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It seems like new craft breweries are popping up all over the country every week. Visit any major city in America and you’re likely to find a booming craft beer industry. But, just because you make a delicious farm ale or New England IPA at home, doesn’t always mean that you should quit your IT job and invest in your life savings in a brewery.
Brewing is not for everyone. Just because you’ve seen headlines about breweries being sold for millions of dollars that doesn’t mean that you have what it takes. We asked some of the most well-respected brewers in the country to tell us the challenges you’ll face if you decide to take the leap and start your own craft brewery.
Owning your own business isn’t easy
“The thing that home-brewers often don’t see is the business side of things. You can make unbelievable beer and still fail as a brewery if you don’t have a good business plan. As the craft space becomes more congested this is becoming increasingly important. In that same vein, home-brewers should be aware this isn’t a cheap business to get into. You won’t want to limp in or else it’ll cost you somewhere else.” – New Belgium brewer Cody Reif
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I home brew, I can tell you on a small scale I can see some of these things. Except this one “Your beer isn’t as good as you think it is” I don’t buy it. Knowing multiple people that make their own, plus a local brewery I never think my beer is good and am looking for ways to enhance each and every beer I’ve made. Most people that brew will tell you the same, they are always looking for ways to enhance their beers.
Yeah, that’s a very flippant stance to take.
Brewing beer is trial and error for one. Also, you know if you and your friends really dig what you’re cooking up, then it’s probably pretty good. Now, whether you can take that up a notch and produce a quality beer on a macro level in huge tanks in is another question. But if the passion for brewing is there, you’ll always figure it out.
I know two people that have or are in the process of starting breweries. The amount of effort they put into it is crazy. But the one thing they have in common is sharing and soliciting feedback from friends and (most importantly) peers on the qualities of their initial brewing attempts before formally opening shop.
The discussions get very technical very quickly. It’s an enjoyable learning experience to be associated with this level of geekery without being directly involved.