Nano Brewery anyone???

[frolickingmonkey]

I saw gilligan's set-up on craigslist for 14 k last week. are they out of business?

Not to quote myself or anything, but...

As for Gilligan's Brewery in Seattle... it's for sale. They've been kicked out of the storage unit by their landlord.

 

[Mosa]

I was actually over at Gilligan's on Saturday. The landlord has extended his lease through the summer, so he'll be brewing till September or so.

 

[frolickingmonkey]

I was actually over at Gilligan's on Saturday. The landlord has extended his lease through the summer, so he'll be brewing till September or so.

Cool! I'm glad to hear that! Do you think it was public outrage that caused his slight change of heart?

 

[Mosa]

Cool! I'm glad to hear that! Do you think it was public outrage that caused his slight change of heart?

Damn straight! I know a few people in the North Seattle Homebrew Club were lobbying for him! :rockin:

 

[z987k]

If you are interested in this I would highly advise some serious number crunching. I don't mean to be a wet blanket for anyone's dreams, but I do want to offer some words of caution and realism so decisions can be made advisedly.

No one ever wants reason around here on this topic.

 

[Cheeto]

This seems like a really hard way to make a little bit of money. Retailers are the ones that make the money (and not much there either) You pay rent, utilities, taxes, license, ingredients, liability and other insurance, kegs, chemicals, delivery costs and time, promotion, spoilage, equipment and repairs and who knows what else. I can't see much left over at the end of the day. It would be interesting to know what they are able to get for a keg.

If you could retail the product/open a pub or tap room, your margin would increase dramatically. A keg that wholesales for what, maybe $100, could bring in $310 at 2.50 a pint. But that would bring its own problems as well. Liquor laws are really dangerous right now for anyone who is serving the public. You would also have sales tax and different insurance concerns.

If you are interested in this I would highly advise some serious number crunching. I don't mean to be a wet blanket for anyone's dreams, but I do want to offer some words of caution and realism so decisions can be made advisedly.

I see you point Brewpastor,

I am willing to bet that these places sell their beer for $4-$5 a pint.
For an example, if they have a blonde ale at $4 a pint in a 1/2 bbl keg given that they get 120 glasses out of it that places that brew worth $480.
they would have to sell 2 kegs a week just to cover the cost of brewing and space rent



Granted Washington did just recently change its laws to make things like this possible !
If someone were to do this I think this would be the place for it.
Here are a few of the laws that govern this.


Definition of Beer in Washington State
"Malt beverage" or "malt liquor" means any beverage such as beer, ale, lager beer, stout, and porter obtained by the alcoholic fermentation of an infusion or decoction of pure hops, or pure extract of hops and pure barley malt or other wholesome grain or cereal in pure water containing not more than eight percent of alcohol by weight, and not less than one-half of one percent of alcohol by volume. For the purposes of this title, any such beverage containing more than eight percent of alcohol by weight shall be referred to as "strong beer."



RCW 66.24.244 1) There shall be a license for microbreweries; fee to be one hundred dollars for production of less than sixty thousand barrels of malt liquor, including strong beer, per year

RCW 66.28.120 Every person manufacturing or distributing malt liquor for sale within the state shall put upon all packages containing malt liquor so manufactured or distributed a distinctive label showing the nature of the contents, the name of the person by whom the malt liquor was manufactured, and the place where it was manufactured. For the purpose of this section, the contents of packages containing malt liquor shall be shown by the use of the word "beer," "ale," "malt liquor," "lager," "stout," or "porter," on the outside of the packages.

RCW 66.28.150 Breweries, microbreweries, wineries, distilleries, distributors, certificate of approval holders, and agents authorized to conduct courses of instruction on beer and wine.

RCW 66 covers quite a bit of this

So after reading and searching for 2 days I have found that for about $200 you can have a microbrewery of your own in Washington State, along with being able to teach people how to brew


Most these laws are not very old, less that a year on a few of them.
I think that the novelty of this will wear off soon, sadly it will be when a few people have gone deeply in debt.

As with many for profit ideas a business plan is a must!

For information on starting a micro brewery/pub in WA. ask Brewtopia !

