Yes, this is another thread about selling beer... but on a tiny scale.

[Willee]

If you are seeking an answer for a poll I say NO!
If you want an opinion then I would say that we are lucky to have the freedoms we have now and I dont think expanding them at this time would help our "hobby" remain so.

 

[bobeer]

My brewpub has a ten gallon two vessel electric system with 40 gallons in fermenters. My place has max occupancy of 67. I do just fine. 13 faucets on two keg boxes. I brew two sixth barrels twice a week. We do have a full service bar with a liquor license so its not just beer I sell but most of our products sold is our beer. No kitchen so no food. Just a bar that has a nano brewery. We don't do growlers or any canning or bottling at all. You don't need to spend a million bucks, you don't need a 5 bbl system and you don't need a life time of debt. What you do need is a serious plan, a serious work ethic, and the ability to brew what OTHER people want to drink. It isn't really about the actual brewing. It's about planning, working, making a product people will pay for, and building a customer base that will grow.

I'd like to know more about your brew pub too! What's it called and where are you located? Sounds awesome and sort of what I'm interested in. You're exactly right, you have to brew what OTHER people want to drink. What is your most popular beer and what are the kinds of beer people are into? Cool to hear another story of it being possible to go Tiny nano.

 

[Rob2010SS]

My brewpub has a ten gallon two vessel electric system with 40 gallons in fermenters. My place has max occupancy of 67. I do just fine. 13 faucets on two keg boxes. I brew two sixth barrels twice a week. We do have a full service bar with a liquor license so its not just beer I sell but most of our products sold is our beer. No kitchen so no food. Just a bar that has a nano brewery. We don't do growlers or any canning or bottling at all. You don't need to spend a million bucks, you don't need a 5 bbl system and you don't need a life time of debt. What you do need is a serious plan, a serious work ethic, and the ability to brew what OTHER people want to drink. It isn't really about the actual brewing. It's about planning, working, making a product people will pay for, and building a customer base that will grow.

Thank you very much for some refreshing positivity here.

 

[50calshooter]

I'd like to know more about your brew pub too! What's it called and where are you located? Sounds awesome and sort of what I'm interested in. You're exactly right, you have to brew what OTHER people want to drink. What is your most popular beer and what are the kinds of beer people are into? Cool to hear another story of it being possible to go Tiny nano.

The name of my brewpub is Uncle Bob's Brewpub. It is located between the cities of Nixa and Springfield Missouri. Right now our most popular beer is the October Fest-sold out last night, the American Boch, and our Raspberry wheat. I have 5 pub tables that seat 4 customers each and a 35 ft bar. I have two keg boxes with 13 faucets. currently on tap: Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPA, our Boch, Blue Moon, Guinness, our Triple Berry Wheat, our Pale Ale, one I call Bob Lite, our Belgian Wit, our Kolsch, and our American Wheat. The rest of the faucets are repeat beers or empty. Changes all the time. We have a pool table, a pinball machine, coin dozer/quarter pusher machine, a kick ass on-line juke box, KENO, and a video game we rotate out. On weekends I book local musicians. The nano brewery is a turn key system from High Gravity Brewing in Tulsa-the electric two vessel 15 gallon pots for ten gallon batches (all the pumps, control module, table, etc...one price). I have four SS Brewtech stainless chronicle fermenters - two 13 gallon and 2 seven gallon. I keg in sanky kegs just using gravity then force carbonate in a freezer with a temp controller on it. I made a hook up thing with a keg coupler so I can drain, clean, sanitize, and fill kegs without a high dollar keg cleaning machine. I brew one ten gallon batch twice a week while my wife tends bar. You can see, hear, and smell the brewing. It happens right there in the same room as the bar. You can see the nano brewery at the end of the bar in the first picture.

 

[50calshooter]

Thanks for posting! Most people are saying you can't make any money as a small brewer, but you're brewing 20 gallons a week and doing just fine?
Where is your brewery? I'd like to stop in and have a few pints.

Nixa, Missouri. we have a FB presence

 

[bobeer]

The name of my brewpub is Uncle Bob's Brewpub. It is located between the cities of Nixa and Springfield Missouri. Right now our most popular beer is the October Fest-sold out last night, the American Boch, and our Raspberry wheat. I have 5 pub tables that seat 4 customers each and a 35 ft bar. I have two keg boxes with 13 faucets. currently on tap: Deschutes Fresh Squeezed IPA, our Boch, Blue Moon, Guinness, our Triple Berry Wheat, our Pale Ale, one I call Bob Lite, our Belgian Wit, our Kolsch, and our American Wheat. The rest of the faucets are repeat beers or empty. Changes all the time. We have a pool table, a pinball machine, coin dozer/quarter pusher machine, a kick ass on-line juke box, KENO, and a video game we rotate out. On weekends I book local musicians. The nano brewery is a turn key system from High Gravity Brewing in Tulsa-the electric two vessel 15 gallon pots for ten gallon batches (all the pumps, control module, table, etc...one price). I have four SS Brewtech stainless chronicle fermenters - two 13 gallon and 2 seven gallon. I keg in sanky kegs just using gravity then force carbonate in a freezer with a temp controller on it. I made a hook up thing with a keg coupler so I can drain, clean, sanitize, and fill kegs without a high dollar keg cleaning machine. I brew one ten gallon batch twice a week while my wife tends bar. You can see, hear, and smell the brewing. It happens right there in the same room as the bar. You can see the nano brewery at the end of the bar in the first picture.
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Amazing! Thanks for the info and rundown. If I ever find myself in your neck of the woods ill stop in for a pint!

