Podcast Archives - Page 5 of 7

MicroBrewr 033: Wastewater treatment solutions for a craft brewery

October 28, 2014/10 Comments/in Podcast /by Nathan Pierce +

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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 can’t handle it, you could be facing high fees for wastewater treatment.

Brewery wastewater can fall into one of several categories:

Floor drains in the brewery, which contain alcohol, sugars, and other contaminants.
Kitchen drains, which includes grease.
Restrooms, which typically go the sewage treatment plant.
Side stream, which is a way to divert extremely concentrated wastewater such as spent yeast, waste beer, fermenter blow-off, and trub.

If your brewery is in an area that has municipal sewage service, you might not have to do anything. If you’re in the county with no sewage service, you’ll likely have to build your own brewery wastewater treatment infrastructure.

Solutions will vary depending on your brewery wastewater characteristics, or who designs your system.

Diverting the very concentrated sources through a “side stream,” could reduce the contaminants in your wastewater by 90%. Which could mean reduced fees for treatment.

Key questions to ask:

Is the wastewater facility at capacity?
How much would the fees cost?
Does your consultant have experience designing systems for breweries or other food manufacturers?

SPECIAL BONUS:

Ask John any question about wastewater treatment for your brewery.

Leave your questions in the comments section below.

John will keep watching the comments for the next 30 days to answer as many of your questions as he can.

Be sure to connect with Brewery Wastewater Design and thank John for being on the show and for helping us out with questions.

UPDATE: Thirty days is up, John is no longer monitoring the questions here. You can still reach him through the links below. Thanks for your great questions everyone!

Tweetable:

“I came back to brewery work because the people are the greatest and the industry is the greatest.” [Tweet This]

Listener question:

From Megan Tolbert: How low environmental impact is your business?

Book recommendation:

Beyond the Pale: The Story of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. by Ken Grossman.

Check out the entire list of recommended books, click here.

An upcoming beer style:

Sour beer

Other resources:

Your city public works department.
Your county environmental services department.
Brewery Wastewater 101 by John Mercer, Brewery Wastewater Design.
Water and Wastewater: Treatment/Volume Reduction Manual by Brewers Association.
The growing challenges of brewery wastewater systems by Keith Gribbins, Craft Brewing Business, September 6, 2013.
How side streaming your brewery wastewater can save you money, John Mercer, MicroBrewr, December 11, 2014.

You can reach John Mercer and Brewery Wastewater Design at:

Support MicroBrewr

Help keep MicroBrewr on the air. CLICK HERE for ways you can help.

MicroBrewr 032: Export beer to tap new craft beer markets

October 21, 2014/0 Comments/in Podcast /by Nathan Pierce +

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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 is CEO and President of London Ale & Co. in Seoul, Korea. They are the exclusive distributor of Fuller Smith & Turner’s beers from the United Kingdom.

If you have excess product or if you want to expand to new markets, you might want to export beer to tap new craft beer markets. American craft beer is popular in Korea, and other foreign markets are craving craft beer from the U.S. and elsewhere.

Some of Maximus tips on how to export craft beer:

Contact your local governing agency about legal requirements.
Pick an importer who loves your beer.
Pick an importer with enough funds to move large shipments of your product.
It’s best to ship the product with climate control the whole way, but it’s not always feasible.
Get paid up-front.

Listener question:

From Nick Bray: Why are you doing this work?

Book recommendation:

Beer School: Bottling Success at the Brooklyn Brewery by Steve Hindy and Tom Potter.
Brewing Up a Business: Adventures in Beer from the Founder of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery by Sam Calagione.
The Oxford Companion to Beer by Garrett Oliver (Editor).

Check out the entire list of recommended books, click here.

An upcoming beer style:

Sour beer

Other resources:

Exporting Alcohol Beverage from the U.S., TTB, International Affairs Division (IAD).
Directory of State Alcohol Beverage Control Boards.
Export Development Program (EDP), Brewers Association.
U.S. craft brewers exporting beer – and ideas – around the world, Eric Gorski, The Denver Post, April 8, 2014.
Why American Craft Beer Exports Are Booming, Lisa Wirthman, Forbes, July 11, 2013.