He has a place in Seattle


-Jason

 

[tspilker]

I see you point Brewpastor,

I am willing to bet that these places sell their beer for $4-$5 a pint.
For an example, if they have a blonde ale at $4 a pint in a 1/2 bbl keg given that they get 120 glasses out of it that places that brew worth $480.
they would have to sell 2 kegs a week just to cover the cost of brewing and space rent



Granted Washington did just recently change its laws to make things like this possible !
If someone were to do this I think this would be the place for it.
Here are a few of the laws that govern this.


Definition of Beer in Washington State
"Malt beverage" or "malt liquor" means any beverage such as beer, ale, lager beer, stout, and porter obtained by the alcoholic fermentation of an infusion or decoction of pure hops, or pure extract of hops and pure barley malt or other wholesome grain or cereal in pure water containing not more than eight percent of alcohol by weight, and not less than one-half of one percent of alcohol by volume. For the purposes of this title, any such beverage containing more than eight percent of alcohol by weight shall be referred to as "strong beer."



RCW 66.24.244 1) There shall be a license for microbreweries; fee to be one hundred dollars for production of less than sixty thousand barrels of malt liquor, including strong beer, per year

RCW 66.28.120 Every person manufacturing or distributing malt liquor for sale within the state shall put upon all packages containing malt liquor so manufactured or distributed a distinctive label showing the nature of the contents, the name of the person by whom the malt liquor was manufactured, and the place where it was manufactured. For the purpose of this section, the contents of packages containing malt liquor shall be shown by the use of the word "beer," "ale," "malt liquor," "lager," "stout," or "porter," on the outside of the packages.

RCW 66.28.150 Breweries, microbreweries, wineries, distilleries, distributors, certificate of approval holders, and agents authorized to conduct courses of instruction on beer and wine.

RCW 66 covers quite a bit of this

So after reading and searching for 2 days I have found that for about $200 you can have a microbrewery of your own in Washington State, along with being able to teach people how to brew


Most these laws are not very old, less that a year on a few of them.
I think that the novelty of this will wear off soon, sadly it will be when a few people have gone deeply in debt.

As with many for profit ideas a business plan is a must!

For information on starting a micro brewery/pub in WA. ask Brewtopia !

He has a place in Seattle


-Jason

So does that mean you will be opening a brewpub in town when you get back? I can contribute !

 

[Cheeto]

umm NO!

I have a wife and kids, I don't have the time for a project like a brew pub !

Now a few taps in my basement I think I can do !

That and Seattle in only a few hours away

-Jason

 

[Brewpastor]

No one ever wants reason around here on this topic.

I kind of figured that.

 

[nostalgia]

Thanks for this thread! It inspired me to contact Joel from Two Beers Brewery. You may be interested in this thread where he gave me an interview!

-Joe

 

[trailblazer]

blackmarket brewery in california is inside of an industrial unit mixed in with a bunch of automotive type buisnesses. he has a 15bbl system inside their and makes some great beer, its just a weird location.

 

[derHinterhof]

we already have the beer garden with twenty handles. and we still have room in our building. we are looking for a nano brewer to come in on a mutually advantageous basis. Open to ideas. Steve 509 860 1446

 

[jeremytk]

I have done some reading in the last few days, and the majority of states allow self distribution of home brew. Meaning you can brew ad sell all you'd like as long as the product is made and distributed from the same location. If anyone is anywhere near the eastern panhandle of WV, or up in State College PA let me know, we can talk more.

 

[NTabb]

Jeremy,

I grew up in Inwood and now live in Shepherdstown,WV. I've been looking at doing something locally to get started. The good thing about Shepherdstown is their all about local food and beer.

Nick

 

[DizzyPants]

I am a runner and Gilligans was just off the Burke Gilman running path here in Seattle. It is a great space that hosts people with hobbies. The person there now does woodworking. I always cam by and saw people with Growlers grabbing some brew.

I am just about to make a pump purchase. Man SS fittings are expensive.

~Diz

 

[ENS]

There is an article in the Harrisburg Patriot News where a nano brewery is opening up in Camp Hill, PA. I saw a post from someone from Camp Hill near the beginnig of this thread.

 

[BradleyBrew]

One of the basic brewing podcasts I just listened to today talks about the Mt. Caramel Brewery in Cincinatti, Ohio. Just a guy and his wife starting out brewing in their basement.