 

[50calshooter]

Amazing! Thanks for the info and rundown. If I ever find myself in your neck of the woods ill stop in for a pint!

My pleasure. I'm not doing anything new or anything any one else can't do. The difference is I'm doing it. You have to realize the difference between " I want to do it " and "I like the idea of doing it". It took me 30 years of working for the man to be able to do this. My business is debt free. I don't own the building or the land...yet. But we are not beholding to any partners or SBA loans or any loaned money what so ever.

I would be honored to serve you a pint of my product.

 

[MountainHighYeast]

Same reason you can’t grow and sell tobacco. Same reason you can’t machine and sell a firearm. ATF. It’s regulated and taxed. Tomato’s and corn aren’t regulated for the most part.

You absolutely can machine sell a firearm. It just cant be built with the intention to sell it.

 

[jrgtr42]

What would be interesting would be a brewpub what is set up, where a homebrewer could come in, brew their own recipe, and be served and sold at the brewery.
(I'm making this up as I go along, with the help of a couple high test beers, so I don;t know anything about the legality of this...)
So the (home)brewer pays for the ingredients, possibly working with the brewpub to source them, and the profits would be split between the brewer and pub?
so, using the recipe for a tripel I'm ordering up, cost is about $40, I'd get about that many (US) pints out of 5 gallons. So if the pub was to sell that beer at $6 a pint, that's $5 profit, split, even 50/50, that's $100 to the pub. Scaling that up to even a 2 barrel system increases that, of course. I'd have to look at costs and such to see what would pay - even say $2 a pint to the brewer, so cost + a buck profit would result in a big profit for the pub. They may have their own house beers as well, aside from guest brewers.
Obviously there's costs to the pub - staff, insurance, the costs of the licenses and such, cost of the space, equipment, etc etc etc.

 

[madscientist451]

In highly restrictive states, such as jrgtr's state, (Mass) the local authorities can limit your beer selling activities, so even if you get a license to brew beer, you might not be able to sell it retail.

https://www.connelllawoffices.com/the-different-types-of-brewery-licenses-in-massachusetts/

 

[50calshooter]

What would be interesting would be a brewpub what is set up, where a homebrewer could come in, brew their own recipe, and be served and sold at the brewery.
(I'm making this up as I go along, with the help of a couple high test beers, so I don;t know anything about the legality of this...)
So the (home)brewer pays for the ingredients, possibly working with the brewpub to source them, and the profits would be split between the brewer and pub?
so, using the recipe for a tripel I'm ordering up, cost is about $40, I'd get about that many (US) pints out of 5 gallons. So if the pub was to sell that beer at $6 a pint, that's $5 profit, split, even 50/50, that's $100 to the pub. Scaling that up to even a 2 barrel system increases that, of course. I'd have to look at costs and such to see what would pay - even say $2 a pint to the brewer, so cost + a buck profit would result in a big profit for the pub. They may have their own house beers as well, aside from guest brewers.
Obviously there's costs to the pub - staff, insurance, the costs of the licenses and such, cost of the space, equipment, etc etc etc.

We do something like that. It's called our Guest Brewer Program. I ask a home brewer what he wants to brew then I get approval for my brewpub to brew and sell it from the state. Then they come in and brew. We promote it and he returns a month later and tends bar and pours it. I buy the ingredients and we charge standard price. The brewer gets one dollar for every pint sold, keeps all the tips, and gets a shirt to wear that says "I was a Guest Brewer at Uncle Bob's Brewpub". It's a lot of fun and the customers and Guest Brewer love it.

https://fb.me/e/6ZAogXSy6
https://fb.me/e/2KlaWi8Qb
https://fb.me/e/1zb4ucKUA
the shirt:

 

[bleme]

My local brewpub has something like that also, but only once a year. They hold a brewing contest and the winner gets to brew his beer on their system and served on their taps.

 

[50calshooter]

My local brewpub has something like that also, but only once a year. They hold a brewing contest and the winner gets to brew his beer on their system and served on their taps.

There are a few around here that do the contest thing and it's a great way to bring them in. I went the Guest Brewer route because I didn't want brewers to feel like you had to win something or compete to be a brewer. It just fit my business plan better.

 

[50calshooter]

In highly restrictive states, such as jrgtr's state, (Mass) the local authorities can limit your beer selling activities, so even if you get a license to brew beer, you might not be able to sell it retail.

https://www.connelllawoffices.com/the-different-types-of-brewery-licenses-in-massachusetts/

For the most part it's like that in all 50. Distribution has to happen by a third party and there are several levels of brewing licenses. There are a few states that allow self distribution. Like Arkansas- they have a native brewers permit. Less the 45K BBL a year (I think) and you can self distribute. But, yeah Mass is pretty strict.

 

[bobeer]

The brewery that hosts my brew club will do this a few times a year as well. We'll hold a competition then the winner gets to brew in the pilot system and have it poured in the taproom. Very cool!

 

[Rob2010SS]

For the most part it's like that in all 50. Distribution has to happen by a third party and there are several levels of brewing licenses. There are a few states that allow self distribution. Like Arkansas- they have a native brewers permit. Less the 45K BBL a year (I think) and you can self distribute. But, yeah Mass is pretty strict.

IL is another self distribution state

 

[shoreman]

For the Op I'd recommend reading "Brewing up a Business" about Dogfishead's start. Sam was brewing 12 gallon batches on a Sabco kit when they first started the brewpub.

https://amzn.to/2GwP7oa
But yeah you will need a license to sell. Probably have a better chance opening something super tiny somewhere rural where you can keep the costs way down.