You can reach Maximus BumSoo and London Ale & Co. at:

Diagram showing the Chief Winds of the World and the Average Rainfall (1922) by Eric Fischer on flickr (CC BY 2.0) was modified from its original state.

You might also like:

MicroBrewr 045: Launch your brewery with a strong opening night, featuring West Cork Brewing Company in Baltimore, Ireland.

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MicroBrewr 031: Accounting solutions for your craft brewery

October 14, 2014/11 Comments/in Podcast /by Nathan Pierce +

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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 served on the board of North Carolina Craft Brewers Guild and worked as CFO of Mother Earth Brewing.

Now Audra provides a “kind of one-stop shop, mercenary, CFO for hire” for craft breweries. She helps with accounting solutions such as business plans, pro-formas, costing templates, and software implementation. She also does operational audits and more.

Recently Audra won a business plan competition at Oregon State University to earn an internship at Ninkasi Brewing. At the brewery in Eugene, Oregon, she enhanced her first-hand experience in production, technical, and maintenance aspects of Ninkasi’s operations.

The 3 biggest mistakes she sees breweries make:

Not having enough capital on hand. You’ll need more than 3 month’s cash on hand.
Not planning for information flow. Set up processes to make sure information and documents flow efficiently from one department to another.
Not having funds for contingencies. Set aside 10%-15% for unexpected expenses.

6 tools she suggests to manage your breweries finances:

Set aside time each week to handle paperwork.
Take a cash flow class at the community college.
Use Microsoft Excel or simple accounting software to track your data.
Ensure information is communicated between all departments of the brewery.
Build a budget annually and review it monthly to stay on track.
MOST IMPORTANT: Understand how much your beer costs at any given time, by beer type and by packaging type.

SPECIAL BONUS:

Ask Audra any question about accounting, finance, and strategy for your brewery.

Leave your questions in the comments section below.

Audra will keep watching the comments for the next 30 days to answer as many of your questions as she can.

Be sure to connect with Brewed For Her Ledger and thank Audra for being on the show and for helping us out with questions.

UPDATE: Thirty days is up, Audra is no longer monitoring the questions here. You can still reach her through the links below. Thanks for your great questions everyone!

Listener question:

From Orlando: How do some breweries buy or lease a building for sometimes years while completing renovations and licenses?

From Dan: How much capital does a brewery need to start? Where can they get the capital?

Book recommendation:

The Brewers Association’s Guide to Starting Your Own Brewery by Dick Cantwell.
Brewing Up a Business: Adventures in Beer from the Founder of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery by Sam Calagione.
Beyond the Pale: The Story of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. by Ken Grossman.
Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman by Yvon Chouinard.
Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh.
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by Chip Heath.

Check out the entire list of recommended books, click here.

An upcoming beer style:

Session lager

Other resources:

U.S. Department of the Treasury, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau
Directory of State Alcohol Beverage Control Boards
MicroBrewr 008: Raise Money for Your MicroBrewery Without Having to Give Away Any Ownership w/ CrowdBrewed, April 22, 2014.
MicroBrewr 010: How Ninkasi Went From a 15BBL System to the 30th Largest Craft Brewery in the Nation w/ Ninkasi Brewing, May 6, 2014.
What Does Your Beer Really Cost? Establishing and Effective Beer Costing Program in the Brewpub by Scott Metzger, The New Brewer, January/February 2012.
What San Francisco Giants Brewfest taught me about the future of lagers by Nathan Pierce’s blog, June 7, 2014.

You can reach Audra Gaiziunas and Brewed For Her Ledger at:

If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or Stitcher. When you subscribe, it’ll let you know when there’s a new episode, you won’t miss a thing!

You might also like:

MicroBrewr 033: Wastewater treatment solutions for a craft brewery, with Brewery Wastewater Design in Montrose, Colorado.