Ha! I grew up in that house.. it was sold to them by my parents

 

[Leeds1]

There is an article in the Harrisburg Patriot News where a nano brewery is opening up in Camp Hill, PA. I saw a post from someone from Camp Hill near the beginnig of this thread.

In today's Sunday Edition of the Patriot News? I read the whole thing and must have missed it. What section?

 

[ENS]

It was sometime in August. A guy I work with cut it out and brougt it into me. It was mostly about homebrewing in central PA, but discussed the local microbreweries. It was a good article. Took up several pages.

 

[Bigscience]

A few of the nano scale brewery guys have come to club meetings to discuss their efforts. While turning your system into a money maker is a dream of most people, it doesn't always work out that way and there is a ton of work to it. I forgot the exact amounts but permits, business licenses and all the tax stuff really adds up (20k+?) as well as the time to navigate it all. 18 months is the number that sticks out but I may be a little off. Everybody was extremely nice and willing to share there experiences but also said how they kept their day jobs.

Foggy noggin - Brews on the weekends with his homebrew system and has to do many batches to keep up with demand (6/day?)

http://www.foggynogginbrewing.com/


192 gave us a tour of his brew shed. Has a slightly larger setup and does tastings out of his house.
http://192brewing.com/


Airways started out (and may still be on) a B3 system. I'd heard about this guy and was in the hood (literally) and stopped by. We chatted for over an hour until SWMBO threatened to leave me there.
http://airwaysbrewing.com/


If you're really interested in starting something up, talk to some people and see if they don't scare you out of it. And as someone already mentioned, you must scale up. I know it think it's attractive when I can make beers for $0.25/pint but then I remember I just did it with free labor. If I'm going to spend that much time making a batch, I want to yield as much as I can.

Oh and you'll need sankes because most bars don't take cornies.

 

[Matty22]

I was actually thinking about trying this. Setting up a very basic business, just getting small loans from family, brewing out of a small warehouse or garage kind of a thing, and kegging and putting some in cases and six packs and just selling to restaurants within 20 miles or whatever, very small distribution. But then again I've been reading Sam Calagione's book "Brewing Up a Business" so my head is full of delusions of grandeur...

I had the same issue while reading that. Couldn't stop thinking, "Hey I could do that!"

 

[Phunhog]

This is one of the original threads that got me thinking about opening my own nanobrewery. It has been a couple of years and up until a few months ago I was really excited about the nano concept. I did a ton of research and talked to some licensed nanobrewers. It became pretty apparent though that nano's as a business model is a break even proposition and that you need to have some sort of "end game" in mind. The successful nano's aren't staying small...they are expanding into being full fledged micros. That is the beauty of nanobreweries...the ability to start small and turn it into something bigger. My problem was that my city wouldn't let my use my detached garage as the brewery ala Healdsburg, Old Hangtown, Chappell, etc....An attempted zoning variance would cost several thousand dollars. I also wasn't looking for a career change or even a side business. As cheesy as it may sound I just wanted to get the beer to the people!!
Anyways.....here is my point. I do have a nanobrewery!! I just call it a non-commerical nanobrewery. I brew beer, pour at beer festivals, sell t-shirts, donate brewing sessions for charity auctions, etc... I do everything EXCEPT sell beer. I think in so many ways it is easier. No paperwork, licensing, taxes, zoning laws, stress, rent etc....I have lots of friends who come by for growlers. They know I don't charge for the beer but they still feel obligated to pay me back. They have bought me lunch, given me gift cards, help with brewery maintence, and occasionally left a "funny piece of paper" on my workbench. I think it is awesome what the "professional" nanobrewers are achieving and maybe someday I will join them. But for right now I am pretty happy being a "non-commercial nanobrewer" Cheers!!

 

[TubBrewer]

Hello everyone,

The nano brewery idea has been something I have been kicking around for sometime. If anyone has any contacts who have actually tried this I would love to talk with them to find about their and experiences and how they would recommend to proceed in getting something like this setup. Additionally, I am considering doing this in Chicago and welcome any information on local laws concerning this topic.

PM me anytime...TubBrewer