MicroBrewr Podcast: Recent Episodes
Nathan Pierce
Nathan Pierce from MicroBrewr.com dives into the craft beer industry and reveals what it takes to start and run a successful microbrewery or brewpub. Through interviews with current brewery owners, learn what's working and what mistakes to avoid. We'll cover craft beer trends, distribution, designing a brewing space, getting the most out of your current equipment, planning for expansions, marketing and branding, social media, raising money, permitting, festivals, getting your beer in more people's hands and everything else in between. This podcast is also about supporting the amazing craft beer industry and all of the awesome people who make it up. Sit back, grab your favorite local craft beer and let's have some fun!
William Hubbard and Mike Johnson are helping to build the Broken Clock Brewing Cooperative in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It follows the cooperative brewery business model.
Cooperative breweries are an increasingly popular way to build a local brewery that helps build the community. We’ve previously talked a bit about the subject on MicroBrewr Podcast and blog.
Other posts about breweries as coops:
MicroBrewr: 046: Start your brewery as a worker-owned co-op
MicroBrewr 047: Proof of concept for a brewpub co-op
MicroBrewr 049: Planning California first cooperative brewpub
For a brewery truly rooted in the community, consider forming a cooperative by Sara Stephens, MicroBrewr, February 17, 2015.
Now here’s an example of a cooperative brewery that is up and running, brewing their own beer, splitting the profits, investing in the community, and building a community around the co-op.
The idea of employee ownership, and especially co-ops are becoming quite popular in the craft beer scene. Every cooperative brewery will be set up differently. Here’s one example and lots of ideas for your brewery to follow this model.
Some attributes of the Broken Clock Brewing Cooperative include:
- Established in September 2015, doors opened at the physical location in May 2017.
- The rules of one-person, one-vote and one-person, one-equity share ensure equality and allows inclusiveness.
- The board consists of 15 volunteers from the membership.
- Currently, the only paid positions are 2 operations managers and 4 staff.
There are 2 levels of membership at different costs: Regular or Brewer. Benefits of regular membership include:
- 10% discount on merchandise
- $1-off during monthly pint nights
- Share of profits (3-6% of total profits will be divided evenly)
Brewer members have the additional benefit of being allowed to brew. This benefit is exercised as unpaid/volunteer for work experience or just to have fun.
“Even though we are working a lot more than we probably used to, we are not staring at the clock waiting for the day to be over.” [Tweet This]
Broken Clock Brewing Cooperative took a big step forward when they bought equipment and took over the lease from another brewery. The space has become something of an incubator for breweries. Two previous breweries had grown in size enough to move to larger spaces, so they sold to the next brewery. Now Broken Clock has become successful enough they are considering how to pass the torch to a fourth brewery that could operate in the same location.
Funding for a cooperative brewery can come from a variety of tradition or innovative sources. Broken Clock received funding from:
- Financial donors
- Membership fees
- MNvest, equity crowdfunding for Minnesota
- Financing through a local bank
“Banks were very scared to go with us,” says Hubbard, “there are very few brewing co-ops in Minnesota. So we had to hit the pavement really hard and tell people about our dream, about our vision, and we were finally able to connect with a bank that was willing to work with us.”
We also talked about employee safety in a commercial brewery:
- Working with compressed gas
- Carbon dioxide poisoning
- Heavy-lifting
- Working with chemicals
- Working with steam
- OSHA work safety standards
Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild does have monthly safety meetings. However, worker safety in the craft beer industry isn’t a topic that is broadly discussed. Yet, worker safety should always be a top priority. Loss of work, workers compensation claims, and other liabilities are commercial concerns aside from just taking care of your employees.
As the craft beer industry becomes more prolific and professionalized, expect to see greater attention to this topic.
Brewery specs:Kettle size: 7 BBL. Boil kettle, 7 BBL mash tun, 10 BBL hot liquor tank.
Size and quantity of fermentation tanks: 3, 10-BBL fermenters.
Size and quantity of bright tanks: 1, 10-BBL brite tanks.
Annual brewing capacity/last year’s production: Should be on track to do 750-800 BBLs this year.
Square footage: 780 sq. ft. for production brewery. Added 5,000 sq. ft. for taproom which opened Nov 2018. At least 1,000 sq. ft. will be allocated to upcoming brewery expansion.
Years in operation: 4 months (at the time of recording; opened May 2017).
Listener question:From Gastón Rivera via Twitter: Why open a brewery? To brew another IPA or another sour?
Can’t-go-without tool:Rubber Boots.
Squeegee.
Book recommendation:* Practical Handbook for the Specialty Brewer 3-volume set by Karl Ockert (Editor). * Brewery Operations Manual by Tom Hennessy. * Operation Brewery: A Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Brewery on a Budget by Eddie Oldfield, Mike McGovern, and Dan Norris.
Check out the entire list of recommended books, click here.
An upcoming beer style:New England IPA
Other resources:* Is Groupon a Good Choice For Your Brewery Marketing Strategy?, Fill Your Taproom. * 56 Brewing, Minneapolis, Minnesota. * Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild. * Maple Island Brewing, Stillwater, Minnesota. * Wicked Wort Brewing Company, Robbinsdale, Minnesota. * MNvest, equity crowdfunding for Minnesota. * Fair State Brewing Cooperative, Minneapolis, Minnesota. * Blue Nose Gopher Public House Cooperative, Granite Falls, Minnesota. * Operation Brewery podcast, Black Hops Brewery, Burleigh Heads, QLD, Australia * Co-op law is different in each state. Be sure to consult your own attorney.