Support MicroBrewr

Help keep MicroBrewr on the air. CLICK HERE for ways you can help.

MicroBrewr 030: Hire a mobile canning system and put your beer cans on store shelves sooner

October 7, 2014/1 Comment/in Podcast /by Nathan Pierce +

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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 around Tucson. Conservation is central to Borderlands Brewing Co. operations. They save water in the following ways.

Cut water use one-third by running hot water in the heat exchanger, through cool water in a rainwater harvesting system.
Save rinse-water by adjusting pH to use it again, before putting it down the drain.

I wasn’t expecting a discussion about mobile canning companies. Yet Myles offers great insight on using mobile canning systems for his craft brewery.

Three years since opening, Borderlands Brewing Co. is already canning beer. Rather than buy their own canning line, Borderlands Brewing Co. hires mobile canning companies to package their product into beer cans.

Mobile canning is becoming very popular for small craft breweries. After investing in all the normal brewing equipment, there is no capital left for luxuries like a beer canning system.

There are now several mobile canning companies in the US. Usually their truck will travel wide, often spanning several states. Reservations must be made well in advance. A large truck will come with fully operational, mobile canning equipment, and package your product on-site.

Check out the resources below and find out whether mobile beer canning is right for your craft beer.

Listener question:

From Sean Myles: Is it important to allow customers to see the production facility? If so, how much do you let them see? What do you want to keep out of their view?

Book recommendation:

Beer School: Bottling Success at the Brooklyn Brewery by Steve Hindy and Tom Potter.

Check out the entire list of recommended books, click here.

An upcoming beer style:

Dark beer

Sour beer

Other resources:

61 Brewers Speak Out: What I Wish I’d Known Before Starting a Brewery by Joe Shelerud, February 9, 2014.
Mobile West Canning, San Diego, CA. “A Mobile Canning Systems affiliate.”
Mobile Canning Systems “the first craft beer mobile canning system in the country.”
Hot New Venture: Migrant Beer-Canning Expert by James R. Hagerty, The Wall Street Journal, August 21, 2014.
Atlanta craft brewers look to mobile canning for wider distribution by Osayi Endolyn, Atlanta Magazine, August 14, 2014.
Have Canning Line, Will Travel: The Impact of Mobile Canning by Russ Phillips of CraftCans.com, craftbeer.com, August 12, 2013.
Goin’ mobile: Craft canning lines brought straight to your brewery door by Chris Crowell, Craft Brewing Business, April 23, 2013.

You can reach Myles Stone and Borderlands Brewing Co. at:

If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or Stitcher. When you subscribe, it’ll let you know when there’s a new episode, you won’t miss a thing!

Support MicroBrewr

Help keep MicroBrewr on the air. CLICK HERE for ways you can help.

MicroBrewr 029: Selling more beer through your local craft beer store

September 30, 2014/1 Comment/in Podcast /by Nathan Pierce +

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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 also have ciders, meads, and a gigantic selection of beer kegs. They do growler refills and they offer tasting flights every day.

99 Bottles has won a bunch of local awards like “best beer selection,” “best beer store,” and “don’t miss” bottle shop.

This a long episode, but stay tuned through the whole thing because Tiffany gives tons of super detailed advice on how to sell more of your beer at retail outlets like her beer shop.

Some of her tips:

Email before you visit a store, don’t stop in unannounced.
Use customer relations management (CRM) software to keep track of your contacts and to pass the information on to the next sales person.
Drop off samples with a business card, and a flier about your brewery.
Provide basic information about each beer including: ABV, IBU, description, format, shelf life, storage temperature.
When you go to brewer’s night at the shop, be sure to mingle with the customers.
Be careful about thin beer bottles, especially for bottle-conditioned beer, you don’t want your product exploding on the store shelf.
Bring extra labels when you visit a store, sometimes bottles arrive unlabeled.

SPECIAL BONUS:

Ask Tiffany any question about working with retailers to sell more of your beer.

Leave your questions in the comments section below.

