OP
OP
MuddyCreek
Well-Known Member
Ok, sorry. I haven't had much time for ANYTHING lately. I suppose that's a good sign. The brewery has been busy. I'll try to sum up our first couple months...
Consistency is hard! Our I.P.A. is ridiculously popular among people who are not huge fans of I.P.A.s. This is because it's more of an English style I.P.A. (For the sake of ease, I'm going to stop using the "dots" now.) I've mentioned this before, the partners really wanted me to make an "approachable" IPA, so I brewed an English style that focused much more on the malt end and less on the front end bitterness or even the lingering bitterness. Instead we feature the hops aroma and the malt. (Much like the original IPAs that were shipped over to India.)
This has proven wildly popular among people who don't like particularly bitter beers. It's still pretty strong, has a very nice hoppy aroma but not the extraordinary bitter flavor. However, among West Coast IPA fans, Skinny Cow has of course been a dismal disappointment. There's no reasoning with those folks. They don't care about style discussions. They only know that Americans have created a variation of the IPA that doesn't even remotely resemble the original style but they LIKE IT!
So, for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the amazing difficulty with which I can acquire the hops necessary to make the original Skinny Cow formulation, we have updated the beer. Now it is much more in line with the West Coast fellow's perception of what it "ought to be". Now, on one hand, I myself prefer this style of IPA. On the other hand, I know we will disappoint a large part of our clientele who have really come to love the original Skinny Cow recipe.
In other news, we've released a 6th beer. Storm the Door vanilla porter is now on tap both on CO2 and on Nitro. It's doing very well as I expected. (I think it's my best beer.) In a couple weeks we'll also release a seasonal, Clementine. That's an orange-infused wheat ale. I also brewed up a blackberry pale ale that should be ready by mid May.
We have a couple of brew-fests coming up. One in nearby Bozeman and another in Livingston. Both ought to be good opportunities to get our name out there within a hundred miles or so and let people know who we are and where we're from.
So things are moving along in terms of the brewery.
Now, the question was about licensing. From the federal perspective, there wasn't much to do other than fill in the paperwork. That was pretty straight-forward. You do have to fill out all the forms, let the Feds and the State know what products (beers) you will be making and what their alcohol content will be. You will then be expected to stay within .5% of that ABV, I believe in perpetuity. I don't know if or how they check that, but I don't really want to find out.
The State was a bit more complicated. Each state, of course, has its own laws regarding the manufacture and sale of alcohol. What I can tell you is that Montana has an average period of 90+ days from the point of submission until you are given a provisional license to manufacture. We got ours in just over 40 days. Why, you ask? Because my partner Chris called our state TTB (Alcohol licensing board in the state) department representative and talked to her several times and became very familiar with precisely what the state needed in order to approve our license application.
So, in short, learn what your state needs, then contact the state rep and ask lots and lots of questions. Get on a friendly basis with the rep and stay in contact with him or her. Our application went through in just over 1/2 the normal amount of time because of this.
Now... Local rules are a bit different. (They're also tied in with the state regs so it gets a bit muddled here...)
In Montana you can get a provisional license to manufacture, but you can't sell or serve until you are fully licensed. To do THAT you must pass all your inspections. This includes your plumbing, electrical, and health inspection. It also includes your state inspection from the TTB (that state and federal alcohol board that regulates the sale of da hooch!)
We opted for a full kitchen so we could make soft drinks. That means we had to have a city/county health inspection so we could make food in the brewery. That means we needed washable walls, floors and ceilings. It also means our sinks had to be plumbed a certain way. All this has to be cleared with the city health guys AND your plumber before you start so you don't have tear a bunch of stuff out. We had to build walls around our brewhaus, then put up washable paneling on them. We had to paint the ceiling with washable latex, we had to cover the cement floor with washable paint and then seal it. Of course we had floor drains in for the brewery, but we had to put in particular sink drains as I mentioned earlier.
