What keeps you from going pro?

[IncredibleMulk]

I took one passion, music and sound, and made it a career. I have never looked back. I've opened two recording studios and absolutely love what I do. Brewing is something that I do for pure enjoyment, it's mine to share or keep completely to myself. There is no pressure to do it or any reason for me to not want to do it. I started brewing because I love beer and wanted learn more about it. I have a career that I love but that can quickly still become "work". I don't want to ever look at brewing as work. I'm good at it, I enjoy it and my friends and family get to enjoy the fruits of my labor.

I am of the school of thought that you should go for your dreams, but be very aware of what you are getting in to. I've owned three companies and wish I had never opened two of them. Not because they were not successful (one was not), but because once I started REALLY doing all that was involved in them, I realized that I did not like it! The one company that I maintain today happens to be the one that I spent the most time researching, understanding the business and all that is involved AND started the slowest.

Best of luck to you!

 

[iarobertson]

Am I understanding this right? You are already planning on going pro?

 

[riverfrontbrewer]

Not sure why some of you are so scared of the three tier system (producer, distributor, retailer) with the proper licensing and business structure you can be all three. Many brewery owners form a seperate entity to be the distributor......brewery sells beer to the distributor, distributor sells to retail....more of a paper trail and proper licensing than anything, either way the brewer/dist owner keeps more of the profits. On the retail side, again with the proper licensing, you can sell your product on site. Haven't you ever seen 6 ers or bombers being sold at a brewery/tasting room?

Oh, and I agree with whoever said that recipies are the least of your worries. Having $100,000-$500,000 in startup money, CONSISTANTLY making top notch beer, having a good location, having good staff, having a viable business plan....all things to consider.

 

[springer]

In my experience don't turn a hobby that you enjoy into an every day job. I did it for about 2 years with customizing motorcycle's. I made good money at it but after the initial high of doing what I loved every day it started to get to the point that I started to just think of it as a job . So I shut it down and it took a couple of years for me to start enjoying it again. I now only do 1 or 2 bikes a year for friends.


I have been doing homebrew a few years and have yet to come to the point that the beer is consistent enough that I would even consider selling it. I even have a place where I could brew and sell it friend is part owner of a very successful brewpub .

 

[remilard]

Not sure why some of you are so scared of the three tier system (producer, distributor, retailer) with the proper licensing and business structure you can be all three. Many brewery owners form a seperate entity to be the distributor......brewery sells beer to the distributor, distributor sells to retail....more of a paper trail and proper licensing than anything, either way the brewer/dist owner keeps more of the profits. On the retail side, again with the proper licensing, you can sell your product on site. Haven't you ever seen 6 ers or bombers being sold at a brewery/tasting room?

Thats not true in every state. In Missouri, no entity can have ownership in businesses on multiple tiers (brewpubs excepted). I assume some other states are the same. This is why Gordon Biersch had to sell its restaurants. Boulevard Brewing in Kansas City had to start making wine in order to be allowed to sell beer on premises.

 

[riverfrontbrewer]

In Colorado, individuals can form a seperate entity to be the ditributor.....so if 2 guys own the brewery, those 2 guys can form another entity that is a distributor....brewery sells to dist....same 2 guys still get all the money!

Or another easy workaround if indeed the same people can't own the distributorship...have the 2 guys wives form the 2nd entity.

 

[remilard]

In Colorado, individuals can form a seperate entity to be the ditributor.....so if 2 guys own the brewery, those 2 guys can form another entity that is a distributor....brewery sells to dist....same 2 guys still get all the money!

Or another easy workaround if indeed the same people can't own the distributorship...have the 2 guys wives form the 2nd entity.

Wouldn't work in Missouri. There is a reason some states have more small breweries than others, and it isn't the water.

 

[bad coffee]

I have no desire to become a pro.

That's my main drawback.

B

 

[Yuri_Rage]

I already have a job.

 

[samc]

In order to appeal to the masses at some point you wind up dumbing down your product so that more people want it. Triple hopped blueberry wheat beer with cardamon might not be a big hit everywhere. I've been through this problem with other businesses and have no desire to go through it again. Sticking with home brew unless someone throws a few million at me and says the world must have your beers. LOL

 

[schristian619]

This is something I have been researching a lot. I do plan on going pro in the future. I have been brewing for about 2 years now, and am just getting to the point that I am consistent with my "house" beers. My original plan was to be able to sell within the next 2 years, but that may be extended. Money is a huge factor even on the nano level. I just can't afford the equipment costs and location leasing right now. Here in CA, we don't have the three tier system, so thats a non issue. And for whatever reason, finding a good brewery/brewpub name seems to be one of the hardest parts for me. I have close to 200 names jotted down and still nothing seems to be standing out. Once I do though, I have friends in graphic design waiting to make logos for labels and shirts. The I can get my business license and start selling shirts/hats/etc AND be able to write off equipment/ingredient costs.

 

[Cheaton]

Walking into the local supermarket and seeing the staggering number of beers available (very good selection at the local supermarket here) is enough to make me stay away. The beer market is absolutely flooded right now. I feel like you would need a large amount of stashed cash to be able to survive, not to mention a large marketing budget. Unless you're ok with scraping by for about 10 years. There is very little room for more breweries. If you think you can make it on the quality of your product alone I think you're fooling yourself. On the other hand, if you have a great name, a great logo, and a good salesman I think you have a better shot irregarrdless of the product.

 

[Denny]

Why don't I go pro? Because I love brewing too much to make it into a job!