Tiffany will keep watching the comments for the next 30 days to answer as many of your questions as she can.

Be sure to connect with 99 Bottles beer store and thank Tiffany for being on the show and for helping us out with questions.

UPDATE: Thirty days is up, Tiffany is no longer monitoring the questions here. You can still reach her through the links below.

Listener question:

From Jon Tiffany: What is an upcoming brewery that we should our eye on?

Book recommendation:

Brewing Up a Business: Adventures in Beer from the Founder of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery by Sam Calagione.

Check out the entire list of recommended books, click here.

An upcoming beer style:

Scottish ale

Other resources:

50 Scottish beers with the best names, Caroline Young, herald scotland, January 31, 2013.
Fremont Brewing
Black Raven Brewing Co.
Building relationships with your local craft beer store, Tiffany Adamowski, MicroBrewr, November 7, 2014.
Selling more beer through your local craft beer store, Tiffany Adamowski, MicroBrewr, November 12, 2014.

You can reach Tiffany Adamowski and 99 Bottles beer store at:

Tiffany’s blog:

If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or Stitcher. When you subscribe, it’ll let you know when there’s a new episode, you won’t miss a thing!

Support MicroBrewr

Help keep MicroBrewr on the air. CLICK HERE for ways you can help.

MicroBrewr 028: Repaving the way for women in craft beer

September 23, 2014/1 Comment/in Podcast /by Nathan Pierce +

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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 beer designs, our marketing our branding, and our operations. Scarlet Lane is excited to be (re)paving the way for females in the industry…

And they certainly are repaving the way for women in craft beer. Scarlet Lane is the first woman-owned package brewery in Indiana. The investors are mostly women, and the president is also a woman. The 15-BBL system and 30-BBL fermenters at Scarlet Lane are a long way from the turkey fryer that Eilise used to cook wort in her backyard.

Eilise refers to her beers by proper name and she calls her stout her baby. She has lots of great advice such as:

Describe your beers in a way that will resonate with customers
Talk with a customer about her taste preferences to find a beer that she will like
Start talking early with hops growers and wholesalers to make sure you have access to the hops you want

Listener question:

From Orlando: How did you move from home brewing to a lager scale?

Book recommendation:

Brewing Up a Business: Adventures in Beer from the Founder of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery by Sam Calagione.

Check out the entire list of recommended books, click here.

An upcoming beer style:

Brown ale

Other resources:

Who Is The Craft Beer Drinker by Jay Brooks, Brookston Beer Bulletin, December 30, 2013.
A Look at Craft Beer & Women, Wine Bags.com.
I couldn’t find much on brown ales gaining popularity. So here’s the recipe for the White House Honey Brown Ale brewed in the White House with President Obama’s homebrew kit. Ale to the Chief: White House Beer Recipe by Sam Kass, The White House, September 1, 2014.
Beer Wars (2009) movie.
MASS. MARKET: FDA’s move is last call for local beer company by Jon Chesto, The Patriot Ledger, June 25, 2011.
Women, The ‘First Brewers,’ Lean into Craft Beer-Making by Kirk Siegler, NPR, October 12, 2013.
The Craft Beer Girl, Amy Ellsworth.
Beer Wench, Ashley Routson.

You can reach Eilise Lane and Scarlet Lane Brewing Company at:

If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or Stitcher. When you subscribe, it’ll let you know when there’s a new episode, you won’t miss a thing!

Support MicroBrewr

Help keep MicroBrewr on the air. CLICK HERE for ways you can help.

MicroBrewr 027: Family, church, and craft beer in a small valley town

September 16, 2014/1 Comment/in Podcast /by Nathan Pierce +

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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 town where Ripley’s Believe It or Not once counted the most churches per capita in the US. Now Dust Bowl Brewing is helping to revitalize the community with their brewery and their restaurant, and soon an expanded brewery.

