Quality-Control-Bottling-Craft-Beer

MicroBrewr 004: Craft Beer Quality Control and Bottling w/ 3 Sheeps Brewery

 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 been going back and forth on this for a few weeks but I have to give a special thanks to my friend, Nathan Pierce for pushing me to commit to the weekly podcast.  In the next podcast, you’ll get to meet Nathan and hear about his project that he’s currently working on (more info to come).  If there’s any specific topics that you’d like to hear more about in future podcasts, let me know on Facebook or Twitter.  Finally, I just have to say it means so much to me for listening so if there’s anything that I can do to return the favor, let me know what I can do!

Meet Grant from 3 Sheeps Brewing Company

Grant Pauly started out in working in his family’s concrete business where he had a good, stable job but found that it wasn’t where his passions truly lied.  After homebrewing, Grant decided to switch paths and start a brewery in Sheboygan, WI.   After the first year and a half of brewing, 3 Sheeps has already gone through multiple expansions and won the award of “Best New Wisconsin Brewery” by RateBeer.  As a distribution brewery, Grant has some great pointers to share about craft beer quality control and the bottling process to make sure their great beer tastes the same, every time.  Grant also digs into his decision of taking a risk to start the brewery by chasing those “really cool waterslides” and not taking it for granted.

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In this podcast we’ll cover:

  • Where to start after deciding that you want to start a brewery
  • Deciding between a distribution brewery or a brew pub
  • A deep dive through brewing equipment and the bottling process.
  • Creating a theme or a “vision” for your brewery to guide the beers that you produce
  • The craft beer growth and how it blew apart Grant’s initial projections
  • How to make sure you beer tastes the same every time and monitoring throughout the process
  • What’s working for Grant right now

Brewery-QCHere are links that we talked about during the podcast.  Make sure to connect with 3 Sheeps and find their beer at your local liquor store or baaaaar (you’ll get this more once you listen to the podcast:)

3 Sheeps Website

Connect on Facebook

Connect on Twitter

Siebel Institute in Chicago – Brewing Sciences

Your Free Audio Book

Like This Podcast and Want to Give Baaaaack?

If you like this podcast and all of the free info that I’ve been working to get out to help the brewing community, I would really appreciate it if you would give me a rating in iTunes and share this podcast with your friends.  All you need to do is search for MicroBrewr in the iTunes store or you can use this link.  Giving a rating in iTunes will continue to push the podcast up in the rankings which help get the word out to more people.  Thanks in advance!

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You might also like:

MicroBrewr 024: Real ale in the mountain bike capital of the Northwest, with Brewers Union Local 180 in Oakridge, Oregon.

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

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Top Four Tips For Using Social Media To Promote Your Brewery

Social Media and The Conversion of a Non-Believer

Over the last few years, I’ve talked about deleting my Facebook account.  People would get mad at me since they’d send me a Facebook message and I wouldn’t get back to them for three months because I wouldn’t ever check my notifications.   After I found my beautiful wife after college, Facebook just didn’t seem to serve much of a purpose for me anymore and I lost interest.  I got my first personal Twitter account around a year ago and had tweeted a total of 4 times.  Instagram, Pinterest and Snapchat were things that my sister or wife would try to explain to me what they were and what purpose they served.  To sum it up, I was a non-believer of social media and didn’t really get the point.

As I was in the process of starting up MicroBrewr, I created a token Twitter and Facebook account just because I thought that having those pages would make the site look more “professional”.  I wasn’t planning on putting much effort into those pages because I didn’t think I’d get that much return for all the time that was required.  When I finally launched the site, I had a couple of Facebook likes and maybe a handful of followers on Twitter.  Then, something crazy happened that instantly turned me into a believer in social media.

Some Shares of the MicroBrewr Article on Twitter

Some Shares of the MicroBrewr Article on Twitter

When I launched MicroBrewr, I was hoping for maybe a couple of hundred people to visit within the first week.  After all, MicroBrewr was a brand new site out there that no one had ever heard of. I figured that I should send out a post to the few followers that I had about the articles that I was including in the launch.  The morning of the launch, I sent out a tweet and Facebook post on one of articles which was called 61 Brewers Speak Out: What I Wish I’d Known Before Starting a Brewery.  Suddenly, my phone started buzzing with a number of people who had shared the link.  This post took off and lead to hundreds of tweets and over 3000 page likes on Facebook.  The sharing took on a life of its own and led to 25,125 unique visitors within the first week of having the site launched.

RELATED: My #1 tool for growing an email list

With most craft breweries, advertising budgets are tight (if they even exist) and social media gives you a great way to create loyal fans for free.  As we discussed in the post How Small Craft Brewers Continue to Dominate the Corporate Giants, one of the key drivers of the craft beer movement is people wanting to buy local and know who is brewing their beer.  Social media gives you an easy connection to build those lasting relationships which translates into loyal fans.  If you’re running a brewery or are thinking of starting one, there’s no doubt that time is also tight so here’s some quick tips on how to get the most return out of your precious time.

Top Four Tips When Using Social Media For Your Brewery

You Can’t Do It All – One thing that kept getting me stuck is that I was overwhelmed by the number of social media sites that were out there.  I figured that if I was going to do one, I had to do them all.  After some soul searching I decided that I needed to focus on just a couple and do them well.  Since this arena is constantly changing, I’m continually looking for changes in demographics and trends to see which ones will give the best response (here’s a great update of 2013 social media demographics).  For breweries, Facebook and Twitter are still key but there are a couple of others that seem to be emerging.  Instagram has potential since users have very high levels of engagement and is very skewed towards younger users that are very supportive of the craft beer industry (as long as they are drinking age).  The other one that I believe is key is Untappd since I don’t know how you could get a much more targeted audience than that.  The key is to pick a few social media platforms to focus on and do them well.

No One Likes Someone Who Talks About Themselves All the Time – While you should be sending out reminders of the next brewery event or new beer you’re releasing, these should not be the only thing that you’re sending.  With the bombardment of content that our society gets especially now with social media, people are very reluctant at being sold to.  While talking about that happy hour special is great, make sure you’re also actually connecting with people rather than trying to just sell to them.  Once people get to know you through social media, when you do send out those posts promoting your new small batch beer, people will be much more willing to listen.  Gary Vaynerchuk wrote a great book about this called Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook which I’d highly recommend checking out if you get a chance.

Each Social Network Has Its Own Rules That You Don’t Want To Break  If you started out like me and didn’t use social media much before, it takes a bit to learn the “rules” of each platform.  People communicate differently on each platform and if you don’t take the time to learn the right way to share, prepare to be ignored.  Some examples that I see every day are people who automatically share copy their Twitter posts to Facebook.  If I see you talking about “@someone” on Facebook like you’d reference a person in Twitter, I know that you automatically updated your Facebook page and I immediately lose that personal connection with you.  If you’re new to a social network, Gary V’s book that I referenced above is a great way to get you quickly up to speed.

Honestly Ask Yourself If You’d Share What You’re About To Post if It Came Across Your Feed – Social media can have amazing returns if you put out content worth sharing.  The beauty of social media is that if you send out good content, the sharing can take on a life of its own and reach so many more people that you could have yourself.  Think of how you scan through your feed on Facebook or Twitter and how little time you spend looking at each individual post.  If you’re like me, you’ll probably scroll though quite a few posts before stopping to take a closer look at a picture or headline that catches your eye.  Taking the extra few minutes to make that content stand out can really make a difference on the engagement and ultimately new fans that you get for your brewery.

Since time and money is tight, I’ve put together an e-book with six free social media tools that you can use to build your presence online and get your beer into the hands of more people.  As my thanks for visiting MicroBrewr, simply click the button below and I’ll send you the e-book free to your email.

 

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MicroBrewr 003: The Power of A Story w/ Adelbert’s Brewery

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.  For the podcast, I get the pleasure of talking with a number of people in the craft beer industry to spread the knowledge to the rest of the community.  If you’re thinking of starting a brewery, I’d also check out the 12 question guide you can use to help figure out the financials when in the planning stages.  Welcome and if you get a chance, I’d love to connect with you through Facebook or Twitter (you can always use my contact page too!).

Telling a Story Through Beer and a Brewery w/ Adelbert’s Breweryadelberts

The craft brewing industry is full of amazing people and Sarah Zomper Haney from Adelbert’s Brewery is no exception!  Adelbert’s Brewery is located in Austin, TX and focuses on Belgian-style brewing and bottle-conditions their beers.  Sarah and I will discuss topics from marketing, distribution, branding, social media and everything in between.