You can reach William Hubbard, Mike Johnson and Broken Clock Brewing Cooperative at:* http://brokenclockbrew.com/ * Facebook: brokenclockbrewing * Twitter: BrokenClockbrew * Instagram: brokenclockbrew * Untappd: BrokenClockBrewingCooperative
Sponsors:Support MicroBrewrHelp keep MicroBrewr on the air. CLICK HERE for ways you can help.
The post MicroBrewr 093: Sharing profits and building community with a cooperative brewery appeared first on MicroBrewr.
Michael Altman was in the industry for years when he bought a brewpub. Now he’s been operating Iron Springs Pub & Brewery in Fairfax, California for 12 years. Before they opened he had to have back surgery and totally reinvent his role for the brewpub.
“You really need to live, breathe and be the beer.” [Tweet This]
“The first 6 months we owned that pub, every single day I called my wife and said we’re selling this place, I can’t stand this, this is ridiculous,” recounts Michael. “Thank God for my wife who was my rock.”
He went through 3 back surgeries. “It was hard for me to hang up my mash paddle,” says Michael. He still does some brewing, but mostly leaves the hard work to others.
Hiring employees and letting them do the work you hire them to do has been essential to Iron Springs’ growth. They are on pace to produce approximately 2,000 BBLs of beer this year, which is an increase of 20 percent since last year. They have 16 taps for 10 draft beers, one cask, and 4 handcrafted sodas.
Iron Springs Pub & Brewery now has 50 staff, 4 are in the brewery. To hire more staff Michael recommends:
- Figure out what needs to be done
- Figure out who you are going to hire for each task
- Hire people who can do the job
- Let them do the job you hired them to do
It sounds simple, but it’s important to follow through and let others take your load off.
Something else that has been very helpful for Iron Springs is the give back Tuesday. Every Tuesday they give 10% of profits to a local non-profit organization that focuses on education or the environment. Iron Springs has donated $160,000 in the last 6 years. “We love and we really believe in it, and that really translates to the community,” says Michael. “They really believe in it and they want to come out and support it. It’s a win-win for everybody.”
Michael says certainly, “There’s no way in the world that I would started a brewery in today’s market.” There is too much competition, he says, compared to when he started. Although he does say, “A brewpub will work in neighborhood,” you have to have good branding.
You have to figure out why people are coming to your place, and really focus on your story. The 3 keys are:
- Good ambiance
- Good service
- Good food and beer
Brewery specs: Kettle size: 10 BBL.
Size and quantity of fermentation tanks: 9, 10-BBL fermenters.
Size and quantity of bright tanks: 10, 10-BBL serving tanks.
Annual brewing capacity/last year’s production: 1,820 BBL.
Square footage: 5,000 sq. ft. in the entire pub, 1,100 sq. ft. in the brewery.
Years in operation: 12 years (opened October 2004).
Listener question: From Awhile Pandey: When can you tell whether you are known as a brewery pub with exciting beer that people like, or you have become known more as a restaurant with beer just as a side thing? Is there any research on what kind of food formats and themes go well with a microbrewery pub layout?
Can’t-go-without tool: Rubber boots, Bosch.
Book recommendation: * Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business by Danny Meyer. * Designing Great Beers: The Ultimate Guide to Brewing Classic Beer Styles by Ray Daniels. * Michael Jackson’s Great Beer Guide by Michael Jackson and Sharon Lucas. * Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers: The Secrets of Ancient Fermentation by Brewers Publications.
Check out the entire list of recommended books, click here.
An upcoming beer style: Session beer
Other resources: * 61 Brewers Speak Out: What I Wish I’d Know Before Starting a Brewery, MicroBrewr, February 9, 2014. * McMenamins Pubs, Oregon and Washington. * Mobile Bottling Source, Kirkland, Washington. * Mountain Sun Pubs & Breweries, Boulder, Colorado. * Packaging Design Happy Hour, AIGA, March 20, 2015.
You can reach Michael Altman and Iron Springs Pub & Brewery at: * ironspringspub.com * Facebook: ironspringspub * Twitter: ironspringspub * Instagram: ironspringsbrewery * Untappd: IronSprings
Sponsors:
Support MicroBrewr Help keep MicroBrewr on the air. CLICK HERE for ways you can help.
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Nick Gunn and his wife were working for her family’s winery. They had the idea to start growing apples for cider. One of the cideries to whom they were selling apples decided to close down and they offered to sell the business to Nick and his wife who moved Wandering Aengus Ciderworks to Salem, Oregon.
“Cider is a really exciting proposition for a lot of investors.” [Tweet This]
Now they have two brands of cider.
Wandering Aengus is the traditional brand of cider. The Wandering Aengus brand has ciders that are more astringent, more bitter, and higher in alcohol content. “For the wine drinkers, it’s something that’s interesting,” says Nick.
Anthem Cider is a lighter style for people who aren’t used to ciders. These are less acidic and have lower alcohol content. This brand is marketed toward to craft beer consumers. “Beer drinkers,” says Nick, “are much more adventurous and willing to try just about anything that’s out there.”
They package Anthem ciders mostly in kegs for sale on draft. The goal is to get the word out for distribution in smaller packaging. “It’s a pretty basic model a lot of people have used,” says Nick.
“Anthem is a little more on the adventurous side,” Nick describes. “And that’s also a part of marketing to people who like craft beer.”