Brett has a lot of great advice about:

Working with distributors
Managing a “team” of employees
Hiring a star brewer who can do more than make great beer

I got to meet part of the Dust Bowl Brewing Company team at Smoke on the River in Sacramento, California. Here’s a photo of sales manager, Scott Chaffee and me.

Nathan Pierce and Scott Chaffee, Sales Manager from Dust Bowl Brewing Company (left), at Smoke on the River, Sacramento, California, September 6, 2014.

Listener question:

From Peggy Pierce: Is your water purified?

Book recommendation:

Brewing Up a Business: Adventures in Beer from the Founder of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery [2nd edition] by Sam Calagione.
Brewing Up a Business: Adventures in Entrepreneurship from the Founder of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery [1st edition] by Sam Calagione.
The Brewers Association’s Guide to Starting Your Own Brewery by Ray Daniels.
Beyond the Pale: The Story of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. by Ken Grossman.

Check out the entire list of recommended books, click here.

An upcoming beer style:

Mega IPA

Other resources:

Delta Sierra Beverage, Modesto, California.
Mussetter Distributing, Auburn, California.
Donaghy Sales Inc., Fresno, California.
Morris Beverage Distributors, Petaluma, California.
Why every brewery should serve food by Nathan Pierce, September 10, 2014.

You can reach Brett Tate and Dust Bowl Brewing Company at:

If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or Stitcher. When you subscribe, it’ll let you know when there’s a new episode, you won’t miss a thing!

Support MicroBrewr

Help keep MicroBrewr on the air. CLICK HERE for ways you can help.

MicroBrewr 026: A microbrewery, a taproom, and a brewery incubator

September 9, 2014/0 Comments/in Podcast /by Nathan Pierce +

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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.

The program is free and, as you could imagine, there is already an extensive waitlist.

The 12-week brewery incubator program teaches and assists on every aspect of brewery startup including:

Apprenticing with a brewer
Guidance on financing
Sourcing equipment
Selecting a property
Designing the logo
Writing the business plan
Navigating regulatory issues
Connecting with investors

“You can’t just take your six pack of an imperial stout that everybody loves and sell it,” says Benner.

“You have to become incredibly leveraged, you have to open a brewery. And most people don’t have the business savvy, or the funds, or the resources, or even know where to start.

“We’re literally creating a platform for these people to have the public taste their beer, which is a dream come true for homebrewers! There’s no vehicle out there right now that allows for that.”

Paul’s advice to a homebrewer wanting to start a brewery:

Start making relationships with your local brewery
Volunteer, observe, haul kegs, clean stuff
Read like crazy
Go to a bunch of brewing trade shows
Be active in your local homebrew club
Perfect recipes, make sure each batch comes out similar to the last

* I wanted to say “first-of-its-kind,” but I found something online about The Brewery Incubator in Houston, Texas. Although it looks like it’s no longer operating. I was unable to confirm whether it ever got going at all.

Listener question:

From Cory Waller: What’s your favorite beer to drink?

Book recommendation:

Beer School: Bottling Success at the Brooklyn Brewery by Steve Hindy and Tom Potter.

Check out the entire list of recommended books, click here.

An upcoming beer style:

Sour beer

Other resources:

The Cleveland Brew Shop
JC Beer Tech
3 reasons you don’t need a business plan and 1 reason you do by Nathan Pierce’s blog, September 1, 2014.

You can reach Paul Benner and Platform Beer Co. at:

If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or Stitcher. When you subscribe, it’ll let you know when there’s a new episode, you won’t miss a thing!

Support MicroBrewr

Help keep MicroBrewr on the air. CLICK HERE for ways you can help.

MicroBrewr 025: A religious experience at the homebrew club

September 2, 2014/0 Comments/in Podcast /by Nathan Pierce +

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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 around the nation to get advice before they converted a photography studio at their home into a 3-BBL nano brewery: Studio Brew in Kingsport, Tennessee.

Erich tells great stories. He takes us on the long journey through the many permitting agencies. At first it didn’t seem possible to have a brewery at his home. But by working with the staff at the permitting agencies, they found a way and did it all working with the system.