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In this episode we’ll talk about:

  • How to use a story to name your brewery and create a personal connection with your customers
  • Using social media and word-of-mouth to promote your brewery
  • The power of the brewery tour
  • Bringing in food trucks and incorporating beer into food
  • How to make use of spare brewing capacity
  • Expanding distribution into other markets and educating distributors
  • Making your beer stand out and the importance of labeling
  • Converting people into the craft beer movement
  • Sarah’s outlook on the craft beer market

Check out the Adelbert’s Brewery or Enjoy Their Bottle-Conditioned Goodness!

Show your support to Sarah and Adelbert’s Brewery for all of the great information that they shared by going on a brewery tour or buying some Adelbert’s beer.  It’s a beautiful thing when you can give back by drinking beer:)  Here’s some of the ways you can connect with Adelberts!

Adelbert’s Website

Facebook – Connect with Adelbert’s Brewery

Twitter – Follow Adelbert’s

Find Adelbert’s Beer

Like This Podcast and Want to Give Back?

If you like this podcast and all of the free info that I’ve been working to get out to help the brewing community, I would really appreciate it if you would give me a rating in iTunes and share this podcast with your friends.  All you need to do is search for MicroBrewr in the iTunes store or you can use link this link here.  Giving a rating in iTunes will continue to push the podcast up in the rankings which help get the word out to more people.  The support I’ve had with three podcasts in has been so awesome and if there’s anything that I can do for your help promoting the podcast, let me know!

Share the MicroBrewr Podcast on Facebook

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You might also like:

MicroBrewr 028: Repaving the way for women in craft beer, with Scarlet Lane Brewing Company in McCordsville, Indiana.

Support MicroBrewr

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

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The 12 Questions You Need To Ask to Plan Your Brewery

After I got a number of questions around how to get information about the money side of starting a brewery and doing the financial section of a business plan, I hope that this step-by-step guide can help out the aspiring brewer.  Truth be told, you can use the same process for a number of different businesses but in this guide, we’ll focus on the beer side of things.

While you can do all of the financial planning in the world, the quickest way to get the information you need to start a brewery is finding someone else who’s already gone through the process themselves.  As seen in our post “61 Brewers Speak Out: What I Wish I Would Have Known Before Starting a Brewery”, these guys and gals who are now running their own breweries are a wealth of information.  When you’re in the phase of looking for investments in business, showing that you’ve done your homework and having real life examples of start-up costs, sales and operating expenses will help to give you a leg up and add credibility to your financial section.

So How Do I Find A Brewer To Talk To and Will They Actually Help Me?

In the craft beer industry, we are very lucky to have a supportive community of brewers, many of whom are happy to share their experiences.  Odds are, they just went through the same process you’re about to embark on and they got help from others.  Like everything else in life, it feels great to many brewers to give back to the community that got them started.  That being said, just randomly sending them an email asking for detailed financial information probably isn’t going to get too many responses.  Here’s my advice to getting the best chance of finding people who are willing to help you out:

First, do a search in your local area of breweries that match the type of brewery that you’d like to start.  If you want to start a distribution brewery based out of an old industrial building, find other distribution breweries like that in your surrounding area.  If you want to start a brew pub in a strip mall, see if you can find ones like it.  While it would be great to find other breweries that are just like the one you’d like to start, you also have to be flexible if the number of breweries in your area is limited.  Since some people might not want to share their information with you if you’re planning on opening a new brewery across the street, take a look at other breweries in the surrounding areas that you can take a weekend road trip to visit.  Once you’ve found a few that seem to fit the bill of what you’re looking to start, you can usually find their contact information on their website.

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Now here’s the trick.  Anyone starting a brewery is going to be super busy with all aspects of running their new business.  If you simply send them a long email asking for a bunch of info, your odds of getting a response back are very slim.  If you help out the brewery you’re looking to get info from and can demonstrate that you’re serious, you are going to have much better chance of them wanting to help you back.  Finding time to take a brewery tour or buying a couple of growlers for your friends will set the tone.  Tweet or share on Facebook different events that their brewery is having or how much you love the beer from their brewery (make sure to tag them so they can see it).  Volunteer to help them out with an upcoming event or say you’ll come in at bar close to help them clean up the place.  Anything that you can do to create a personal connection with the brewery owner and show that you’re serious will really help you out in the long run.  After you’ve established that personal connection, then you can contact them to see if they can take 15 minutes of their time to walk through the 12 key questions listed below.  I highly recommend doing this face to face or at least by phone since typing up an email takes longer for the brewery owner (and they are very busy!).

Now You’ve Got Your Connections, Here Are the 12 Key Questions to Ask

In this section, I’ll list out the 12 key questions that you need to ask another brewery owner to get a good idea about the financials of their brewery, and ultimately find out how much does it cost to start a brewery. Going along with the 12 questions, I’ve created a free Excel spreadsheet that you can use to put in the answers to all of these questions (the link is at the bottom of this post).  I know that Excel can be a little intimidating so I’ve done all of the calculations for you.  All you’ll need to do is enter in the numbers, select a couple of drop down boxes and you’re good to go.

  1. What was your original brewing capacity in barrels or gallons per batch? In the spreadsheet I’ve attached, I’ll do all the tough work for you to convert these values.
  2. How many batches of beer do you make in a typical month or year?
  3. How much money did it cost you to start the brewery? Make sure to get all of the costs included in the process to get the doors open for the brewery.
  4. What is the typical price you are able to sell the kegs and cans for?  You’ll just want to get an average of how much the brewery gets for each of the kegs it sells.  If the brewery sells beer in the tap room, count this as “selling” a keg (really you’re selling it to yourself) and incorporate this into the average price you get by selling a keg.  If the brewery sells cans or bottles to distributors, you’ll want to get the price that the brewery gets from the distributor.  This can get a little tricky so if you have any troubles with this, let me know and I’ll help you out on it.
  5. How many kegs do you sell and how many bottles or cans?  You can either get this as a percent of total sales (% of keg sales versus % of bottles/cans sales) or actual sales of bottles and kegs over a typical month or year.
  6. What’s the typical cost of brewing ingredients?  You can get this in the average cost of ingredients per batch, the average ingredient costs per month or the cost per year.
  7. How much does it typically cost to bottle your beer (including packaging, labeling, etc.)?  In this, you’ll want to include the cost of buying the bottles, labeling, packaging and any shipping to get it to the distributor.
  8. What is your typical rent or mortgage payment?  You can get this either as the payments per month or per year.
  9. How much do you do you have to pay per month or per year for salaries and benefits for brewers, bartenders, servers, etc?  You’ll want to get the average labor costs per month or per year and I would include any benefit payments since this will give you a better picture of the full costs of employing everyone.
  10. How much are utilities typically per month or per year?  I know this can vary throughout the year but you’ll want to get an estimation of a typical month’s utilities costs including water, sewer, heat, cooling, electricity and any other usual costs.
  11. How much do you have to pay for taxes on each beer that you sell?  This one can get a little tricky but you’ll want to find out how much the brewery has to pay on taxes for a keg that it sells and how much for each bottle (you can also get taxes per each 6-pack or case of beer).
  12. Are there any other costs or expenses that I should know about?

And that’s it!  In 12 questions, you can get all of the key information that you need to know to be able to get a good perspective of their business (and your prospective brewery).  Now all you need to do is go into the spreadsheet that I have linked at the bottom of the post and put in the numbers into the boxes that I have highlighted.

To start off, this template should work well if you’re looking at starting up a distribution brewery.  You can still get a lot of good information if you’re looking at starting up a brewpub but the costs and sales of the food can complicate the matter a bit.  If you’d like me to create a second version for brewpubs, let me know and I can incorporate these items and expand on this guide.  If you get this information and need some help figuring out what all the rest of the numbers mean, feel free to send me an email with the spreadsheet and I’ll help you out.

Disclaimer:  I have to put this in to protect myself and my family against a few bad apples.  This template was put together to give an approximation of the financials of a brewery while in the research state of a business plan.  While I will do all I can to make sure the information and calculations are correct, it is the responsibility of the user to verify these values and MicroBrewr is not liable for any use or decisions made from this template.

Download the MicroBrewr Brewery Financial Planning Excel Worksheet

Like what you’ve read and want to get updates on upcoming articles and podcasts?  Click the button below to sign up for the mailing list. As my thank you for joining the Microbrewr community, I’ll send you a free copy of our e-book “6 Free Social Media Tools To Get Your Beer in the Hands of More People.” 