In addition to straight apple cider, Anthem also has pear, cherry and hopped ciders. They’re do some progressive forays like gin and whiskey barrel-aged ciders, as well as ciders fermented with bee pollen.
In contrast, “Wandering Aengus is super traditional,” Nick says, “It’s just those apples fermented without anything else added to them. And those apples are so rare we don’t really want to mess with them in the first place, they kind of speak for themselves.”
Finding good, traditional cider apples is difficult, but Nick is pushing the market.
“Most of the old heirloom apples have been ripped out in favor for Granny Smith and other dessert apples,” he says. “We’re trying to get people to plant some newer [apple trees]. We’re trying to bring back some of the older, better flavored varieties.”
Nick’s favorite apple ciders are blends of sharp apples, bittersweet apples, and aromatic apples.
“You kind of want to blend in a little bit of sharp, a little bit of bitter, a little bit of aromatics,” Nick advises. “That’s a part of the art of cider making, is it’s a blending process. Because there’s not a lot of apples that just make a great cider straight up.”
Some of the high brix, high acidity apple varieties that they use are:
- Golden Russet
- Wickson Crab
- Cox’s Orange Pippin
- Newtown Pippin
- Calville Blanc d’Hiver
“These heirloom sharps… is a really [high] sweetness level and acidity is off the charts,” comments Nick.
But these sharp apples don’t have a lot of tannins. Bittersweet apples contribute tannins to the cider.
Some of the bittersweet apples they use for tannins are:
- Muscat de Bernay
- Muscadet de Dieppe
- Yarlington Mill
- Dabinett
- Herefordshire Redstreak
“Those apples taste like crap!” exclaims Nick. “They really are horrible, because they have so much bitterness.”
“I’m being evangelical about planting cider apples. That’s really the future of really high quality cider in America.”
While Nick is evangelizing about high-quality, hand-crafted, traditional ciders, a different style of cider is gaining momentum across the country. Large industrial companies are making cider with additives and diluted with water.
While the product sells well on a large scale, it is expanding the overall market and demand for cider. As the larger brands reach into previously untapped markets, they create new spaces for all cider products.
“Their cider is a lot cheaper,” says Nick. “We could never compete on price because we’re using 100% juice. But what we can do is offer a different product. And maybe that’s a graduating step for the consumer.”
RELATED: MicroBrewr 048: Package your beer cheap and easy with mobile canning
“The growth in some of these larger brands has just been astronomical because a lot of the place they’re putting cider there never even existed a cider in the first place.”
“Every single chain store, every 711, every place now has cider. Cider is on the lips of every one. It’s on TV now—it was never on TV before, like, 2 years ago.”
“Even if [cider] gets to 5 percent of the market, we will be gigantic,” Nick predicts. “Over in England, cider is around 20 percent of alcohol consumption. France is about 17 percent. So we have a long ways to go in America. We were just at 0.3 percent about 3 years ago and we’ve gotten to one percent now. So the climb now is just inevitable.”
There hasn’t been a lot of quality at quantity. And now that that is exists, distributors are staring to notice, buyers are noticing, the whole market place takes note.”
As overall demand for cider increases, and a wider variety of cider products becomes more popular, the cider companies are able make larger quantities at lower prices.
Nick’s strategy is to have meaningful impact in the markets where craft beer is already growing rapidly.
They are reaching to key cities such as:
- Denver
- Philadelphia
- New York
- Los Angeles
- San Francisco
- Seattle
- Portland
“You’re starting from ground zero, you can explode easily,” says Nick.
Yet, cider producers are finding that the industry needs to mature. Particularly, there is a need for more education in cider sales.
“Finding a distributor that understands cider is really difficult,” says Nick.
At the next CiderCON, the conference for the commercial cider industry to be held in February in Portland, Oregon, the United States Association of Cider Makers will unveil the first ever cider accreditation program. The multi-level program is designed to educate “distributors, servers and others who are interested in becoming trained experts on all things cider.”
As the cider market in America evolves, the industry adapts.
“It originally started out as sweet and fruity,” recalls Nick. “I like to call it ‘cheap and cheerful.’”
Now “cider varietals are being recognized, and the quality of cider they make.”
Nick foresees an increasing appreciation of drier ciders, and even higher quality cider apples. More cider will be made from heirloom sharps, cider will be fermented drier with higher alcohol content. There will be more barrel aged ciders, and ciders with more tannins. Ultimately terroir of cider will be recognized and appreciated.
Listener question: From Daniel Frey: What accounting system do you use or do you recommend?
Can’t-go-without tool: Cross-Flow filter, Pall Corporation.
Book recommendation: * Cider, Hard and Sweet: History, Traditions, and Making Your Own (Third Edition) by Ben Watson. * The New Cider Maker’s Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide for Craft Producers by Claude Jolicoeur.
Check out the entire list of recommended books, click here.
An upcoming beer style: North American Heirloom Cider
Other resources: * Bethel Heights Vineyard, Salem, Oregon. * CiderDays, community celebration of all things apple in Franklin County, Massachusetts. * QuickBooks Enterprise, Manufacturing & Wholesale, Intuit, Inc. * Craft Canning, Pacific Northwest. * 2 Towns Ciderhouse, Corvallis, Oregon. * Reverend Nat’s Hard Cider, Portland, Oregon. * Vander Mill, Spring Lake, Michigan. * Citizen Cider, Burlington, Vermont.