Erich is an eloquent speaker. There are many gems in this episode including:

“I respect the beer styles that were set forth centuries ago, but try to make something that people will say, ‘That was the best beer ever.’”

“That’s what it’s all about: Make craft beer to share with those who love beer.”

Listener question:

From Mel Troha: Is a nanobrewpub always easier to start and sustain than a production nanobrewery?

Book recommendation:

The Brewers Association’s Guide to Starting Your Own Brewery by Dick Cantwell.
Brewing Up a Business: Adventures in Beer from the Founder of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery by Sam Calagione.
The Art of War by Sun Tzu.

Check out the entire list of recommended books, click here.

An upcoming beer style:

Session IPA

Other resources:

Tri-Cities Beer Alliance homebrew club.
Overmountain Brewers homebrew club.
State of Franklin Homebrewers homebrew club.
61 Brewers Speak Out: What I Wish I’d Known Before Starting a Brewery by Joe Shelerud, February 9, 2014.
Avery Brewing, Boulder, Colorado.
Grain & Vine Design Studio, FMD Architects.
Brewed For Her Ledger, LLC Accounting, finance, operations strategy for the beer industry.

You can reach Erich Allen and Studio Brew at:

If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or Stitcher. When you subscribe, it’ll let you know when there’s a new episode, you won’t miss a thing!

Support MicroBrewr

Help keep MicroBrewr on the air. CLICK HERE for ways you can help.

MicroBrewr 024: Real ale in the mountain bike capital of the Northwest

August 26, 2014/0 Comments/in Podcast /by Nathan Pierce +

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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 traditional English “public house.” It’s a “third place,” a place other than home and work. It’s the local.

They make English-style cask conditioned ales, and they have guest beers on tap to support the locals and the many passersby who come to Oakridge for mountain biking and other outdoor recreation.

Ted says that the biggest mistake he made was working too hard. This month marks their 6th year in business and Ted looks forward to finally taking a vacation. He recommends starting with more money and hiring staff.

In this episode, Ted advises to:

Follow your vision, even when others tell you to do otherwise
Take time to drink the beer you make

Listener question:

From Hayden Little: What is your least favorite beer that you produce? Why do you keep producing it?

Book recommendation:

Cellarmanship by Patrick O’Neill

Check out the entire list of recommended books, click here.

An upcoming beer style:

Session beer

Other resources:

What is Cask Ale? by CASK!
Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA)
Oakridge: Mountain bike capital of the Northwest by Laura Rillos, KVAL News, May 12, 2009.
Craft Beer Industry’s Game Plan: Decrease The Booze to Increase The Fun by Kim Bellware, Huffington Post, August 15, 2014.

You can reach Ted Sobel and Brewers Union Local 180 at:

NOTE 7/28/2020: Brewers Union Local 180 us under new ownership and is now called The 3 Legged Crane Pub and Brewhouse.

Brewers Union Local 180:

The 3 Legged Crane Pub and Brewhouse:

If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or Stitcher. When you subscribe, it’ll let you know when there’s a new episode, you won’t miss a thing!

Support MicroBrewr

Help keep MicroBrewr on the air. CLICK HERE for ways you can help.

MicroBrewr 023: Keep striving to be better

August 19, 2014/5 Comments/in Podcast /by Nathan Pierce +

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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, Sean, practiced brewing.

They strive to make Pecan Street Brewing a “third place.” A third place is a place other than work or home, where people can spend a large amount of time and feel just as comfortable as at the other places.

Patty has a hard time defining success. “We want to be perfect and we know we wont be there,” she says, “but we want to keep striving to be better. So I don’t know if we could say if we’ve ever succeeded because we just keep wanting to get better.”

Patty shares some fun stories about the names of their beers. She also has lots of great advice including:

Be sure you have enough funds
Be ready to stick with it

Listener question:

From Christopher Kirby: What’s the best beer you have ever had?

Book recommendation:

The Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community by Ray Oldenburg.

Check out the entire list of recommended books, click here.