 

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MicroBrewr 002: Using a Flagship Beer To Build a Brand w/ Alamo Beer

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 been able to talk to so many people who are thinking of taking the plunge into starting their own brewery (or who already have) and it’s no lie that the craft beer community is awesome!  If you want to subscribe to the MicroBrewr podcast instead of listening to it on the site, the podcast is now up on both iTunes and Stitcher which you can find by just searching for MicroBrewr in either program.

Using a Flagship Beer to Build a Brand with Alamo Beer CompanyEugene From Alamo Beer Company

In the second podcast, I had the pleasure of talking with Eugene Simor from Alamo Beer Company.  One of the reasons that I wanted to talk with Eugene is that he’s taken a different approach to getting into the craft beer industry by using his flagship beer, Alamo Golden Ale to build his brand.  Up to this point, Eugene has used contract brewing (“kind-of”) to brew Alamo Golden Ale and is currently in the process of planning his own brewery.  With his 10+ years already selling his beer, Eugene has proven his brand (which helped him get a $5 million SBA approved loan for his brewery) and has a ton of great information to share.

In this episode we’ll talk about:

  • How to get your start in the industry through contract brewing to prove that your brand works
  • Picking a distributor to sell your beer and leveraging them to increase sales
  • How to promote and grow your brand
  • The importance of focusing on your local market and creating a personal connection
  • What events are working for Alamo to promote their beer
  • Planning a brewery that will be ready for future growth
  • How to raise money to start your brewery and selectively choose investors

Go Find Alamo Golden Ale

Alamo Beer Co

Make sure to pick up some Alamo Golden Ale to give back to Eugene for sharing all of the knowledge that he has gained starting up Alamo Beer Company! Here’s some of the links to find out more about Eugene and Alamo.

Links Mentioned in the Podcast:

Alamo Beer Website

Alamo Facebook Fan Page

Spec’s Liquor to Order Alamo Golden Ale

Your Free Audio Book

Like The Podcast?

If you want to get updates on future podcasts and join the amazing MicroBrewr community, you can click the button below.  To try to give back and to show my thanks for joining, I’ll send you a free copy of our “6 Social Media Tools to Get People Talking About Your Beer” e-book.  You rock! Let me know if there’s anything else that I can do for you!

 

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You might also like:

MicroBrewr 019: Marketing a flagship beer with Roswell aliens, with Sierra Blanca Brewing Company in Moriarty, New Mexico.

Support MicroBrewr

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

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Branding and Transforming Your Beer into Art

Branding and Transforming Your Beer Into Art

Logo above designed by DeRouen & Co. 

While we all hope that our beer is good enough to sell itself, there’s a ton of great beer out there.  If no one every tries your beer for the first time, no one will know how great it is.  This is where branding, labeling and packaging can have a huge impact on making your beer stand out from the rest.

For someone who is not familiar with your brewery, picture your new potential fan standing in the craft beer aisle of the liquor store scanning for a beer to try.  Say there’s 250 different types of beer in the aisle and the person spends three minutes looking around.  This gives 3/4 of a second to spend looking at each beer assuming they look at every beer for the same amount of time.  Realistically, the person is going to have a few beers that catch their eye and they’ll spend most of their time checking those out in more detail.  So if you put your beer next to 250 others, does it have that eye catching ability to make people stop and spend more than a second looking at it?

logo_obb

When I was looking for examples of great beer labels to feature, I stumbled across the “Oh Beautiful Beer” blog by Harvey Shepard.  In the blog, Harvey has put together an amazing collection of bottle, can, 6-pack and brewery logo designs that inspire creativity.  He has discovered art in beer form and really shows what an eye-catching design looks like.  Harvey also does graphic design so if you need some outside help to transform your beer or brewery logo into art, you can can get in contact with him at harveyshepard.com.   I wanted to pick his brain about what really makes up a good design and how much of an impact it has to the small brewer.

Some Q&A on What Really Makes a Great Beer Design

What is a common theme that you see in the “beautiful beer” that you put up on your site?

It’s hard to generalize, but some of the most effective beer labels are clean and clear. I think a lot of labels fall flat because they are too complicated. A beer label is a fairly small medium to work with. A lineup of labels with complex illustrations or a lot of small detail can appear muddy on the shelf.

What’s your favorite logo or beer design that you’ve found and why did you like it so much?

I hate to play favorites, but I am completely in love with McGarrah Jessee’s work for Shiner. It is a perfect example of a brand creating an image. The photos, copy and design elements all have the look and feel of a working class beer from a century-old brewery in a tiny Texas town. Their print ads are unique, clever and further drive home their brand with slogans like “Made in Shiner by people made in Shiner,” and “Not new. Not improved.”

As far as consistency goes, their packaging is a bit looser than most, but it works. Each six pack is immediately identifiable and every new release looks fresh and exciting, rather than formulaic.

When you’re looking to develop a logo or beer bottle design for a brewing client, what questions do you usually ask them to get a feel for what to design for them?  Said another way, if a brewer was trying to figure out how to design their own label, how do they go figuring out the identity of their brewery and how to portray that in their branding?

I’m always a fan of the story. I want to hear about how the company came to be and where the brand name came from. It doesn’t work for everyone, but there are some fine examples of brewers successfully using imagery from their professional or personal history.

bige

Check out some of Harvey’s work.

The bicycle in the New Belgium logo roots in founder Jeff Lebesch’s vacation spent biking to various Belgian breweries. The homebrewer returned to Colorado inspired and created the recipe for Fat Tire Amber Ale and eventually a brewery.

When Pretty Things founders Dann and Martha Paquette were first dating, Dann was drawn to a framed piece of embroidery Martha’s grandmother made. He immediately decided that the white tree on a red shield would become the logo for their future brewery.

Every client is different but some questions to consider are: What story do you have to tell? What sets your company apart from your competition? What feeling or message do you want your branding to convey to those who view it?

What aspects do you think are important when considering overall branding for a small brewery?  

Visual consistency across the brand is certainly important. Whether it’s a beer bottle, print ad or coaster, each piece helps reinforce the overall identity. But it’s also very important that you know that your brand is much more than just the visual elements. It’s every way you interact with your audience. It’s every tweet you send and every conversation your staff has with a customer.

How much do you consider tailoring your branding to the potential demographics of the customers (if at all)?

Knowing your target audience is certainly an important part of the design process. If you want to sell your product, you need to know who is going to buy it and how to reach them.

How big of an influence do you think that branding has on overall beer sales?  

For better or worse, packaging plays an important role in products we buy and beer is no exception. With more than 15,000 breweries worldwide, each needs to separate themselves from the crowd in any and every way possible. Design is a very effective means to do just that. More often than not, a beer label is the first way a consumer interacts with the brand.

There are plenty of stores with enormous amounts of shelf space dedicated to beer. If I’m staring at seemingly thousands of beers on a shelf, I’m not likely to pick up a beer I’ve never tried unless the packaging piques my interest. Of course, I’m not going to continue buying that beer unless I’m happy with the contents, but the packaging gets the foot in the door. The brand with the unprofessional design is going to stay on the shelf, no matter how good the product might be.

Join the Community

Next week, I’ll be putting out a step-by-step guide on how to work through the financials for your brewery’s business plan.  To get updates on when this and other content comes out, make sure to connect with me by clicking the button below.  As my thank you for joining the community, I’ll send you the 6 Free Social Media Tools To Get People Talking About Your Beer e-book for free.

 

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How Small Craft Brewers Continue to Dominate the Corporate Giants

It’s a beautiful thing that we’ve been seeing over the last few years.  More and more craft breweries are opening their doors throughout America (and actually a number of other countries) providing thirsty customers with a number of new choices.  While total US beer sales are about flat, the craft brewing industry continues to see double digit growth in total volume and sales dollars.  From the Brewers Association, in 2012 the craft beer industry grew by 15% in total volume and 17% in retail sales dollars.  While experiencing all this expansion, the craft beer market still only represents 6.6% of total beer sales in the US leaving much more room for growth.  To fuel all this new demand, microbreweries and brewpubs have been popping up all over the place.  In 2011, there were a total of 1970 craft breweries which has increased to 2483 as of June 2013.  While updated data isn’t yet available for all of 2013 from the Brewers Association, the industry doesn’t appear to be slowing down yet.  This all begs the question, how are a bunch of small breweries stealing market share from the corporate giants that have dominated the beer market for years and have all the connections, funding and advertising that we don’t?

