Intro to Bootstrap Brewing: Please forgive my petty indulgence to write in blo...

Intro to bootstrap brewing: Please forgive my petty indulgence to write in blo...: Please forgive my petty indulgence to write in blog space. I'm what some people may label an entrepreneur and others a lunatic. I will l...

Intro to Bootstrap Financing for a Production Brewery

Please forgive my petty indulgence to write in blog space. I'm what some people may label an entrepreneur and others a lunatic. I will leave the decision to you. It was almost four years to the day my best friend Mark and I decided we were going to launch his delicious home brew recipes commercially. Mark had no formal training in brewing but had been an avid home brewer for a number of years. He had designed a cool half barrel home brew system that would even make Ken Grossman a little jealous. Let's just say it was a pretty high tech system for the garage to say the least. Anyways, Mark gave me a 12 pack of four different beers he had been working on and I decided to take them to work and give them out. I forgot to mention that although Mark was an expert at brewing his beer we didn't have the slightest idea how to bottle it. Filling that first 12 pack took us the better part of two hours to finish. The labor was well worth it though and about two or three days later the people I gave the beers to went bananas! Where can I get more? Who made these? And my favorite question was, these beers are remarkable, did you make them in a tub? It's funny how people hang onto stories like Sam Koch's beloved Boston Lager one. Anyways, it felt good to represent something that almost everyone could appreciate, a great hand crafted beer. My background for years had been sales, marketing, and business management but to that point, I never really believed in a product the same way as I did for Mark's beer. I coaxed him into bottling a few more beers for a huge party we were heading to on Saturday night. When we opened up the ice cold cooler we had brought full of his beers once again people went crazy over them. I asked myself, " who doesn't like free cold beer?" But the fact was they were offering us money to get their hands on more. Of course we politely told them that the beer was not for sale but if we ever decided to go commercial we would let them know. Mark and I were buzzed, happy and for about 5 minutes felt like superstars. Which is a common feeling when you get to share your passion with other people. The next day I met Mark at his house and convinced him to go into business with me. This blog will serve as a roadmap for any up and coming brewery who might be in the idea stage or ones that are already in operation. Since our initial idea to start a brewery in 2012 we have built two commercial systems (4 bbl and a 10 bbl) and we are just a couple months from opening a large facility in Sacramento California. I will share the business side of opening a full-scale production brewery with blood, sweat and lots of tears. This journey has been a learning experience, to say the least from starting with absolutely no capital to meeting people in Home Depot Parking lots to buy stainless pumps off of Craigslist at 4 in the morning.  I will end every post with one thing that I have learned on this crazy roller coaster ride.
     I met an owner of a Local brewery the year we decided to start our company. He and his company had seen some recent success and they were close to breaking out of our market. I asked him these words, " what advice would you give some up and comers trying to break into the industry?" He replied, "don't give up". Those words seemed simple at the time but I have to tell you right now; you will be tested over and over again. You will want to quit and to be honest, I have had to hang onto those words so many times over the years I have lost count. I promise if you hang on you will not only get to participate in the world's greatest business you will undoubtedly grow beyond any barriers you may have thought you had previously in your life. The skills you gain from the experience of opening a business in such a highly regulated arena will give you the confidence to do anything you put your mind to. Cheers!