An upcoming beer style:

India Pale Ale

Other resources:

Texas Pecan Board.
My continuing battle against perfectionism—part 1 of ? by Nathan Pierce, July 28, 2014.
How India pale ale conquered the world by S.W., The Economist, May 13, 2014.

You can reach Patty Elliott and Pecan Street Brewing at:

If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or Stitcher. When you subscribe, it’ll let you know when there’s a new episode, you won’t miss a thing!

Support MicroBrewr

Help keep MicroBrewr on the air. CLICK HERE for ways you can help.

MicroBrewr 022: Expanding to… India!

August 12, 2014/0 Comments/in Podcast /by Nathan Pierce +

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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 principle of “capitalism with a conscience.” Rather than being focused solely on profits, they aim for their business to be good for the community and good for their employees. “The best decision we every made,” says Matt, “was giving our management team a lot of autonomy.”

Do you want to open a brewery? This is Matt’s advice for you to start doing tomorrow:

Develop a vision
Do your homework
Get experience

Matt also talks about:

How his love affair with beer started
How to use geothermal cooling to reduce energy costs
How being named “best brewpub in the Midwest” affected their sales

Support Arbor Brewing Company’s crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo

ABC Microbrewery Needs a Kitchen

(Deadline: September 4, 2014, 11:59 p.m.)

UPDATE: They met the goal of their fundraising campaign. Woohoo!

Listener question:

From Tanner Munro: Have you thought about pairing beer to food, as a compliment beverage to food?

Book recommendation:

Building a Business the Buddhist Way by Geri Larkin.
There’s GOT to be an easier way to run a business: How to have a successful company — and a life! by Bill Marvin.

Check out the entire list of recommended books, click here.

An upcoming beer style:

Session IPA

Other resources:

www.indiegogo.com crowdfunding.
The Lunchbox (2013) movie.
Earl & Tiffany on Vine.
My continuing battle against perfectionism—part 1 of ? by Nathan Pierce, July 28, 2014.
Arbor Brewing heads to India by Chris Staten, DRAFT Magazine, June 25, 2012.
Arbor Brewing Company: India’s First American Craft Brewery by Craft Beer, February 27, 2013.
MicroBrewr 008: Raise Money for Your MicroBrewery Without Having to Give Away Any Ownership w/ CrowdBrewed, April 22, 2014.
Six Session IPAs Ranked by John Verive, Paste, April 9, 2014.

You can reach Matt Greff and Arbor Brewing Company at:

If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or Stitcher. When you subscribe, it’ll let you know when there’s a new episode, you won’t miss a thing!

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Help keep MicroBrewr on the air. CLICK HERE for ways you can help.

MicroBrewr 021: The most expensive beer that’s been poured in Pinellas County, Florida

August 5, 2014/0 Comments/in Podcast /by Nathan Pierce +

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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 County, Florida!

About his proudest moment as a brewery owner, Justin says: When I saw my beer being poured out in other accounts for the first time, that was really cool because then I felt amongst my peers, the other friends I have that own breweries, and even the national brands, too. You really feel like you’re part of the club then.

Among other great info in this episode, Justin advises:

Double-batch to correct mistakes
Utilize mobile canning to win a bet
Take good notes on every batch

Listener question:

From Jon Tiffany: What do you feel are the most important aspects of your brewing? How do you approach improving on that?

Book recommendation:

Beyond the Pale: The Story of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. by Ken Grossman.

Check out the entire list of recommended books, click here.

An upcoming beer style:

Berliner Weisse

Florida Weisse

Other resources:

State craft beer production & sales data, by Brewers Association.
Overflow crowd of beer lovers awaits Pliny the Younger by Kurtis Alexander, SFGate, February 7, 2014.
61 Brewers Speak Out: What I Wish I’d Known Before Starting a Brewery by Joe Shelerud, February 9, 2014.
Brewing With Lactic Acid Bacteria by Dr. Brian A. Nummer, More Beer!, July 25, 2012.
Weisse up by Sean Nordquist, Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, May 24, 2013.
The First Canned Berliner Weisse in Florida by ReidRamsay, Beer Street Journal, September 8, 2013.
Have Canning Line, Will Travel: The Impact of Mobile Canning by Russ Phillips, CraftCans.com, August 12, 2013.