Key Drivers of the Craft Beer Movement

There are a number of factors that are causing the explosion in the craft beer industry that we will cover and probably even more that we won’t touch on.  Here are a few of the major drivers that are currently fueling the craft beer movement:

Home Brewing a Whisky Barrel Stout

Home brewing is a gateway into craft beer:  Home brewing continues to grow and this community is going to be one of the most enthusiastic supporters of your microbrewery or brewpub.  They are educated in what quality beer is and are some of the leaders in the pack in helping to promote your brewery.  Their friends look to them for what breweries make “good” beer.  Home brewing forums are insanely popular and getting this pack on your side is vital to the success of your brewery.  Owners like Seth from Bull City Brewery realize this and try to give back to the community of home brewers by holding home brewing competitions and classes to help educate home brewers to make better beer (see the article with Seth on creative ways to promote your brewery).

Expanding education and tastes for craft beer:  We owe this to some of the trailblazers in the industry who helped to educate the public and slowly get the population used to drinking beers that were different than the bland types offered by the consolidated beer industry.  As craft beer becomes more main stream, customers are continuing to demand a greater variety of beers and willingness to experiment with new types of brews.  Those breweries that do a better job of educating people on the different styles of craft beer will put themselves ahead of the pack.  For the craft beer industry to continue to grow, we either have to keep robbing market share from the big breweries or bring “non-beer drinkers” into the mix.  Tours are a great place for this but so is educating new customers at the bar or at the table of your brewpub.  Take every chance you can to give the history of the beer, how it’s brewed, where the ingredients are from and everything else in between.  The better that you can educate those not as familiar with craft beer, the more loyal customers you’ll have for your brewery.

Greater consideration to what’s in your food and drink:  In recent years, the country has seen an increased focus on our diets and where our food comes from.  One only has to look at the rise of healthier food stores like Whole Foods or organic food producers like Annie’s.  People are generally moving away from more processed foods from the big competitors to smaller, more natural diets.  Since people increasingly want to know where their food and drink come from, make sure that you’re telling that story.  What area of the country did your hops come from? What specialty grains or other ingredients make up the beer?  Could you bring out examples of the malted barley used to let your fans feel, taste and smell what makes up their beer?  By involving your customers with the ingredients that make up the beer, it builds a connection with that person and helps put you ahead of the big breweries.  In the coming weeks, we’ll have a podcast with Sarah from Adelbert’s Brewery in Austin, TX talking about the power of teaching about your beer.  One quote I loved from Sarah was “People come into our brewery tour liking our beer but once they get to hear our story, they leave loving our beer.”

Increased movement of buying from the local community:  Tying into the last point, communities are coming together to support their local businesses.  They like knowing where the products they buy are coming from and like knowing the story behind the beer.  To really hit on this point, your community needs to see the people behind the beer.  People don’t like supporting brands or corporations, they like supporting people.  Hiding in the back room all day brewing does not help your potential customers make that connection.  In our podcast with Mayday Brewery, Ozzy talked about the importance of putting yourself out there and being the face of your brewery.  Tell your story and how you got into brewing.  Social media and new apps like UnTappd allow you to expand your reach and share your story.  Make people feel like they know you even if they’ve only met you through social media.

It’s More Than Just About the Beer…

One thing to notice about the list above is that there’s so much more to the craft beer movement than just the beer.  If you really want to succeed, you can’t just count of brewing a quality beer and hope that the “beer sells itself”.  On the other side of the fence, if you are not brewing quality beer and just got into the brewing industry to try to make some money by riding the trend, you will fail.  The 90’s saw a rapid period of expansion in the craft brewing scene that fizzled out by the end of the decade.  One of the most common reasons cited is that many breweries popped up that just didn’t put out good beer.  Those breweries are long gone and I hope we learn from the mistakes of the past.  We’ll just say that quality is a given and if you’re having issues with quality, you’re getting the help you need to get there.

The breweries who can build personal connections with their community and home brewers, educate people new to the craft beer industry, show the local side of their beer and share the ingredients that make it up will be those that really make themselves stand out from the crowd.  While the craft brewing industry continues to accelerate, this cannot continue forever.  Now is the time to set your brewery apart and build that loyal fan base that will support you when the industry slows down.

As we go forward, I’ll have other articles and podcasts building on these key driving forces and how you can hit on them through different parts of the business.  Next week, I’ll be covering the power of branding with Harvey Shepard from Oh Beautiful Beer.  I’ll also be launching our second podcast with Eugene from Alamo Beer Company where we’ll be talking about his unique way of building his brand around one flagship beer.  To be the first one to know when we launch new content, make sure to sign up for the mailing list below.  Thank you so much for reading and see you next time!

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MicroBrewr 001: Setting Your Brewery Apart and the Beauty of Jorts w/ Mayday Brewery

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, we can dig in to see what’s working and what mistakes to avoid when planning to start or running your craft brewery.  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 craft beer industry and all of the awesome people who make it up.  If you have any suggestions or a great story you think we should share, send me a message and let’s talk!  Sit back, grab your favorite craft beer and let’s have some fun!    

Setting Yourself Apart with Mayday Brewery

In our first podcast, I had a blast talking with Ozzy Nelson from Mayday Brewery.  One of first things that really made me want to talk to Ozzy is stumbling across a couple of videos that they had done to promote the opening of their brewery and a Chicken and Jorts event (if you don’t know what jorts are we’ll explain in the podcast).  You can tell that they are really having fun at the brewery and sets the tone for anyone visiting Mayday.

In this episode we’ll talk about:

  • How to raise money for your brewery
  • Picking a location and a unique way to get funding
  • Using social media to promote your brewery
  • How to get food for your customers without having a kitchen on site
  • How to book and attract bands on a limited budget
  • Putting yourself out there and building a personal relationship with your fans

Check Out Mayday Brewery

We’re all in this craft beer movement together so if you’re in the Tennessee area, make sure to check out and support a great small business in your community!  Here’s some of the links to find out more about Mayday Brewery.  Don’t forget to check out a couple of videos from Mayday which are great.

Links Mentioned in the Podcast:

Mayday Brewery Facebook Page

Mayday Twitter Page

Mayday Website

Pilot Videos for Mayday

Chicken and Jorts Promotion

DME Brewing Equipment

Your Free Audio Book

Like The Podcast?

If you want to get updates on future podcasts and join the amazing MicroBrewr community, you can click the button below. To try to give back and to show my thanks for joining, I’ll send you a free copy of our “6 Social Media Tools to Get People Talking About Your Beer” e-book.  You rock! Let me know if there’s anything else that I can do for you!

 

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And Finally… A Couple of Videos For Your Enjoyment

Mayday Brewery Promo Video by Storyville USA from Ozzy Nelson on Vimeo.

 

HC&JS promo #3 from Mayday Brewery on Vimeo.

Support MicroBrewr

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

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61 Brewers Speak Out: What I Wish I’d Known Before Starting a Brewery

So remember that first time when you said, “I think I want to start a brewery”!  After all of those experiences of getting the brewery up and running, if you could travel back in time and tell yourself some advice, what would it be?  At MicroBrewer, we wanted to know and thought that you might too so we asked craft brewery owners the following question:

What do you wish you had known before starting your brewery?

The responses were awesome and really reflected how amazing the craft brewery community is!  After reading through all of the responses, we started to see some major trends so we’ve put the responses into major categories.  At MicroBrewr, we’ll be focusing more on each of the topics below in future blog posts and podcasts so if you haven’t yet, make sure to sign up for our mailing list in the box below!

 

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Plan For Expansions From the Start

What’s one of the most common responses that we got?  People loving their beer too much!  Planning for expansions from the start is key… especially with how quickly the craft beer industry is growing!

Derek from 192 Brewing

I am still amazed at how fast we are growing, so I think that if I had seriously known how fast the growth was going to take place, I might have spent a little more time researching “next steps” in the growth process. I assumed I would be able to grow at a slow comfortable pace, but there is too much demand to let pass by, so the hours are much longer than expected to try our best to keep up with the next immediate needs of the business, and that tends to be the only focus for about 6 months out of the year. It can be a constant rat race to get the projects done just in time for them to be already behind production needs upon completion. This also causes a lot of stress on the team, even for those that also see the potential for the constant growth. A larger brewing system is a next step that looms over our heads at the moment, and will require a change of location for that operation.

Lynn from Great Storm Brewing

I wish we’d known how much our wonderful customers would love our beer; we should have started with a bigger system!  We’re small, we only have a one barrel now and are working on getting a 10 barrel system in the next year or two.

Hear Great Storm Brewing on MicroBrewr Podcast 054.

