Things to Know When Starting a Brewery

Recent blog startup microbrewr.com (@microbrewr) has published a fantastic article "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 article covers several topics, with some candid comments on each one from craft brewers across the country.  Amongst the topics discussed:

- Plan For Expansions From the Start 

"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!"  

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

"We planned for it to take twice as long and cost three times as much and it still took twice as long as that." 

- Permitting and Other Legal Issues Are Complicated And Take Time 

"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..."

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

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

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

"I thought I was opening a Brew Pub, when I was really opening a Restaurant that sold beer that was brewed there." 

- Talk To Other Brewers in Your Area and Do Your Research 

"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."

- The Journey Is Half of The Reward of Starting the Brewery 

"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."

If you are a brewer, even if you aren't looking to open your own brewery, this is a must read for some terrific insights into the craft beer industry that we all hold dear.