You can reach Nick Gunn and Wandering Aengus Ciderworks at: * www.wanderingaengus.com * Facebook: WanderingAengusCider * Twitter: wacider * Instagram: wanderingaengus * Untappd: WanderingAengusCiderworks
You can reach Anthem Cider at: * anthemcider.com * Twitter: anthemcider
Sponsors: Audible
Download a free audiobook.
Support MicroBrewr Help keep MicroBrewr on the air. CLICK HERE for ways you can help.
The post MicroBrewr 086: The future of apple cider in America appeared first on MicroBrewr.
Fran Toves’ son challenged her to enter cider into the homebrew competition. After her 3 entries made it to the top 10, she figured it time to take the product to market and started Common Cider Company in Drytown, California.
“There is no need to start a cider company with a million dollars.” [Tweet This]
Cider is not brewed the way beer is made, but similar fermentation tanks and bright tanks are used for making cider as making beer. After the initial attention at the homebrew competition, Common Cider Company started with a 400-gallon (13-BBL) test batch that got picked up by a distributor. They grew to 30,000-gallon (1,000-BBL) batches within a couple years.
Whereas a cidery or a cider house presses the fruit themselves to make juice, a cider company buys the juice pre-squeezed. A cider usually has a base of apple juice, but it can start with other fruits. A perry is made from pear juice.
“Cider as a base,” says Fran, “is a great platform to be able to introduce new flavors.”
Fran’s background in product development for the organic food industry is helping her with Common Cider Company. She emphasizes the importance of branding.
Fran says a small company can easily spend $50,000 to $100,000 on high-quality branding design for all promotional materials. With such a significant investment, it is very important to consider your message and what your company is about. If you want to take more time to learn about your customers and find your voice in the market place, just get simple logo at first. Then budget up to $100,000 for a re-branding.
That’s the route Fran planned for Common Cider Company. “I wanted to spend some time with our customers an just spend some time in the marketplace,” she says. “before investing in the brand.”
Sample Cider Packaging
They’re keeping a logo element from the original design scheme and hiring a branding firm to re-design their message. The results have been spectacular and you can expect to see more on store shelves soon!
Fran also has tips for the today’s listener question about budgeting and profit projections:
- Decide where you are and where you want to be.
- Put a budget for every core area including, branding, legal fees, sales staff, materials, and all other details.
- Decide what you can spend on each category of your budget.
- Use checklists so you don’t miss details.
“Your suppliers will give you pretty good information as far as what your cost of juice is and your yeast and any other adjuncts that you want to add to your product,” Fran suggests. “And that goes from your raw material to your packaging.”
As for projecting profits, Fran always advises starting with small batches. She suggests 500-gallon batches or 1,000-gallon batches at the most. Any larger, and you’ll have too much money tied up in product and it will take too long to sell.
After you sell a few batches to earn some money and build demand, then you start doing larger batches.
“It’s important to start small,” Fran advises. “Just like any business, you’ve gotta kind of walk before you can run.”
Listener question: From Texas Rüegg: Where do you find real accurate numbers to estimate cost of operation? I keep building spreadsheets with hundreds of calculations, but at best they are just guesses. I want to be conservative with my numbers and be sure that even the worst case will actually make money. So where do you find real data?
Can’t-go-without tool: Pump.
Book recommendation: * The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande.
Check out the entire list of recommended books, click here.
An upcoming beer style: Dry ciders
Other resources: * Friends of Black Rock High Rock, dedicated to the health, diversity and productivity of the Black Rock and High Rock regions. * BrandLab; branding, identity, video, content, the big idea. * Hard Cider Is Having A Moment, Jonah Keri, FiveThirtyEight, January 9, 2015.
You can reach Fran Toves and Common Cider Company at: * www.commoncider.com * Facebook: CommonCider * Twitter: commonlovecharm * Instagram: commoncider * Untappd: CommonCiderCompany
Sponsors: Audible
Download a free audiobook.
Support MicroBrewr Help keep MicroBrewr on the air. CLICK HERE for ways you can help.
The post MicroBrewr 083: Market branding for a cider company appeared first on MicroBrewr.
A friend asked Marta Jankowska and her husband whether they wanted to use his warehouse space and go pro with their brewing. The warehouse space fell through, but they were far along in the process, so they decided to go for it and opened ChuckAlek Independent Brewers in Ramona, California.
“Your time is so much more valuable actually planning on how to grow the business.” [Tweet This]
“Even though that original space fell through,” says Marta, “we were already so far along in planning that we just decided to go for it.”
They had run the financials, lined up some money from friends and family, and were ready to go. They just needed space.
They found the permitting requirements in the City of San Diego to be cumbersome and expensive, so they finally settled in Ramona, a little town in San Diego County wine country.
“More importantly,” Ramona explains, “we never wanted to be a warehouse brewery. We always wanted to be kind of a main street brewery. Something that was integrated in with community and surrounded by other storefronts.”
By chance, Marta was a tennis partner with one of the founders of Stone Brewing. He told her that over a hundred breweries were starting or being planned for opening in San Diego.
“How are you going to differentiate yourself?” he asked Marta. “The way that I see a brewery doing well in this town is having a really solid background story and a really solid concept. You need to come up with something that has a compelling story that you can tell to the consumer.”
To come up with a compelling story, Marta suggests you think about:
- What you want the brewery to encompass
- What message you want to communicate to the consumers
“A flashy label will get you that fist glimpse from a consumer,” she says. “But people are finicky these days, they’re not super brand loyal, they’re not going to remember something unless it really stands out in their brain, or you give them that nugget that they’re really able to hang onto.”