All our electrical had to be inspected and approved, the fire marshal had to come in and approve our fire-suppression system (see the epic posts about our 60k - 75k sprinkler system up above...) He also had to approve the fire-exit door we installed in the taproom and approve the capacity rating that the city gave us.
The state had to look at the plans we submitted for the physical walls, tables, chairs, bar, brewhaus layout, fermenting, lagering, aging, and milling room layouts. They sent a guy to confirm that everything was where we said it was going to be. (That's so they can confirm that in case of a fire or something we've demonstrated proof that there's a plan to get people out etc. At least I assume that's why they do it...)
If you're going to can or bottle, you also have to submit your labels to the Feds. This process can take some time as 1 guy. Yes ONE guy has to look at ALL the labels and decide if it's ok. Then he sends approval or disapproval back to you.
Now, the Feds are generally pretty easy. Basically, they just want your tax money. They want to know you have a way to determine how much wort you're producing from how much grain and hops and then how much beer your making from THAT. Then they want to know how much of that beer you're selling from your taproom and how much your distributing yourself, and how much you're sending to other distributors and finally how much your dumping down the drain or giving away for free and why...
The State wants to know that too as they also tax you, just not quite as much as the Feds.
From a local point of view, after you pass the health inspection, the electrical and plumbing inspections (which are passed along to the State of course,) you need your business license. You need to make sure you don't violate any zoning rules. (You aren't too close to a Church or a school are you?) You also need permits for any signage you want to put up.
Before you get too geared up, in Montana you really should send your entire staff through the alcohol server training course so they can get their certificate. You should keep records of THAT on file. That way, when the state comes through and asks you can say "Yes, sir, Emily DOES have her server certification!"
I think that's about it. Communication, communication, communication. Look over the local, state and federal laws and recognize that everything dominoes from the local down in terms of actual final licensing. You have to pass the local inspections, which are sent up the food chain for final, permanent licensing.
However, you CAN get provisional licensing to manufacture before you are fully licensed so you can start producing beer and hopefully be ready when you get your full license to serve the thirsty masses.
Whew... Sounds complicated, and it kinda is...
Consistency is hard! Our I.P.A. is ridiculously popular among people who are not huge fans of I.P.A.s. This is because it's more of an English style I.P.A. (For the sake of ease, I'm going to stop using the "dots" now.) I've mentioned this before, the partners really wanted me to make an "approachable" IPA, so I brewed an English style that focused much more on the malt end and less on the front end bitterness or even the lingering bitterness. Instead we feature the hops aroma and the malt. (Much like the original IPAs that were shipped over to India.)
This has proven wildly popular among people who don't like particularly bitter beers. It's still pretty strong, has a very nice hoppy aroma but not the extraordinary bitter flavor. However, among West Coast IPA fans, Skinny Cow has of course been a dismal disappointment. There's no reasoning with those folks. They don't care about style discussions. They only know that Americans have created a variation of the IPA that doesn't even remotely resemble the original style but they LIKE IT!
So, for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the amazing difficulty with which I can acquire the hops necessary to make the original Skinny Cow formulation, we have updated the beer. Now it is much more in line with the West Coast fellow's perception of what it "ought to be". Now, on one hand, I myself prefer this style of IPA. On the other hand, I know we will disappoint a large part of our clientele who have really come to love the original Skinny Cow recipe.
In other news, we've released a 6th beer. Storm the Door vanilla porter is now on tap both on CO2 and on Nitro. It's doing very well as I expected. (I think it's my best beer.) In a couple weeks we'll also release a seasonal, Clementine. That's an orange-infused wheat ale. I also brewed up a blackberry pale ale that should be ready by mid May.
We have a couple of brew-fests coming up. One in nearby Bozeman and another in Livingston. Both ought to be good opportunities to get our name out there within a hundred miles or so and let people know who we are and where we're from.
So things are moving along in terms of the brewery.