Myles from Borderlands Brewing

People are thirsty!  We started with a 3 barrel brewhouse, and that barely made enough beer to keep our tap room stocked.  And the tap room was only open two days a week.  We recently upgraded to a 20 barrel system, and we’re already planning the next expansion!

Hear Borderlands Brewing on MicroBrewr Podcast 030.

Brett from Dust Bowl Brewing Company

I would have built a larger infrastructure at the outset. We’ve expanded the operation and reached capacity production three times since we started brewing in 2009.  We’ve now maximized what we can fit in the footprint of our current building. We are in the process of relocating to a new location. Our new site will, of course, have room to grow, so at least we’ve learned!

Hear Dust Bowl Brewing Company on MicroBrewr Podcast 027.

Mark from Missouri Breaks Brewing

I think the single biggest thing was that I thought too small. Our kettles are 220 gallons so we do 5 barrels at a time…but we started with a 40 gallon kettle.   Yes, 40 gallons, then went to 55 and then to 220….

We actually drank out of beer opening day and had to close for 2 weeks!  A lot of this is that we just threw “a few bucks” together and started brewing.  I am the local doc in town so I have another job!  I taught my daughter how to brew and she is great at it.  I guess I should have thought if I am going to do this, just make the investment and do it.  We are still growing and have the next step soon.

Barry from Pug Ryan’s

When we began the brewery addition to our steakhouse in 1997, we never imagined that our 15 bbl brew house with four 15 bbl  fermentors and four 15 bbl brite tanks could possibly ever max out. I wish I had known more about the culture surrounding the Craft Beer industry and how much Craft Beer was about to explode. I also wish I had more insight into the physical plant size needed to manage growth opportunities. This perhaps would have helped dictate the size of our brewery from the beginning and aided in the  timing and scope of the expansion we completed two years ago.

Peter from Miami Brewing Co

I wish I had planned better for the size of it all. You think you plan it right and have enough space and capacity for all that you’re going to need, but once you start you realize you need more.

The Owners from Birdsong Brewing Company

We wish we knew about the small stuff before starting a brewery! Things we didn’t realize we should know, like how to pour concrete, would have been so helpful during the initial construction process and as we’ve continued to expand. One big element we didn’t really foresee throughout the years has been how successful our tap room is since we’ve opened. Charlotte’s beer scene has grown dramatically over the last few years, so we probably would have made our tap room more spacious. Our consideration of our growing customer base was underestimated; people like us a lot more than we ever realized!

Hear Birdsong Brewing Company on MicroBrewr Podcast 017.

Patty from Pecan Street Brewing

We underestimated the capacity of the brewing system we would need and also underestimated the amount of cooling space and space in general for the brewing area.   So, I guess you can say that we wish we had planned and built a larger brewing capacity and more cold storage.

Hear Pecan Street Brewing on MicroBrewr Podcast 023.

Tom from Yards Brewing Company

I wish I had had a better sense of what the craft beer industry would become when I first started. Back then, I don’t think anyone expected it to be what it is today. Now Yards has the ability to grow and adapt with the industry as it continues to progress, but at the time I may have made some different decisions, had I had a better picture of the potential for innovation and success down the line.

Hear Yards Brewing Company on MicroBrewr Podcast 015.

Brian from BAD Brewing Company

I guess the main thing that I wish I knew getting into the brewing industry would have been the demand.  When we started over a year ago, we were operating a very small 1/2 bbl system and actually ran out of beer after just a month. Since then we have upgraded to a bigger system to meet the demand, which is still tough due to the growing popularity in craft beer.  So it would have been nice to know in advance that we would be selling as much beer as we do.  Not a bad problem, but problematic.

Eugene from Alamo Beer Co

This is a good question… however I changed it and asked folks at the 30 breweries I toured before starting on my own:  “If you had it to do over again, what would you have done differently?” Wow… the things you can learn from others who have been there and done that.  Our brewery is fully planned on paper to reach our goal of 40,000BBL/Yr production.  Each tank location, warehousing, cooler, etc is all down on paper and pre-planned.  There are a lot of dashed lines on our plan that represents the future.

Hear Alamo Beer Co on MicroBrewr Podcast 002.

Costs to Running a Brewery and Time Required Will Be More Than You Plan On

You know that budget you planned on and the amount of time that you think you’ll have to put into the brewery?  Well, you might want to increase those numbers a bit… maybe a lot!

Devin from 7venth Sun Brewing

Before we got started we did a lot of research on what to anticipate from seasoned veterans in the industry.  All of them said that we should plan for everything to take twice as long and cost three times as much.  We approached our plan with this in mind and they were certainly right.  We planned for it to take twice as long and cost three times as much and it still took twice as long as that. We ended up completing our buildout and our small expansion just in the nick of time and we consider ourselves very lucky to be where we are.

Hear 7venth Sun Brewing on MicroBrewr Podcast 021.

Scott from Adelbert’s Brewery

Overall, I have been fairly lucky because I did a lot research and worked with a brewery consultant before opening, which helped prepare me for a lot. The things that I wish I knew about ahead are construction costs and time commitments. They are always a lot more than what you expect. Take your worst case estimate of them and double it then you might be close.

Hear Adelbert’s Brewery on MicroBrewr Podcast 003.

Adrian from Eastern Shore Brewing

I wish I would have known…..man so many things.  My biggest pieces of advice are:  1) Take you budget and double it. Contractors will always find things that you and they missed in the plans and walk throughs.  2) Take your time line and triple it. Govt shutdowns, licensing, regulations, zoning….these are all done on other peoples schedules.

Mark from Atwater Brewery

I wish that I would have known the complexity of the 3 tier distribution system better prior to deciding what beers to launch, along with a better understanding of the chain network.  We purchased an existing brewery so we would have liked to have known the amount of additional money it was going to take to get the equipment into top shape.  Like any business it is the unknowns that are most difficult in the beginning and that is why sufficient working capital is essential.

Carolyn from Flossmoor Station Brewing Company

Our desire in opening a brewpub was to provide a warm and friendly community pub environment that brewed exceptional beer.  Having no prior brewery experience we had no idea the set up would be so complicated or that the financial commitment so big!

Ted from Brewers Union Local 180

I wish I had known more about the particular property that I was going to install the pub and brewery in. A better and more careful inspection would have given me a better idea of the cost of the build-out.

Hear Brewers Union Local 180 on MicroBrewer Podcast 024.

Tony from Pagosa Brewery

EVERYTHING!  More specifically… How quickly labor costs can rise. To achieve our proper level of service, high-quality food & award-winning beer, labor has become more expensive than anticipated.

Ken from Nexus Brewery

First thing I thought about was “I wish I would have been aware of all the challenges we were up against in redoing an old warehouse. Our architect and contractor continuously ran into obstacles that delayed construction an increased costs”.

I also wish that I would have known exactly how consumers would react to being the new kid in town on the beer scene. The beer geeks were nice and rolled through at the beginning. The interesting thing was there was a big demand for the menu which we did not know would take off like it did. We transformed from a brewery tap room with some good food to a full blown restaurant. Not complaining but my business plan was blown out of the water within 12 months.

Nick from Opposition Brewing Company

As a nano operation, it is critical for us to keep costs and overhead as low as possible while pouring every bit of revenue back into the business. To do any less would result in a lack in ability to grow the business and lead to ultimate failure. That said, while I fully acknowledged this fact prior to opening, I didn’t have a true realization as to what this would mean for me and my partners. We have been working 12 hour days, 7 days a week, for little to no pay for the past year and a half. Don’t get me wrong, it’s paying off and we’re on track to expand into a 7bbl system in the next 12 months, and the work has been vastly rewarding – we love coming to work every day – but it’s been a hard road. But you know what they say… nothing worth doing is ever easy!!

Hear Opposition Brewing Company on MicroBrewr Podcast 016.

Mike from Revolution Brewing

I wish I’d known the high cost of licenses, taxes, fees, bonds, insurance… nothing to do with brewing and everything to do with brewing business.  Also, the reality of the cleaning chemicals… The awesome reality of cleaning chemicals…

Cathy from Philipsburg Brewing Company

We wish some one would of told us how many hours it takes to get a brewery up and running and how complex the whole business is.

Hear Philipsburg Brewing Company on MicroBrewr Podcast 020.

Brian from Bard’s Tale Beer Company

Bard’s Tale Beer Company is a gluten-free brewer that chose to utilize a contract brewer rather than build our own brewery.  Our objective was nationwide distribution of a specialty beer.   As such our capacity needs would increase rapidly over a relatively short period of time as we added distribution.  There is excess brewing capacity so we felt we could partner with a premier brewer to produce our beer and devote our human resources and capital to sales and marketing instead of a brewery.