ChuckAlek has gotten some notoriety this year by being selected as the 2015 recipient of Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream “experienceship.” They beat out others for apprenticeship, partner brew with Sam Adams, and a trip to Germany with Pink Boots Society.
Other tips from Marta:
- Set aside time to plan for the growth of the business during the next few years.
- Enroll yourself in a business mentorship program.
- Start with the barebones, just to get off the ground. Then buy more equipment when you have the disposable income.
- Build a nest egg for repairs and other unexpected expenditures.
Marta’s suggested software systems for a startup nanobrewery:
- Google Drive, cloud storage and file backup.
- Google Sheets, create and edit spreadsheets online, for free.
- QuickBooks Online, accounting software package.
- BeerSmith, brewing.
- SalesForce, CRM and cloud computing.
- Squarespace, build a website.
Brewery specs: Kettle size: 1 BBL.
Size and quantity of fermentation tanks: 6, 3-BBL plastics; 1, 2-BBL stainless; 1, 4-BBL stainless; 1, 5-BBL stainless.
Size and quantity of bright tanks: 1, 5-BBL.
Annual brewing capacity/last year’s production: 250 BBL. This year on track to be at about 400 BBL.
Square footage: 1,700 sq. ft.
Years in operation: 2.5 years (opened January 2013).
Listener question: From Grant Aguinaldo: What software systems do you use to manage your brewery?
Can’t-go-without tool: Brite Tanks.
Book recommendation: * Brew Law 101: A Legal Guide to Opening a Brewery – California Edition by Candace L. Moon, Esq. and Stacy Allura Hostetter.
Check out the entire list of recommended books, click here.
An upcoming beer style: Lager
Other resources: * Accion, small business lending partners. * Small Business Development Centers, U.S. Small Business Administration. * Samuel Adams, Brewing the American Dream; increases the success of small food, beverage, craft brewing, and hospitality businesses. * Samuel Adams Brewing the American Dream Brewing & Business Experienceship: A Q&A with ChuckAlek Independent Brewers, Sam Adams Editorial Team, November 6, 2014. * ProBrewer, serving all trades of the specialty beer business. * Brewers Association, to promote and protect small and independent American brewers. * Find A State Guild, Brewers Association. * Pink Boots Society to empower women beer professionals to advance their careers in the beer industry through education.
You can reach Marta Jankowska and ChuckAlek Independent Brewers at: * www.chuckalek.com * Facebook: chuckalek * Twitter: ChuckAlek * Instagram: chuckalek * Untappd: ChuckAlek
Sponsors: Audible
Download a free audiobook.
Support MicroBrewr Help keep MicroBrewr on the air. CLICK HERE for ways you can help.
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Tim Mather was just getting into craft beer when he and a friend created the highly-popular mobile app for beer drinkers, Untappd, based in Los Angles, California. “Neither of us really knew anything about beer,” admits Tim. “I knew that I wasn’t too big into macros. I was just starting to get into larger craft […]
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Allan Wolfe is a beer writer who started UnEarthed Creative in Chicago, Illinois. His online marketing firm helps small businesses in the new world of online marketing. They specialize in marketing for small breweries. “If you’ve got the best beer, but nobody knows it exists, what’s the point?” says Allan. “As the craft beer industry […]
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Beer festivals are an important part of a startup brewery’s marketing plan. Stephanie Carson and SuperFly Fabulous Events in Asheville, North Carolina put on 11 beer festivals every year. I asked her, how much do beer festivals play a part in a startup brewery’s existing marketing plan? “I think it’s everything,” says Stephanie. “A startup […]
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Laura Ulrich is the small batch brewer at Stone Brewing Co. in Escondido, California. She has worked there for 11 years, after working in the bottling line at Odell Brewing Company in Fort Collins, Colorado. “Twelve years ago,” says Laura, “There wasn’t a focus on having the degree in brewing.” She says she would have […]
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Jamie Baertsch did an internship with Wisconsin Dells Brewing Co., in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, and she stuck around until they started paying her. Today she’s the brewmaster, winning awards for her beer, and planning the expansion to a production facility. Wisconsin Dells Brewing Co. is the brewing part of Moosejaw Pizza brewpub, which experiences 50% […]
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Nadia Vazirzadeh had only a bachelor’s degree in biology, zero knowledge of beer, when she started working on the quality control team at Golden Road Brewing, Los Angeles, California. “I knew I wanted to do something the rest of my life that I loved,” she says. “I still had people trying to convince that, ‘Don’t […]
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If you’re like me, you don’t have a million dollars to start the brewery of your dreams. If you have brewing skills and can create recipes, contract brewing could be a way to create a product and establish a customer base with minimal initial investment. That’s how Jayne Lewis and Danielle Allen started Two Birds […]
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We all have a dream to start a brewery. Many of us don’t have the money required to start the brewery of our dreams. Lynn Jacobs and her husband, Jeff, started Great Storm Brewing in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with no debt. Best of all: They started making a profit immediately. Great Storm Brewing opened in […]
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Teri Fahrendorf had been brewing professionally for 19 years when she went on a road trip. She visited 71 breweries, brewed at 38 of them, and blogged the whole way. Throughout the trip, she did meet a few other women working in craft beer. They always asked whether there were others. So they started the […]
