Thinking about starting a craft brewery

[Pacman]

What if you went "underground" first and build up a name for yourself. Set up an illegal brewery in your garage/basement and start selling. Once you have the hipsters raving about your beer, go legit and set up shop.

It would make for a good marketing story, assuming you don't get caught and can stay out of jail.

[NoPulp]

Build up clientele by giving away samples to beyond members.

[NoPulp]

Double post.

[roopi]

Originally posted by BavarianBeast
Thanks for all the replies so far.

I have inquired with a couple breweries in town about becoming a partner or purchasing an existing brewery but have not had any luck so far. I'm meeting with one of them next week to pick his brain on starting the business.

In terms of the product and brewing knowledge - I have very little and have selected a system that eliminates the need for a brewmaster. It's called Smartbrew and more can be found out here; http://www.smartbrew.com.
It is a cheap way of brewing beer, but I have had the results at various establishments around the world and the beer is always extremely top quality and each brewer can modify the recipes as seen fit.

In terms of capital, I would be willing to dump close to $1m into everything.

I do understand it is a niche market and may be hard to penetrate, most of you are probably right and I should probably invest my time and money elsewhere..But, the thought of owning and operating a brewery would be a true dream come true.

Just checked out that smartbrew. I never knew something like this existed. I could put this in my basement.

What's the cost of a smartbrew system?

[mr2mike]

Got a better idea.

Buy cheap beer in bulk.
Open cans.
Pour into custom labelled bottle.
Seal up.
Place on liquor store shelves with no marketing.
Wait for hipsters to "discover" this new beer that no one knows about.
Profit.

[buh_buh]

I don't know what this smartbrew entails, but it takes normal brewers at least a year or two to get their recipes down. I've got a few buddies (along with everyone else) that have been doing this for a couple years now, and I've had my share of good and bad beers they've brewed.

There's a brew pub that just opened in Inglewood, think it's called Highliner or something. But I'd start with talking to those guys and picking their brain a little.

[Nufy]

Originally posted by mr2mike
Got a better idea.

Buy cheap beer in bulk.
Open cans.
Pour into custom labelled bottle.
Seal up.
Place on liquor store shelves with no marketing.
Wait for hipsters to "discover" this new beer that no one knows about.
Profit.

Orr.....

Wait for a current micro-brewery to go under and sweep in and by the equipment for pennies on the dollar.

You might get a deal on the space as well.

[timdog]

as a brewer, beer traveler and beer aficionado I fully support your dream and share the same dream. However, I think your smartbrew system, without having a brewmaster, and without you having extensive beer knowledge, is a recipe for failure.

First of all, the most complex and difficult part of brewing good beer is yeast management. Teams of people with PhDs in this type of thing work at larger breweries, and I would say that even small craft breweries like Tin Shed and Last Best have people on staff with extensive yeast knowledge. It is a science.

Secondly as a small beer startup, a large part of your demographic is going to be beer nerds. Beer nerds want interesting local beers that can stand up to your international competition, like Stone, Gigantic, Deschutes (first three that popped into my head). Many beer nerds will pick local over those guys, but they have to at least be comparable in taste and quality and they have to be interesting beers. Maybe sour beers, crazy hoppy beers, barrel aged, etc. Your other demographic would be the Bud/Keiths drinkers and I think we know that will be a tough market for you.

This is the equivalent of opening a fine dining restaurant with no professional cooking experience, and saying you dont need to hire a head chef because you found a bunch of easy good recipes online.

[lasimmon]

I think trying to open a successful brewery using smart brew is a terrible idea.

[Minimalist]

Get used to 99% of all people shitting on new ideas. Do what you want, sharing an idea only dilutes your energy and direction. How many here have direct micro brew experience? None. There are only a handful of entrepreneurs on Beyond, as one would expect in a city of corporate workers dependent on O&G for a paycheque*. They are your market, not your board of advisors. The micro beer market is really maybe 10% of total beer sales in Canada?

http://business.financialpost.com/ne...an-infographic

I've followed this brewery story since inception and glad they took the risk: http://www.dogfish.com/company


*very aware we all are in some form dependent on the holy O&G industry.

[Marsh]

Originally posted by Minimalist
Get used to 99% of all people shitting on new ideas. Do what you want, sharing an idea only dilutes your energy and direction. How many here have direct micro brew experience? None. There are only a handful of entrepreneurs on Beyond, as one would expect in a city of corporate workers dependent on O&G for a paycheque*. They are your market, not your board of advisors. The micro beer market is really maybe 10% of total beer sales in Canada?

http://business.financialpost.com/ne...an-infographic

I've followed this brewery story since inception and glad they took the risk: http://www.dogfish.com/company


*very aware we all are in some form dependent on the holy O&G industry.

I'd disagree with this. Nobody here is shitting on his idea, just bringing up potential issues and challenges. And yes we are his potential market, and in that I think our opinions are more warranted. If your potential customers are telling you that they may not find your brew of good quality/taste/unique etc, and therefore not likely to buy it, why would you go ahead with it and then act surprised if nobody buys the beer?

Its not a bad idea, but not having a brewmaster and some experience in the industry just seems like a recipe for disaster.

[ercchry]

You'd also be surprised to find out what some beyonder do for a living...

[rx7_turbo2]

Originally posted by Minimalist
How many here have direct micro brew experience? None.

Incorrect.

[Dave P]

Originally posted by rx7_turbo2

Incorrect.

+1

[Dave P]

Originally posted by Marsh


Its not a bad idea, but not having a brewmaster and some experience in the industry just seems like a recipe for disaster.

Its not a bad idea, but not having a brewmaster and some experience in the industry just seems like a recipe for disaster if you are going to put up a potential $1MM too

[Marsh]

Originally posted by Dave P


Its not a bad idea, but not having a brewmaster and some experience in the industry just seems like a recipe for disaster if you are going to put up a potential $1MM too

Absolutely, the $1mm on top of that makes it that much worse.

[rx7_turbo2]

Originally posted by Marsh
Absolutely, the $1mm on top of that makes it that much worse.

I don't think BB meant he was gonna write a cheque for $1m day 1. It was more like he'd be willing to get in that deep over time. I think it sounded like he was going to start relatively small and ramp up over time if things looked promising.

[Marsh]

Originally posted by rx7_turbo2

I don't think BB meant he was gonna write a cheque for $10m day 1. It was more like he'd be willing to get in that deep over time. I think it sounded like he was going to start relatively small and ramp up over time if things looked promising.

Maybe not, but build-out and equipment costs for a brewpub would be in that ballpark anyways.

[blindsight]

.

[Aerobat]

Toolshed puts on a so you want to start a brewery seminar once or twice a year,buy tickets, go ask questions.