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Just uploaded my ebook "A Good Hobby, Mashed: A Journey from Homebrewer to Craft Brewery Owner"

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formerlymandoman

formerlymandoman

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Some of you long time HBTers may remember me as mandoman. I was on this site a lot in the late 2000s and talked a bit about opening a brewery. You can still find a bunch of those posts but I don't have that email any longer and couldn't log in. Well 9 years ago I did it, and I have compiled the history in a memoir of sorts. It'll be on amazon in a day or two. Thanks to all here who helped me learn and encouraged me to go for it. Only $0.99 download.


Chris
 
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Really good - for our very rural market given that 17 other breweries opened nearby since we've been open. We peaked at around 1200 bbls but that has shrunk to maybe 900. We don't have investors and only carry a small debt. Opened for $15k. We could grow if we spent a bunch of money but that's not my motive.
 
Sure you go to amazon.com and search for "a Good Hobby mashed". Then the options come up to purchase and download. I think you have to be using the device you want to download it to. So if you want it on your iPad, search with your iPad. Or kindle, or phone, or wherever. Hope that helps.
 
formerlymandoman said:
Some of you long time HBTers may remember me as mandoman. I was on this site a lot in the late 2000s and talked a bit about opening a brewery. You can still find a bunch of those posts but I don't have that email any longer and couldn't log in. Well 9 years ago I did it, and I have compiled the history in a memoir of sorts. It'll be on amazon in a day or two. Thanks to all here who helped me learn and encouraged me to go for it. Only $0.99 download.


Chris
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I think it is possible in xenforo to merge two user accounts into one--presumably the original one. You might want to ask one of the admins. Good luck with your book sales and brewery!
 
Just purchased it, gonna start reading it tomorrow at break time. [emoji482]
 
formerlymandoman said:
Sure you go to amazon.com and search for "a Good Hobby mashed". Then the options come up to purchase and download. I think you have to be using the device you want to download it to. So if you want it on your iPad, search with your iPad. Or kindle, or phone, or wherever. Hope that helps.
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This is great; I am glad that you wrote a book about this subject. It has crossed my mind as well but I have a ways to go if I ever decided to do something like that. I have the location and the space, but not the level of experience yet (or original recipes), or the capital. But I will get this book and read it.
 
Hey toxdoc, thanks for taking the time to share. Location and space are critical elements so you're a lot farther than you think!
 
I have read about a quarter of the book; I must say a very honest accounting and many things I did not realize about making that jump. I appreciate all the things you talked about. I also see what you mean about location and space being big advantages. If I ever decide to go in that direction I may just start with a 20 or 30 gallon turn key system such as those sold by Spike brewing.
 
Another old person question, I only see the kindle version can I download it to my windows 10 PC or do I need to download an app?
 
Finished the book last night. Non-fiction is one of my favorite genres and the book seems super honest. Am very sure now that I don’t want to open a brewery, but for those that do, this should be required reading.
 
formerlymandoman said:
Thank you! Hope I didn't discourage you.
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No, I think that going pro is at least a secret fantasy of most homebrewers, but the reality is very different than the fantasy as your experience demonstrates, so no one could really discourage me from doing something I was never really serious about doing. I am glad that there are guys like you out there so there are lots of interesting and varied choices.

One great take aways from your book was about how we as craft beer consumers get judgy with beers. I was at a brewery last weekend and was critical of one of their beers. It is easy to try and be cool and knowledgeable and criticize. Is fun to seem like the smartest guy in the room, but not very helpful to the community. I liked your statement about how what is “good” and “bad” beer isn’t something that you can know just because you drink a lot of beer, it takes a great deal of study, reading, tasting training and understanding trends, so much so that no one person can know all there is to know about beer. The amount of work, effort, time and resources is just not something that a normal hobbyist would be willing to endeavor. Certainly we all have a place in the community, but I will be more careful in the future to only describe my experience with a beer and offer my opinion about what I can specifically say I enjoy or don’t enjoy without projecting that onto what others may enjoy or not enjoy about a beer.
 
Thank you for that AZ. Hearing you say that is like someone complimenting a nuance in a beer we have made. It means a lot.

Chris
 
This is maybe related to the topic: besides having an appropriate location, I imagine a lot of time is spent on making your own beer recipes. But then I wonder at what point does a beer recipe become 'your own?' At least for me. Starting with extract and all grain recipes that people gladly publish (and which helps a lot), do you start from scratch or do you tweak recipes to your liking to make it yours? I suppose a fair amount of time is spent on this aspect of brewing.
 
Recipes are important, but not nearly as much as you may think. After awhile it becomes second nature. I'll refer to a home brew recipe if I've never made a style, or to old recipes if I haven't made something for awhile, but those just provide a skeleton. Personally (all brewers are different) I continually tweak a recipe and at least make notes for the next brew and it takes awhile to get a beer 'just right'.

There's a big controversy in the industry right now about whether the brewer 'owns' the recipe or if it 'belongs to' the brewery. A big part of brewing, for me, is mentally deconstructing beers I like and trying to emulate the pieces as I want

Personally, I look at it like my business partner who said 'the recipe for chocolate chip cookies is on the package but no one makes them like your grandma'.

Truly, way more of a beers' quality comes from process and fermentation. Solid technique and knowledge of your specific equipment coupled with impeccable cellar work is what really separates the excellent breweries from the good ones.

After 9 years pro brewing I feel like I'm just starting to get close to excellent based on that criteria.
 
Thank you, that is very insightful; it is nice to know the perspective from the professional side.
For my part, I have been using recipe kits and some other recipes I find to make my beers. I just wonder if I can call them ‘mine’ based on how I personally brew them. At any rate, I would hope some day to get feedback from other brewers on my beers. So far my friends have given me honest feedback which is very helpful.
 
I just finished reading it and can say that it is honestly written book that describes how one big dream can go in either way.

Also, very interesting conclusion about craft industry future at the book epilogue.

Highly recommended read, no matter do you plan to invest in brewing yourself or not.
 
Finished the book and it's fantastic! The partner buy-out... ugh... can't even imagine going through something like that with everything else that was going on. Ken Grossman from Sierra Nevada went through the same thing in his book "Beyond the Pale". Also just heard your podcast on the Session - was pretty cool to hear you talk on there after reading the book!
 
I just finished "A brewers guide to opening a nano brewery" and " "How not to start a microbrewery" Yours is next.
I have kindle unlimited and bought it anyway. Thank you for your effort.
 
Just finished the book this morning. I haven't finished a whole book in 10 years! It took me 3 days. Thank you. My dream is much like the others, to one day go pro and retire from my "real" job. It is amazing how it seems like the actual "brewing", the thing most of us love the most, is a tiny part of owning a brewery. Reading about taxes, licensing, distribution, etc is kind of a bummer. Homebrewing for yourself and friends usually is not. It sounds like you are satisfied with your current position. Would you do it over? Or was it worth it?
 
I would absolutely do it again, but I would do some things differently. Partners necessitate more compromises. I don't work much, but could, and pay myself more. I have more employees than I need but feel good about giving them jobs. A couple or single person can make a decent living running a small taproom between 300 and 500 barrels with a few taproom staff. Things I didn't co wider when all I wanted to do was make beer.
 
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