Looking back, we could have raised more capital.  We don’t control the brewery so our flexibility is somewhat limited in terms of pilot brews, etc.  And finally, the brewing business is very competitive for wholesale distribution and retail shelf space.  You cannot rest.

Mark from Aviator Brewing Company

Get plenty of credit cards, prepare for no sleep, drink more beer than you thought humanly possible.

Hear Aviator Brewing Company on MicroBrewr Podcast 075.

Permitting and Other Legal Issues Are Complicated And Take Time

One of the unfortunate realities with our beautiful industry is that it is highly regulated which can cause multiple road blocks through the process.

Seth from Bull City Burger and Brewery

Even with two other operating breweries in my city prior to my opening, many of the city inspectors, officials, etc. had no idea or understanding of what a brewery was or how it operated and that created some resistance and hurdles requiring explanation on my part to teach our inspectors how we operate. Some people assumed the worst or had preconceived notions.

Finding local professionals to assist with installation.  It’s not like most of the local HVAC/Plumbers/Electricians have done tons of these and it’s a cinch. Again, I had to educate myself in some areas in order to tell them what they had to do to meet code or to make something functional in a brewery.

Hear Bull City Burger & Brewery on MicroBrewr Podcast 076.

3 Stars Brewery

I would say that before opening the brewery, it would have been beneficial to have a better understanding of the lengthy drawn out process of permitting for construction and a more accurate understanding on the timeline for build out would have been useful. These were two items that having further clarity on would have helped ease the process a bit.

Ozzy from Mayday Brewery

How to handle effluent. I knew that effluent would be a big deal, but I didn’t know (and still don’t know) all that I need to know about treating waste water before we send it to the sewer. Another huge thing would be determining yeast health after harvesting and before repitching.

Hear Mayday Brewery on MicroBrewr Podcast 001.

Rich from Bridge and Tunnel Brewery

In terms of other brick walls that I’ve hit, I wish I had known how convoluted the zoning regulations in New York City are when it comes to breweries. I’m not saying that it would have halted my efforts to get up and running, but it’s been the cause of a fair amount of wheel spinning in trying to get out of the 150 square foot space that I currently am brewing in. On a physical basis – I wish that I had better welding skills. If I was able to weld stainless, I’d probably be half way to a bigger system by now.

Ryan from Gunpowder Falls Brewing

Before starting the brewery, it would have been great to know everything that is regulated by the many state and federal government entities. A couple of million dollars would have been nice too!

Jennifer from No Label Brewing Company

We wish we would have known at the beginning that starting a brewery is a waiting game. You’re waiting on permits, etc. that’s out of your control. It’s hard to let go and just wait.  We all have learned how to be patient so maybe it wasn’t all that bad. Starting a brewery takes TIME if you want to do things right. We are now in our 3rd year of brewing and have come to understand how everything works.

We also wish we knew how much money it really takes to start a brewery. Things break, a batch doesn’t turn out right, etc. These extra costs need to be planned as much as possible going into starting a brewery. There will always be surprises when running a brewery. It’s important to roll with the punches.

Douglas from Societe Brewing

The one thing I wish I had known before was “how truly difficult the licensing process is”.

Stephen from Arkose Brewery

We wish we had known how long the approval process took for getting a brewery permit.  We would have started the paperwork process much earlier.

Robert from Reads Landing Brewing Company

I wish I had known how difficult it would be to deal with the federal and state governments regarding regulation of brewers permit application process.  It wasn’t so much the paperwork, it is dealing with representatives from both.  The fed and state both lost my applications and paperwork, pushing my approvals back at least 4 months.  My state permits were also held up during the great state government shutdown of 2012.

Opening A Brewery is More than Just Brewing Beer… Get Ready For Administrative Work!

Think that opening a brewery means that you can just brew all day?  There’s a lot of administrative work that goes into running a brewery!

Landon from Bitter Esters Brewhouse

I wish I would have known how to properly interview employees and know how many employees I would need to keep our facility in operation.  I am getting really good at it now but after tons of turnover we have a great staff.  We are a mostly seasonal town in Custer and I have to hire many people every single year and its really quite hard to do.

Todd from Boulder Dam Brewing Co. 

If I had known how much administrative work I would be doing, I would have built a bigger office inside the brewpub!

Hear Boulder Dam Brewing Co. on MicroBrewr Podcast 034.

Josh From Huske Hardware Brewing Company

I wish I knew how to brew beer!  LOL.  I am a recently retired Veteran and have been around the world more than a few times.  I consider myself a True Beer Geek/Connoisseur……but it would also be nice to actually brew what we make.  I enjoy the hands on aspect of our business in working with people, but I lack the technical skills so I have simply hired folks smarter than me in their respective trades.  This has worked well – Jack of many trades – master of none…

Michael from Iron Springs Pub and Brewery

Honestly, I had so many years of experience behind me I really knew exactly what I was getting myself into.  I think the biggest thing I wish I knew, was how well my back was going to hold up-which is not great.  Soon after we opened the pub I went through a series of back surgeries which forced me to focus my energies else where in the business, and less on the physical part, which is the brewing part.  So I had to sort of re-invent my roll at the pub.  At the end of the day, it all worked out for the best.  Also, because we came from out of state I guess I would have to say, I wish we had known more of a network base out here.  We had a little, but it took awhile to establish ourselves with all our contractors, purveyors, and employees.

Heather from Selin’s Grove Brewing

I wish we knew more about personnel & restaurant management. Also I wish we put in better quality flooring & drain materials in the brewery from the start.

Nigel from Horsefly Brewing

I wish I knew how much taxes take away from the ability to re-invest in my business. All the government regulations and paperwork are a hindrance as well.

Hear Horsefly Brewing on MicroBrewr Podcast 018.

Running Brewpub is Opening a Restaurant that Sells Beer That Was Brewed There

Thinking of opening a brewpub?  Realize that you’re really opening a restaurant that also brews its own beer on site so doing a lot of research on restaurant management is key.

John from Adirondack Brewery

I wish I paid mote attention when I was in High School! I was more concerned with how cute my lab partner was.  Also opening a Brew Pub at the same time made me wish I knew more about the workings of a busy restaurant. I thought I was opening a Brew Pub, when I was really opening a Restaurant that sold beer that was brewed there.

Jim from Island Hoppin Brewery

I wish I had known just how much more was involved in running a microbrewery than simply making beer.  Writing about it is very nostalgic because I don’t write a journal and it is forcing me to look back on a timespan that has been one of the best times of my life.   The brewery has been a massive step for me in learning how to be a better business owner and person in general. Because, I guess, another answer to your question would be that ” I could never foresee that the brewery would become my whole life”

Jack from Fort George Brewery

Okay, I guess getting advice and listening to advice are two different things. I was told by many folks that being a brewer and running a brewpub are two entirely different occupations. It took me a couple of years to realize that I couldn’t brew, cook, wash dishes, wait tables and open/close the pub while I was running the pub. It is good to stay involved and know what is going on and do the work that nobody else likes to do, but you have to make time to meet and greet customers, schmooze city officials and keep the books in order as well.

Kevin from Mountain Sun Pub and Brewery

I own a brewpub and we are basically restaurants.  What I wish I had know before starting would be how to manage a restaurant better!

 

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Talk To Other Brewers in Your Area and Do Your Research

Like no other industry, members of the craft brewing community are so generous to share their advice on how to success (like in this post!).  Talk to everyone you can and be ready to take notes!

Greg from Sleeping Lady Brewing Co

The biggest thing to understand in any brewery is that something is always about to go wrong. However, I know that when I began brewing, I didn’t truly understand how gracious the brewing industry can be. Many brewers are in direct competition with each other yet we tend to drink (and appreciate) the beers that our friends are making. Brewers tend to help each other out with things like advice, ingredients, and man power. It’s like no other industry I’ve ever seen. I feel fortunate to be where I am and I love our industry.

Grant from 3 Sheeps Brewing

Brewing as a manufacturing process is relatively easy.  Then comes bottling.  You now have multiple machines with multiple moving parts, some pretty tech-heavy computers (depending on how quickly you are trying to bottle and how low you want your oxygen levels), heavy demands on air, CO2, and electricity, and a good chance that things are going to break or wear out.  To consistently run a bottling line takes skill, and unless a person has this experience, there will be a learning curve involved.  It took us longer to get our bottling line running than I anticipated.  We have learned a lot since that first run.  I believe we now are very capable of making sure that our bottling line continues to run and puts out very high quality product.  If I could have picked up some of these skills before though, it may have been a much easier journey to get to this point.