Now, the question was about licensing. From the federal perspective, there wasn't much to do other than fill in the paperwork. That was pretty straight-forward. You do have to fill out all the forms, let the Feds and the State know what products (beers) you will be making and what their alcohol content will be. You will then be expected to stay within .5% of that ABV, I believe in perpetuity. I don't know if or how they check that, but I don't really want to find out.
The State was a bit more complicated. Each state, of course, has its own laws regarding the manufacture and sale of alcohol. What I can tell you is that Montana has an average period of 90+ days from the point of submission until you are given a provisional license to manufacture. We got ours in just over 40 days. Why, you ask? Because my partner Chris called our state TTB (Alcohol licensing board in the state) department representative and talked to her several times and became very familiar with precisely what the state needed in order to approve our license application.
So, in short, learn what your state needs, then contact the state rep and ask lots and lots of questions. Get on a friendly basis with the rep and stay in contact with him or her. Our application went through in just over 1/2 the normal amount of time because of this.
Now... Local rules are a bit different. (They're also tied in with the state regs so it gets a bit muddled here...)
In Montana you can get a provisional license to manufacture, but you can't sell or serve until you are fully licensed. To do THAT you must pass all your inspections. This includes your plumbing, electrical, and health inspection. It also includes your state inspection from the TTB (that state and federal alcohol board that regulates the sale of da hooch!)
We opted for a full kitchen so we could make soft drinks. That means we had to have a city/county health inspection so we could make food in the brewery. That means we needed washable walls, floors and ceilings. It also means our sinks had to be plumbed a certain way. All this has to be cleared with the city health guys AND your plumber before you start so you don't have tear a bunch of stuff out. We had to build walls around our brewhaus, then put up washable paneling on them. We had to paint the ceiling with washable latex, we had to cover the cement floor with washable paint and then seal it. Of course we had floor drains in for the brewery, but we had to put in particular sink drains as I mentioned earlier.
All our electrical had to be inspected and approved, the fire marshal had to come in and approve our fire-suppression system (see the epic posts about our 60k - 75k sprinkler system up above...) He also had to approve the fire-exit door we installed in the taproom and approve the capacity rating that the city gave us.
The state had to look at the plans we submitted for the physical walls, tables, chairs, bar, brewhaus layout, fermenting, lagering, aging, and milling room layouts. They sent a guy to confirm that everything was where we said it was going to be. (That's so they can confirm that in case of a fire or something we've demonstrated proof that there's a plan to get people out etc. At least I assume that's why they do it...)
If you're going to can or bottle, you also have to submit your labels to the Feds. This process can take some time as 1 guy. Yes ONE guy has to look at ALL the labels and decide if it's ok. Then he sends approval or disapproval back to you.
Now, the Feds are generally pretty easy. Basically, they just want your tax money. They want to know you have a way to determine how much wort you're producing from how much grain and hops and then how much beer your making from THAT. Then they want to know how much of that beer you're selling from your taproom and how much your distributing yourself, and how much you're sending to other distributors and finally how much your dumping down the drain or giving away for free and why...
The State wants to know that too as they also tax you, just not quite as much as the Feds.
From a local point of view, after you pass the health inspection, the electrical and plumbing inspections (which are passed along to the State of course,) you need your business license. You need to make sure you don't violate any zoning rules. (You aren't too close to a Church or a school are you?) You also need permits for any signage you want to put up.
Before you get too geared up, in Montana you really should send your entire staff through the alcohol server training course so they can get their certificate. You should keep records of THAT on file. That way, when the state comes through and asks you can say "Yes, sir, Emily DOES have her server certification!"
I think that's about it. Communication, communication, communication. Look over the local, state and federal laws and recognize that everything dominoes from the local down in terms of actual final licensing. You have to pass the local inspections, which are sent up the food chain for final, permanent licensing.
However, you CAN get provisional licensing to manufacture before you are fully licensed so you can start producing beer and hopefully be ready when you get your full license to serve the thirsty masses.
Whew... Sounds complicated, and it kinda is...