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Joe Short started Short’s Brewing Company in Bellaire, Michigan in 2004. Today Short’s Brewing is one of the fastest growing of Michigan breweries. Their young, savvy marketing program includes a podcast. “A large part of making people aware of us,” says Joe, “is the fact that we are always able to just tell our story […]
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Podcasting is exploding. Even breweries are using podcasts to share their story or as part of their marketing plan. John Lee Dumas, founder and host of Entrepreneur On Fire, in San Diego, California is the expert on podcasting and starting a podcast. He sheds light on using a podcast for a brewery. Podcasting can be […]
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Drew Dillman from Craft Conscious, in Cincinnati, Ohio, interviews all sectors of the craft beer industry. Rather than beer tastings or reviews, he pulls back the curtain on the business of beer. Nearly 100 audio interviews are in iTunes and many more full video interviews are on the website. “It’s something new every single time,” […]
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You’ve decided that your brewery is going to be a cooperative. Now you need to find others who will share the burden and resources. You can work together to start your own brewery. That’s what Christian Borglum and others are doing with San Jose Co-op Brewpub in San Jose, California. San Jose Co-op Brewpub is […]
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You pinched every penny. You begged, borrowed, and stole to start your brewery. People are enjoying your beer at the taproom, and now you want to expand your reach. You still don’t have capital to buy a dedicated canning or bottling line. Matt Woempner, from Mobile West Canning, in San Diego, California, explains how mobile […]
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If you’re thinking of starting a brewpub, the cooperative business model might be the way to go. Chris Hamje has been at Black Star Co-op Pub and Brewery, in Austin, Texas, since shortly after they opened. He explains how the cooperative model plays out for their operation. “There’s a lot of precedence for a worker-owned […]
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The cooperative business model is gaining popularity. Even many craft breweries are forming as co-ops. If you want to form your brewery as a co-op, Janelle Orsi, Executive Director of Sustainable Economies Law Center, in Oakland, California can answer your questions. The cooperative business model is still relatively unknown. A worker-owned “co-op” is usually democratically organized, […]
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You’ve spent months working toward opening your brewery, now you’re finally ready for the public. How do you come out with a bang? Henry Thornhill and friends recently opened West Cork Brewing Company in Baltimore, Ireland. They share how to put on a successful opening night. West Cork is renowned for its high quality food. Now […]
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There are so many stories about breweries in trademark disputes. The last thing you want is to get sued or pay legal fees to protect yourself. Paul Rovella is attorney and partner at L+G, LLP Attorneys at Law in Hollister, California. He tells us all about trademark issues for your brewery. Although “common law” provides […]
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TRANSCRIPT: Welcome to MicroBrewr podcast. We talk about everything craft beer related, with a focus for people looking at starting their own microbrewery or wanting to take their existing brewery to the next level. As usual, I’m Nathan Pierce, the host of MicroBrewr Podcast. This is going to be just a short review of the […]
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Matt Katase wasn’t yet legal drinking age when he read an autobiography of a brewery owner. Then he and his friend, Asa Foster, toured a large craft brewery and thought, we can do that. At age twenty-three, they opened The Brew Gentlemen Beer Company in Braddock, Pennsylvania. After a successful Kickstarter campaign, Matt has the following […]
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Danny Robinson had the choice of building a giant brewery in the middle of nowhere, or a tiny brewery right on the beach and boardwalk. He chose the later and made Backshore Brewing Co. in Ocean City, Maryland. “The plan from the beginning was to have this nanobrewery up on the boardwalk, be the flagship of […]
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Alexis Irvin and her partner Chip Hiden travelled across the country trying to find out what it takes to make a living doing what you love. They interviewed a bunch people in lots of different fields who all had their dream job. And they put it together into a movie and book called, The Dream […]
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Kyle Roth is just about to finish the brewing apprenticeship through Platform Beer Co.’s incubator program. Soon he, his brother and cousins, partners in Ferndock Brewing Company in Sandusky, Ohio, will venture out on their own. We heard from Paul Benner, who told us about Platform Beer Co.’s incubator program, in MicroBrewr Podcast episode 026. […]
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Dan Gordon enjoyed beer from the young age of 15 years. In high school, he lived next door to 2 brewers when he studied in Austria. Then in post-grad, he studied Brewing Engineering and Beverage Technology in Germany. Back home in Palo Alto, he partnered with restaurateur, Dean Biersch, to open a brewpub in Palo […]
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Mark Carpenter wasn’t happy with his job. One day, he took a tour of Anchor Brewing, San Francisco, California, and thought it would be a fun place to work. Over 40 years later, he’s still the brewer. Shaun O’Sullivan, Founder and Brewer of 21st Amendment Brewery says Anchor Brewing is “the epicenter of craft beer […]
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Brian Kelly opened Elevation 66 Brewing Company 3 years ago in El Cerrito, California. It was his first business and they paid off their major investor ahead of schedule, just 2 and-a-half years after opening. Initially, they wanted to have a mill and limit the food offerings to paninis and salads. About halfway into the […]
