 

[Yooper]

It came in the mail today. Squam Brewing is officially a brewery! The TTB received my application on February 19, 2010 and it was approved on May 6, 2010. If anybody plans to be in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire in late June, look for my beer in stores. Or visit my website at www.squambrewing.com for location listings. Right now the site is just a place holder with very little information, but as soon as I get my labels approved and I get my Beverage Manufacturers License from the state I will update it.

There is no doubt in my mind that without HBT, this never would have happened. When I first stumbled across this site I was just a beginner extract brewer looking for advice. This site gave me the information and confidence to make the leap to all-grain. And thanks to the advice and wisdom of too many HBT members to list, I eventually decided to go "pro." I owe you all a debt of gratitude. Cheers!

That's great! Congrats and good luck to you. This is exciting.

 

[Paulgs3]

Ha, I'm familiar with squamous cell carcinoma (I think I first heard about it in an epidemiology course in college), but I'm just a bit surprised this is what popped up on a search engine looking for "squam." I suppose there are probably some people in the medical field that will make a negative association between my brewery and cancer, but I'm willing to bet that the vast majority of my potential costumers will make a positive association with the local lake. Its something I may want to consider if I ever decide to serve my beer at a medical conference

Not at all. I'm a virologists and honestly I never made the association. Squamous cells are good! They are a part of us, they are us

Good luck on your venture!!

 

[KCBrewer]

So the brewery is in a barn? Is this on your own private land as well? If so, that's pretty cool. Not that I've looked at the requirements to start a brewery, but I didn't know you could brew in the privacy of your home and sell it. I guess I pictured having to rent/own a commercial space and a lot of other regulatory crap that would prevent that from being possible. That sounds like the "job" to have, brewing & selling from your own back yard. Talk about a dream come true! Congrats and good luck!

 

[Jumbo82]

So the brewery is in a barn? Is this on your own private land as well? If so, that's pretty cool. Not that I've looked at the requirements to start a brewery, but I didn't know you could brew in the privacy of your home and sell it. I guess I pictured having to rent/own a commercial space and a lot of other regulatory crap that would prevent that from being possible. That sounds like the "job" to have, brewing & selling from your own back yard. Talk about a dream come true! Congrats and good luck!

The brewery is located in a barn on my parents property. You are correct though, you cannot brew beer in your home and sell it. All residential dwellings are off limits, but if you have a detached garage, barn, or other separate structure you MAY be ok. It depends on your local zoning laws. Also, I had to apply for a variance from the TTB due to the fact that the brewery was located in a residential area, and not in one that is commercially zoned.

If you're interested in reading up on the "regulatory crap" a good place to start is here http://www.ttb.gov/beer/qualify.shtml . They don't prevent a small brewery from obtaining a license, but they do make it a pain in the neck. To give you a recent example, one of the questions on the forms has to do with security. My brewery only has one entrance, which was a set of wooden doors with a padlock. During my recent interview with the TTB I was told that a wooden door isn't adequate security in a residential area (???). I replaced the door with a metal door, sent them some pictures, and the problem was solved. I can only guess what one would have to do to make a garage secure...

 

[completegeek]

That's awesome! living the dream huh?

 

[malkore]

Congratulations, and good luck! I'm from New Hampshire, and next time I'm up that way I'll try to pick up one of your brews (after you get them into the stores). I bookmarked your webpage... maybe a twitter or facebook account might be a good idea, to keep people informed? Again, good luck. I really like the small (nano) brewery approach, and the locals will definitely enjoy having fresh beer brewed in their neck of the woods.

Congrats, and best of luck with this endeavor. I agree too with the above...even with your real website, go ahead and setup a facebook page just so you can use the "Fan" thing (i think they just changed it to "Like" pages though instead of being a fan) to spread the word for free, in a viral fashion. Facebook does have paid adverts too that I think can be pretty targeted by region.

either way, I manage a little page for my buddies tattoo shop and it only takes 1 post of a new tattoo per week to keep our name out there and new clients walking in.

 

[TheDudeLebowski]

Read about your brews from this forum and picked up a couple last weekend when I had to head north to play golf 24 degrees and 30 mph winds was the best I could get from the frostline. I visited one of your first store customers and enjoyed your bitter last night. Can't wait to try out the others. Hopefully after this storm melts and I play local on Sunday I'll open another.