You can reach Justin Stange and 7venth Sun Brewery at:

If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or Stitcher. When you subscribe, it’ll let you know when there’s a new episode, you won’t miss a thing!

Support MicroBrewr

Help keep MicroBrewr on the air. CLICK HERE for ways you can help.

MicroBrewr 020: Beer for every man, woman, and child in Big Sky Country

July 29, 2014/3 Comments/in Podcast /by Nathan Pierce +

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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 population of about 850!

None of them had ever owned a brewery before, but they’re business is doing fantastic. They say that their biggest mistake was not being ambitious enough. They currently are operating a 10-BBL system, and are planning to expand to larger facility with a 50-BBL system within a year!

Cathy tells us why they walk customers to the door. Mike tells us about his invention for the bar.

They are both great speakers and this interview has tons of fantastic advice, such as:

Hire great people
Put customers first
Give quality in every area
Reach out to other breweries

“The brewery business is an amazing business,” says Cathy. “We’re not all competition, we’re all in it together.”

“People will let you pick their brains to a surprising extent,” adds Mike.

You won’t guess their answer to the question, Cans or bottles? They have some great thoughts on the dilemma.

Listener question:

From Adeen McKuin: What’s your favorite beer?

Book recommendation:

Brewing Up a Business: Adventures in Beer from the Founder of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery by Sam Calagione.
BeerAdvocate magazine.
Books about sales.
Microbiology textbook from the university bookstore.

Check out the entire list of recommended books, click here.

An upcoming beer style:

California Common

Light beer

Other resources:

It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) movie.
A River Runs Through It (1992) movie.
California Common / Steam Beer style described on Beer Advocate.
What San Francisco Giants Brewfest taught me about the future of lagers by Nathan Pierce’s blog, June 7, 2014.
Beer Advocate.

You can reach Cathy Smith, Mike Elliott, and Philipsburg Brewing Company at:

If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or Stitcher. When you subscribe, it’ll let you know when there’s a new episode, you won’t miss a thing!

Support MicroBrewr

Help keep MicroBrewr on the air. CLICK HERE for ways you can help.

MicroBrewr 019: Marketing a flagship beer with Roswell aliens

July 22, 2014/2 Comments/in Podcast /by Nathan Pierce +

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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 week at his own restaurant, when he started Sierra Blanca. He hired master brewers to mentor him for the first 2 years and has been growing steadily ever since.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of aliens crash landing near Roswell, New Mexico, they released Alien Amber Ale in 1997. Today, Alien Amber Ale accounts for 40% of sales among their 9 beers.

Rich talks about his company and provides some key insight to the 1947 Roswell UFO incident.

He offers some great advice about:

Working 100 hours a week
Marketing and distribution
Branding ideas
Gaining knowledge from visiting other breweries

Listener question:

From Marc Stafford: Why do you do what you do?

Book recommendation:

Water: A Comprehensive Guide for Brewers (Brewing Elements) by John Palmer and Colin Kaminski.
American Sour Beers by Michael Tonsmeire.

Check out the entire list of recommended books, click here.

An upcoming beer style:

Session beer

Other resources:

American Brewers Guild brewing school
Drinking Made Easy.
Los Angeles Brewers Ready for Session Beers by John Michael Verive, Beer Paper LA, May 6, 2014.
24 Light Beers, Ranked by Will Gordon, Deadspin, February 28, 2014.

You can reach Rich Weber and Sierra Blanca Brewing Company at:

If you like the show, please subscribe in iTunes or Stitcher. When you subscribe, it’ll let you know when there’s a new episode, you won’t miss a thing!

Support MicroBrewr

Help keep MicroBrewr on the air. CLICK HERE for ways you can help.