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21st Amendment Brewery opened their brewpub in 2000. In 2006 they started canning beer. After a long search, 21st Amendment started “partner brewing” with Cold Spring Brewing in Minnesota in 2008. The relationship has benefitted both companies very well. Shaun O’Sullivan moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1990s and got a […]
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Boulder City, Nevada is between Las Vegas and Hoover Dam. The city was formed to temporarily house workers during the dam’s construction in the 1930s. After the dam was complete, residents incorporated and formed a city. In 2007, Todd Cook opened Boulder Dam Brewing Co. Today Boulder Dam Brewing provides craft beer in a wide […]
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Wastewater treatment is a key issue for a craft brewery. John Mercer from Brewery Wastewater Design in Montrose, Colorado has more than a decade of experience. He shares wastewater treatment solutions for a craft brewery. For every gallon of beer produced, a typical brewery uses 7 gallons of water. If your municipal wastewater treatment plant […]
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Maximus BumSoo didn’t like beer so he told his friends that he was allergic to hops. Finally, one night in London, he drank a London Pride and loved it! He emailed the company and spent the next 3 weeks learning about beer. Then he flew to London and got the exclusive distribution deal. Now Maximus […]
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So you want to start a brewery and you don’t know what to do about bookkeeping and accounting. Audra Gaiziunas, Brewed For Her Ledger, guides us through accounting solutions for your craft brewery. With a degree in accounting and a Masters of Business Administration, Audra worked as controller for Dogfish Head Craft Brewery. Later, she […]
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Myles Stone was in his second year of medical school when he and Michael Mallozzi started Borderlands Brewing Co. in Tucson, Arizona with just $2,000. They both have full-time jobs besides the brewery, but they make it work. “Our secret,” says Myles, “Is to have wonderful people around us.” Water is scarce in the deserts […]
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Tiffany Adamowski and her husband have been operating 99 Bottles beer store in Federal Way, Washington for the past 7 years. She tells us how to work with a craft beer store like hers to sell more beer. 99 Bottles has over 1,200 labels of craft beer in stock from over 40 different countries. They […]
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Eilise Lane drank a beer in Bend, Oregon that changed her life. After she found out that a woman made the beer, she opened Scarlet Lane Brewing Company in McCordsville, Indiana. Scarlet Lane Brewing Company’s website: It was at one time illegal for males to brew beer. We intend to respect that history with our […]
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Brett Tate wanted to tell his family’s story. So he did it with craft beer and Dust Bowl Brewing Company in his hometown, Turlock, California. Brett’s family left the Dust Bowl in Oklahoma and made a new life in California. Dust Bowl Brewing’s entire brand is a tribute to that story. Turlock is a small valley […]
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Paul Benner had been operating his homebrew shop for 2 years before he opened Platform Beer Co., in Cleveland Ohio. Platform is a microbrewery and taproom. It is also an innovative* brewery incubator. Although business incubators are popular across the world and in a variety of industries—especially in technology—none exist solely to assist brewery startups. […]
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In 2009 Erich Allen had a “religious experience” the first time he went to a homebrew club. He started brewing all-grain batches and made 7 beers in one week. Soon he had a dream to open a brewery. Then it became his passion, and then his obsession. So he and his wife visited 48 breweries […]
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Ted Sobel quit his high-paying job as a software engineer and took a couple years off to walk around the United Kingdom. When he was done walking, he opened Brewers Union Local 180 in Oakridge, Oregon. Although they get calls about unionized labor, it’s just a clever name. Brewers Union focuses first on providing a […]
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Patty Elliott met her husband at Armadillo Music Hall. Years later, even while running their export business, they saw an old hardware building in their town and decided it should have a brewpub in it. So they started Pecan Street Brewing in Johnson City, Texas. While they spent 3 years renovating the building, their son, […]
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Matt Greff fell in love with beer while at university in Germany. He and his wife, Rene Greff, opened Arbor Brewing Company Brewpub in Ann Arbor Michigan in 1995. Since then, they opened a microbrewery in nearby Ypsilanti, Michigan and, just a year and-a-half ago, opened a brewpub in Bangalore, India! They operate under the […]
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Justin Stange opened 7venth Sun Brewery in Dunedin, Florida in January 2012. They’re contributing to the explosive growth of beer in Florida by focusing on consistency and creativity. 7venth Sun made the first canned Berliner Weisse in Florida. And their first beer sold for $203 per pint—the most expensive beer that’s been poured in Pinellas […]
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Cathy Smith and her husband opened Philipsburg Brewing Company in Philipsburg, Montana. They found a cool, old building, built in 1888, spent a few years fixing it up, and hired Mike Elliott to be their pro-brewer. In August 2012, Philipsburg Brewing opened to a crowd of about 100 people—and that’s in a town with a […]
The post MicroBrewr 020: Beer for every man, woman, and child in Big Sky Country appeared first on MicroBrewr.