 

[McCheese352]

I have absolutely no desire to go pro.

1.) I make too much money in a job that offers me no satisfaction whatsoever.

2.) I enjoy brewing too much to want to make it a necessity.

3.) My Nigerian uncle's lawyer has yet to send me my 4 million dollar check, as promised. I already sent him my $2k. WTF? The email said I'd have my money within the month.

Hey Gila, if you hear from your Nigerian Uncle's lawyer, could you remind him he still owes me $4 million. Its been like two years and I'm starting to wonder if i'll ever see the cash...

 

[user 29674]

Thats not true in every state. In Missouri, no entity can have ownership in businesses on multiple tiers (brewpubs excepted). I assume some other states are the same. This is why Gordon Biersch had to sell its restaurants. Boulevard Brewing in Kansas City had to start making wine in order to be allowed to sell beer on premises.

Georgia is the same. Besides that, many retail establishments deal with one or two distributor(s) and no one else, so even if you became your own distributor, at best you'd probably be limited to selling draft to bars.

 

[malkore]

Walking into the local supermarket and seeing the staggering number of beers available (very good selection at the local supermarket here) is enough to make me stay away.

so true. I keep waiting for the beer industry to bottom out much like the cigar industry did a few years back.

with the big breweries buying out some of the smaller ones and shutting them down a couple years later, we're already seeing beers disappear.

 

[Killinger]

What keeps you from going pro?

My mortgage, mostly.

 

[Dalarast]

Would never dream of trying to go pro and brew beer to sale in a bottle.... would love to be a partner in a group owning a brewpub/microbrewery. But it all requires no saturation within my market to ever dream of that... oh yeah and the mortgage, kids, and that d word.. oh yeah DEBT.

 

[Nugent]

Why don't I go pro? Because I love brewing too much to make it into a job!

+1 to this.

For more practical reasons, three words - public-sector pension

 

[homebrewer_99]

Personally, I'm not looking for another job...

 

[brewmonk]

my job, my money, my wife, my life.

Why would I want to make the same thing all the time?

 

[wizardofza]

I've given this some thought too, and my job pays too much for me to change occupations. That, and the licensing fees here in my area of NY are too high for what I want to do.

I'd love to open up a small brewpub on some corner in a hip area in the city - smallscale - maybe on a Sabco system or something like that - a few barrels a week. Somewhere that serves some food too - but the yearly fee here in Buffalo is over $4G for a "brewpub" - blah!

Microbrewery licensing is substantially cheaper, at about $400/year! But you can't run a microbrewery on a Sabco system - that's where money (or the lack of) seems to hold me back.

 

[Brewin06111]

I wouldn't want to change a hobby into something I call work ever...It would take all the fun out of it for me..

 

[david_42]

Ditto on that.

 

[Houblon]

Title said:

If you have so many recipes, why don't you sell your beer?

Reality

But if I was going to go into the brewing biz it would be in the EU (NL or Be.), a Dutch brew buddy is doing just that as its alot easier & cheaper .

 

[jacksonbrown]

Brewing aint easy. I've been at it for just over two yeasrs. And I also had aspirations of going pro when I first got started, as I think many people do. But the truth is that it aint easy and I am lazy. And like many here have said I don't want my hobby to become my job. And I'm not consistant enough.
A buddy of mine has been trying for about a year to open a local brewpub but has since given up because he was unable to raise enough capital. I highly recommend checking out his blog which chronicals his adventure and what he learned. There's a lot of good information out there for people interested in starting up: http://republicbrewpub.blogspot.com/. Good luck.

 

[nebben]

As much as I like to make my own beer, so far I'm still enjoying it too much to make a second batch of anything I've made yet. I just keep tinkering and taking notes on all of it. I suppose someday I'll start to go back and duplicating or triplicating recipes, but until then, it's all uncharted territory.

Oh, and another part of it is that yesterday I was looking into how much that nifty hand-operated canning machine I saw this summer up in the Yukon would cost. After a few hours of searching the interwebs, I found the same model. Sticker shock. $16k , and it maxes out at about 20 cases of canned beer an hour...and it requires two people to do that. The automated one is significantly more expensive at $60k + .

That is just a machine that gets the beer into cans. Getting cans with minimum orders of 20 pallets, permits, and tens of thousands of dollars later after MLT, HLT, electronic controls, space...etc.... Yea, no, I don't think I'm ready for that kind of commitment yet.

The batch I'm brewing for the end of 2009 this afternoon is < $17.00 in materials , and the keg I will put it in is $30 with new gaskets.

 

[azscoob]

I agree on turning a hobby into a job... it sucks the enjoyment out of it. I loved working on cars so I got into it years ago, I also build race motors on the side as a small business. I no longer love what I do, because I HAVE to do it everyday, I enjoy the race motors side of it because it is a one or two per month thing, not everyday. I brew to relax and enjoy myself. an infection in a batch does not impact my finances like it could in a microbrewery

 

[humann_brewing]

reality890

 

[craigd]

Why would I want to make the same thing all the time?

+1 I have been brewing off and on for 4 years of the last decade and I have never done the same beer twice. I know that repeatability is the hallmark of a good brewer but the whole reason I originally got into brewing was to have beer I couldn't get on the shelf easily. The options on the shelf sure have improved in that time but the guy at my beer store still knows when I come in to show me whatever is new or rare.

Also - turning my hobby of computers into a living didn't improve my enjoyment of them so I don't imagine it would work any better for beer.