Hear 3 Sheeps Brewing on MicroBrewr Podcast 004.

Nate From Justice Brewing

The one thing I wish I had known more than anything else was utilizing more efficient means of water heating and putting in much larger electrical capacity. We’re only a small scale nano right now, but we could’ve saved a lot of space and time by going with tankless water heaters over a gas fired hot liquor tank. Didn’t know about them until it was too late.  Second, I wish I had known how volatile some suppliers are and that prices fluctuate a ton. We’ve gone through 3 different bottle suppliers due to skyrocketing prices through some, we finally found a good consistent supply at a decent price. It’s really hard for us small guys that only use about a pallet of bottles a month.

Ken from Rust Belt Brewing

Simple answer, how distribution works and ways to motivate your distributor to move your product.

Scott from Thr3e Wise Men Brewing Co

I had been running 8 restaurants before I opened my brewery, so I was expecting most of the “issues” that maybe a 1st time owner wouldn’t expect.  I’m not a brewer, I hired one, so I even knew what to expect out of that relationship.

I’d say the most important thing would be to know the equipment manufacturer that you buy from – make sure you trust them and that they do good work.  We bought equipment for our brewery in Indiana from a vendor in California.  There were problems with installation and follow up on issues when equipment broke down that someone a little closer may have helped more.   It is just good to do a lot of research and not try to “save money” on the expense that is driving your business success.

Ben from Atlas Brewing Company

One thing that would have done me a lot of good if I had known it before I started brewing at Atlas is that most new breweries take some time to dial in their recipes. I experienced a lot of stress worrying about minor imperfections in our procedures early on. Since then, I’ve observed many newer breweries start up, and it seems pretty much universal that brewers take a few batches to figure out the ins and outs of any new brewing system.

Chris from Holy City Brewing

I had a few years to plan and think about how I wanted to open HCB. I went to school, got a job with a brewery, and tried to prepare myself for what I wanted to do. There are things that I have learned along the way, but the advice I normally give to people when they say they are trying to open a brewery is either get a job somewhere or hire a brewer. While its a fun job, it’s also a business and jumping from a hobby to something professional takes some planning and time.

A better understanding of our market would have been nice. We underestimated the amount of kegs off the bat, and had to come up with a lot more money quickly to keep up with demand.  Other than that, I feel like working in a brewery prepared me for what to expect when it comes to the amount of time and manual labor that is involved.

Jeremy from Shmaltz Brewing Company

When I started Shmaltz Brewing 17 years ago, I asked as many people as I could find a ton of questions – over and over! And I still didn’t do nearly enough research about the beer business. Even as a contract brewer for so many years, just wrapping my brain around the distribution and sales and marketing side of the biz took many years – and I’m still learning! I tell all the new brewery folks to take a long deep breath and ask even more questions and take even more time than you’d ever think necessary so you’ll be as prepared as possible for the wild ride ahead. And then go sell beer – every day – over and over. And have a ball – Welcome to the show!

Tom from Ambacht Brewing

One of my favorite quotes (I have quite a few favorites, one for every occasion!): Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.  I came into the brewery business by the back door: I was looking for work and not having much success, so I volunteered to help the brewer at a microbrewery down the street. A few months later, the owner sold the building, land, & business (this was the height of the real estate boom). The new owners did not want the equipment, being a synagog and all. So I bought the equipment from them and then spent a year looking for a location. Then started making some beer, dumping some beer. Eventually figured out what was wrong (can you say sanitation?).  Now we make super-clean beer that we bottle condition with honey and has a 2-year shelf life!  So here I am five years later, hoping to pay myself something this year.

 

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The Journey Is Half of The Reward of Starting the Brewery

And now, some inspiration!  You’ll never know everything and after awhile you’ve just got to take the plunge.  After all, what would be better than telling your friends you brew beer for a living.  Go for it!

Tim from Arcadia Brewing Company

I wish I knew just how much fun and rewarding becoming a Craft Brewer would be, and I would’ve left that perfectly good paying job about 5 years earlier.

Jeff from Black Star Co-op Pub and Brewery

I believe that if you’re truly into your idea and work relentlessly at it, you’ll get what you need to know when you need to know it.

Hear Black Star Co-op Pub and Brewery on MicroBrewr Podcast 047.

David from Abita Brewing Co

Well that is a dangerous game to play.  If you changed anything, would we be where we are today?  I will take what we have now and know I have learned valuable lessons on this path.

Andy from Blackrocks Brewery

Can’t think of anything of the top of our heads.  The stuff you don’t know becomes part of the journey.  It’s better to roll with it, realize you don’t know everything, learn, and enjoy the ride.

Mike from Founders Brewing Co

Don’t build you brewery around market trends.  Instead, listen to your inner passion.

Danny from CAUTION: Brewing Company

I honestly wouldn’t have changed a thing. I think being a brewery that have thrown caution to the wind, we’ve done many things that we did successfully because we didn’t know any better. The only things we knew going in was the existence of an amazing community brewers, killer beers, and support from our local communities. I believe that was all that we needed to get going and keep us going.

Erich from Studio Brew

When the excitement becomes a desire which turns into passion; brewing a craft beer for the first time is pure nirvana.  Hold your glass up and look into it. If you see the future then you will understand the opportunity you just created.  No one told me this, I experienced it myself.  I have had so many people express their thoughts along the way.

Many told me what I needed to do only one told me what NOT to do which was the best insight.  “Never believe you can build a brewery with just a good beer.”  For what it is worth, I have people come up and talk with me about their dream of starting a brewery.  Sadly I rarely hear them use the words “business and/or profit”.

Hear Studio Brew on MicroBrewr Podcast 025.

Samantha from Steven’s Point Brewery

We wish we’d known A LOT of things before starting our brewery, but everything that has happened over the last 157 years has ultimately led us to where we are today.

We wish we would have known: How many houses would build up around our original Brewery. We should have bought the whole block!!!  That prohibition was coming!!  That IPAs would become SO POPULAR!  About Hard Cider!  How many craft breweries would eventually exist.   How devastating the upcoming wars would be.  How well our brewery would stand the test of time.  That Point Special would be our #1 seller for 157 years.

So What Do You Think?

So was there any advice that really stuck with you?  Did I miss anything?  I’d love to hear what your comment on the question: What do you wish you had known before starting your brewery?  If you’re thinking of starting a brewery, what’s the main questions that are on your mind?

These comments will help shape the future posts and podcasts that I’ll be putting on MicroBrewr in the future.  After all, I love to give back to this amazing community as much as I can!  So go grab a local brew and lets keep pushing the craft beer movement forward!

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Do Your Fans Love You Enough To Get a Tattoo of Your Brewery? Creative Ways To Promote Your Brewery For Free!

As of the time of this publishing, there are over 2700 different craft breweries in operation and another 1700 in planning.  With all of these craft breweries out there, how do you make your brewery stand out?  Even if your beer is freaking awesome, there’s a lot of other freaking awesome beers out there too.  So I guess then you’re just going to have to advertise more than the next microbrewery to get the word out.  Oh wait, you don’t have $250 million to spend on Super Bowl ads like Anheuser-Busch has over the last 10 years?   If you’re like most craft breweries, you probably are under-capitalized (meaning you don’t have a lot of cash laying around) and don’t have much of a budget at all for advertising.  Alright, we’re going to have to get a little creative at how to promote your brewery!

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Bull City Brewery and Loads of Creative Ideas To Promote Your Brewery

Like most of the articles and podcasts for the site, I want to feature amazing breweries who are doing great things for the craft beer industry.  While looking for people who are using creative ways to promote their brewery, I stumbled across Bull City Burgers and Brewery.  After seeing all that they were doing, I knew that I had to get in contact with the owner of the brewery, Seth.  They are doing too many great things on promoting their brewery to list here but I want to cover a few that I thought were unique and why they are so effective.

The Tattoo PromiseBeccaD.Tattoo.IMG_1605

This one blew me away. Seth set up an offer called the “Tattoo Promise” where if you get a tattoo of one of three selected Bull City logos, you get 26% off of your food orders for life (laws in NC don’t allow them to apply this to their beer).  What could be a better testament to your brewery than someone branding themselves for life with your logo?  To date, they have had six different fans get the tattoo and for some of the people, this was actually their first tattoo.  I’m guessing that once they got the tattoo, they made sure to tell their friends about it which is free advertising for the brewery.  Bull City has the wall of fame of people who have bravely branded themselves with the tattoo which is posted on their website.  From a potential customer’s perspective,  seeing the wall of fame shows that this place must really be great for fans to do that.  For the small cost of giving the discount on food, I think this could be an excellent idea to promote your brewery (if your fans truly love you enough to actually get the tattoo).  And really, if your fans are this passionate about you, they probably deserve a discount anyways!