In this episode, I talk with Rich Weber from Sierra Blanca Brewing Company and Rio Grande Brewing Company in Moriarty, New Mexico. Rich started Sierra Blanca in 1996, added the Alien brand in 1997, and bought Rio Grande Brewing Co. in 2006. Rich had been homebrewing since 1987 and was already working 100 hours a […]
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In this episode, I talk with Nigel Askew from Horsefly Brewing Company in Montrose, Colorado. As a teenager, Nigel made beer for his dad in Zambia. In the 1990s he was homebrewing in Los Angeles. When he moved to Colorado, he took his 1.5-BBL homebrew system. He and friends pooled money and started their brewery […]
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In this episode, I talk with Chris Goulet from Birdsong Brewing Company, in Charlotte, North Carolina. Chris and some friends were so impressed by 21-year-old homebrewer, Connor Robinson, that they started a brewery to showcase his beers. Birdsong Brewing Co. was just the fourth production brewery in Charlotte. Although they have been operating less than […]
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In this episode I talk with Nick Ellis, founder and brewmaster at Opposition Brewing Co. in Medford, Oregon. In 2011 Nick was employed as a bookkeeper when he received notice that he would loose his job within a year. So he and his wife, Erin partnered with Dennis and Penni Poncia to start the nanobrewery […]
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In this episode I talk with Randal Denver, brewer from Yards Brewing Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Randal started homebrewing several years ago and got hooked. “It was kind of the first thing that I ever felt I was good at,” he said. So he applied for a job with Yards Brewing Company and started working […]
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In this episode I talk with Zachary Typinski from the upcoming, Neighborhood Brewing Co. in Ferndale, Michigan. Zachary has years of experience throughout the beer industry. He has worked in merchandising and retail, distribution and sales. He’s also a draft certified technician, Certified Cicerone®, BJCP Novice Judge, and an award-winning homebrewer. Currently Zachary is the […]
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My name is Nathan Pierce, and I’m so happy to say I’ll be your new host for the podcast, taking over for Joe Shelerud. Thank you Joe, I’ll do my best to continue this great thing you started. In this episode I talk about: MicroBrewr podcast and the transition to a new host A little […]
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The Final Episode of the MicroBrewr Podcast As a lot of you know, my wife and I are currently expecting our first child just about any day now. With him coming, I’ve taken a step back to analyze priorities since I feel like I don’t currently have enough free time to give to him with […]
The post MicroBrewr 012: How To Start Up a Brewery for $125,000 w/ Wild Earth Brewing appeared first on MicroBrewr.
Welcome to MicroBrewr Podcast #11! In this podcast, I got to talk with Sean Garvey who’s currently raising funds to start up a brewery in Hawaii. Since Sean is right in the middle of the money raising phase, we got to talk about his experiences when seeking out potential investors and asking them to invest. […]
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If you’re new to the podcast, we like to talk all things craft beer but tend to focus on starting up a brewery or ways to take your current brewery to the next level. This week I’m really excited to share the story of Ninkasi Brewing and the tremendous growth that they’ve seen since 2006. Ninkasi […]
The post MicroBrewr 010: How Ninkasi Went From a 15-BBL System to the 30th Largest Craft Brewery in the Nation w/ Ninkasi Brewing appeared first on MicroBrewr.
Canning Versus Bottling Beer and Getting Your Distributors to Sell More of Your Beer In this podcast, I had a ton of fun talking with Tyson Starling from Atlantic Brewing Company. Tyson started as a credit analyst and after having to foreclose on somebody, decided that this was not the career path for him. Tyson […]
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Raise Money For Your Microbrewery Using Crowdfunding In this podcast I got to interview Mark Slattery from CrowdBrewed which is a crowdfunding platform targeting the craft beer industry. While I have heard of crowdfunding campaigns on sites like Kickstarter, I still wasn’t sure on the details of how they worked. Mark walks us through the […]
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Have You Ever Thought that You’d Like to Open a Microbrewery? Through connecting with the MicroBrewr community and doing the weekly podcast, I’ve been lucky to talk with so many amazing people who are looking to turn their dreams into a reality and open a microbrewery. The thought of leaving the 9-5 and going on […]
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Here’s the Podcast to Entertain You While Traveling to the CBC The Craft Brewers Conference is here and I think that this podcast will be a great way to pass the time as you travel to Denver (if you’re not already there). I’ve been asked by a number of people if I’ll be there this […]
The post MicroBrewr 006: Developing Your Brewery Business Plan w/ Aaron Brodniak appeared first on MicroBrewr.
Grab a Beer and Join Us in the Journey of Starting a Brewery Welcome to the 5th edition of the MicroBrewr podcast! Due to the success and support I’ve seen for the previous podcast, I’ve dialed up the frequency now to weekly. If you’re new to the podcast, I’m a craft beer fanatic who loves […]
The post MicroBrewr 005: The Start of the Journey of Building a Brewery w/ Nathan Pierce appeared first on MicroBrewr.
The MicroBrewr Podcast is Going Weekly!! The success of this podcast within the first three episodes has been so awesome and the personal connections that I’ve already made have pushed me to take the next step with this podcast. From now on, I’ll be releasing a new MicroBrewr podcast weekly for your listening enjoyment. I’ve […]
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Welcome to Another MicroBrewr Podcast! I’ve just got to say that I am having a blast doing this podcast and there are many more to come. If you’re new to MicroBrewr, I’m here to help out if you’re looking at starting up a craft brewery or want to take your brewery to the next level. […]
The post MicroBrewr 003: The Power of A Story w/ Adelbert’s Brewery appeared first on MicroBrewr.
We Made It To Podcast #2 (I’m going to have a beer to celebrate)! First off, I have to say thanks for the amazing support and feedback that we’ve got for the MicroBrewr site and the podcast. In just the first week of having the site up, MicroBrewr has already had over 25,000 visitors. I’ve […]
The post MicroBrewr 002: Using a Flagship Beer To Build a Brand w/ Alamo Beer appeared first on MicroBrewr.
Welcome to the First Ever MicroBrewr Podcast!! Since this is the first podcast, I thought I’d take a second to explain what the typical game plan is for all of our podcasts. I’m so excited to get this going since there are so many amazing people in craft brewing! Through interviews with current brewery owners, […]
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TRANSCRIPT: Welcome to MicroBrewr podcast. We talk about everything craft beer related, with a focus for people looking at starting their own microbrewery or wanting to take their existing brewery to the next level. Do you love craft beer? Are you fascinated by the variety of flavors in beer and the diversity of breweries? Have […]
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