Home Brewing Competition

Every fall, Seth hosts a home brewing competition at the brewery.  About 50 people bring in their home brewed beer which the staff at Bull City judges.  The winner of the competition actually gets their beer brewed full scale at Bull City.  This is another genius way to promote your brewery because you are developing a relationship with home brewers who are already craft beer enthusiasts.  In business terms, these are the “early adopters” who will promote your brewery to all their friends who don’t know as much about craft beer.  For the home brewer who wins, what could be cooler than seeing your beer available at the tap for all of your friends?  Seth is also very big on giving back to the great craft brewing community.  Seth uses this competition to help the home brewers improve their beers and take their brews to the next level.

Listen to: Bull City Burger And Brewery on MicroBrewr Podcast 076

The Golden Bull Treasure Hunt

Every spring, Seth hides 5 golden bulls throughout Durham and for each one that is found, the person gets a free burger, fries and soft drink every week for a year.  Think of it like a modern day version of Willy Wonka.  Every day, new clues are posted on where to find the golden bulls.  One thing that I loved about this promotion is the thought that Seth put into where the clues would lead people hunting for the bull.  Seth leads bull hunters to other locally owned shops and restaurants in the community to increase their exposure .  The bull hunt has really taken off and Seth has actually had Duke professors email him that most of their class is gone out hunting for the bull.  Like the rest of their promotions, the costs of giving away a free burger every week is really small for all of the word-of-mouth promotion that they get from the event.

The Beer 1001 Course and Brewery Tourdsc_0768

I’m going to be putting together a full article on this topic in the future because I believe it is so important.  We’re still waiting for the updated 2013 data but in 2012, craft beer sales were 6.6% of the total US beer market by volume.  Even with all of this growth, there’s still a huge market share out there and the other 93.4% of beer drinkers (and non-beer drinkers) are where the new growth is going to come from.  Educating the non-craft beer drinkers on the amazingness of a more robust beer is the way that we can continue to get more people transitioned over.  Seth offers a Beer 1001 course which is typically about 50% people that are new to craft beer.  Seth provides enough technical information to keep home brewers in the course happy while also introducing those fresh into the craft beer world.  Seth also makes sure to give the history of each type of beer on his tour and build a personal connection with those people on the tour.  Remember that people may really like your beer but they become loyal fans from the people and the message behind the beer.

There are a number of other great things that they’ve got going on and I encourage you to check out the Bull City Burgers and Brewery website for more information.  Also, if you’re in North Carolina, make sure to stop by and support Seth since he is the type of person who really makes this industry great.

We’re All in This Together

Like all of the great things that Seth is doing to bring more people into the craft beer world, the continued growth of the industry is up to everyone in this amazing movement.  While we don’t have huge advertising budgets we do have extremely creative people to get the word out.  I’d love to know the creative ways that you have used to help promote brewery and introduce people to craft beer!  You can use the comments section below to share your story or feel free to contact me personally here.

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MicroBrewr 000: Welcome to MicroBrewr Podcast.

MicroBrewr 000: Welcome to MicroBrewr Podcast

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 you ever wondered what it’s like behind the scenes of a working craft brewery?
  • Do you dream of leaving your job and starting a brewery of your own?

Then you are in the right place!

About the host of MicroBrewr Podcast

I also answer these questions with a “yes.”

I’m Nathan Pierce, the host of MicroBrewr Podcast.

I just want to give you this heads up. I didn’t start MicroBrewr. MicroBrewr was started by Joe Shelerud. He got all of this off the ground. He did the first 12 episodes of MicroBrewr Podcast. Then I took it over from there.

So if you listen to the first few episodes and you’re not really digging it, bump ahead to episode 14 or so, and see whether it resonates with you.

Anyways, a little about me.

I was working a full-time job. It was in my field of study, I was getting paid well, and I was doing work that I cared a lot about. It was really important to me, and the benefits were great.

Then we had a change in management. Stress levels for me and my co-workers were just blowing up. My doctor wasn’t stoked. So I had to get out of there.

They say a job isn’t worth your health, so I had to put that theory to the test.

Just about a month later, I was in my friend’s wedding. A couple of the guys from Ninkasi Brewing were also in the wedding. So we got to talking. I asked them about it. They shared their beer—which wasn’t yet distributed in California, so that was cool to get to try it before anyone else—and it all sounded so great!

When I had some time to relax and assess my next move, I knew it would be to open a brewery.

I had already been thinking for a while of starting a business, but didn’t really know exactly what it was going to be. But after talking with those guys, that was it. So I set out on that plan to start a brewery. There have been some bumps in the road—I’m not really qualified. But this is my dream!

So MicroBrewr is a way for me to learn how to do this. How to start a brewery. How to build a brewery that makes great beer that’s never been made, and how to get it to others so they can enjoy it too.

If you want to learn all this, too, then MicroBrewr is the right place for you.

About the podcast episodes

MicroBrewr Podcast is a weekly podcast inspiring people who are planning to start a brewery, or wanting to take their existing brewery to the next level. We go deep to get inside the industry and inside the heads of people who work there.

There are interviews with craft brewers and craft brewery owners, answering all of your questions about starting your own craft brewery. We don’t talk a whole lot about beer—we talk more about the business of beer.

Guests share their tips on starting and operating a successful brewery. They share their inspiration with us, who are entering the craft beer industry or trying to get our own brewery off the ground.

Each of the breweries have a special story to tell, and we showcase that on MicroBrewr Podcast. We talk with every sector of the industry from nanobreweries and local microbreweries and brewpubs, to larger regional craft breweries, learning how to start a brewery.

Past guests include:

  • Ninkasi Brewing
  • 21st Amendment Brewery
  • Gordon Biersch
  • Anchor Brewing

So here’s the flow, here are some are the questions that we ask the guests:

  1. What’s the biggest mistake you ever made for the brewery?
  2. What’s the best idea you ever had for your business?
  3. Has there been a moment when you realized you finally succeeded?
  4. What is the most important thing for someone starting a brewery?
  5. A surprise question from our listeners…

We also have other guests—experts from other sectors of the craft beer industry—such as a distributor in an international market, an operator of local craft beer store, an accountant and operations consultant, and an expert of wastewater management for breweries.

There is so much more to starting and operating a successful brewery besides just making great beer. So we need to know about all of that.

And every episode ends with Happy Hour: A few fun questions to lighten the mood, get to know our guest, and get inside the industry.

The stories are really interesting, it’s usually pretty fun and always super educational and informative. Episodes are about 30 minutes to an hour long.

Try a few different episodes to get a feel for what it’s about

We have listeners in more than 35 countries and all 50 U.S. states. Our audience is made up of entrepreneurs, wantrepreneurs, and people who want to make an impact in the world, just like you!

So feel free to listen wherever you are.

You can access MicroBrewr Podcast here on the website.

But the best place to listen is in iTunes or on Stitcher Radio because you can subscribe to the show and it’ll let you know when there’s a new episode.

So please subscribe, rate, and review the show in iTunes or Stitcher. Please give me your honest feedback by leaving a rating and review. That helps me know what works for you. How you want to see MicroBrewr Podcast improve. And, honestly, it also helps boost the show in search results, so other people like you can find the show.

The website has more information

Lastly, if you like what you hear, you might want to go to the website, microbrewr.com. The website has a blog, and other great resources. Plus, there are show notes for every episode of the podcast.

If you ever miss anything or want to dig deeper into the discussion, there are notes for every episode, which has a brief overview of the show with links and other great resources about the other things we talked about in the episode.

There’s an easy link to go to the show notes for each episode. You just go to microbrewr dot com slash session and then the number for the episode.

Help spread the word

You know, one of the things I like most about craft beer is the community that surrounds it. People are so friendly and helpful.

It’s really cool that all the brewers, brewery owners, and other guest on this show just want to help others start a brewery by sharing their time and expertise by being on the show.

I would really appreciate your help in spreading the word about MicroBrewr Podcast and building the community by telling someone else about it.

Share MicroBrewr with your social networks at:

Let me know if you need anything. Let me know if there’s any way I can help you in your pursuit to start a your own brewery. You can email me on the contact form.

Support MicroBrewr

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

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