The Brewers Association’s Guide to Starting Your Own Brewery Edited by Ray Daniels (with more than 25 beer industry veterans contributing)
I am not starting my own brewery (though part of me wishes I could–I have a really cool idea for a Farm Brewery and NYS beer, wine, and liquor tasting room in Cooperstown).
I am a business geek and avid reader, so I read stuff that is relevant to my clients and helps increase my awareness of their business challenges and best practices in their industry. Intellectual Property and business law touch every aspect of a business, so to give great counsel it helps to get as much context as possible (and so far no one has invited me to actually brew, bottle, and sell their beer with them). I have read a lot of startup books and Starting Your Own Brewery is among the meatiest and most useful one’s I have read.
With more than 25 contributing authors, it isn’t a story and it doesn’t really flow from one chapter to the next. It is more like reading a magazine where each article is a focused and well-written piece of advice that every new brewer should have. The collective know-how of the industry veterans in the book, including luminaries like Greg Koch and Sam Calagione, is invaluable.
It should be mandatory reading for anyone starting a commercial brewery or brewpub or even contemplating it. The book is so dense, that I am actually going to break up the review into four parts, tracking on the four sections of the book: The Life of a Brewer, Facility Planning and Operations, Marketing and Distribution Programs, and Planning and Funding Your Brewery.
So, make sure you subscribe to the blog so that you don’t miss anything.
I read the book cover-to-cover and I would recommend that for anyone serious about starting a brewery. Some chapters get pretty technical and may go over a new brewery entrepreneur’s head on first reading, but they help put some details behind the challenges to come and issues to watch out for.
With the book as background, it would be easy to refer back to specific chapters as they become relevant to your planning or operations. But the key is having the background knowledge so that you can spot the issues before they become full-blown problems.
The Life of a Brewer is a great place to start and is the easiest section to read. It is a series of war stories and interviews with successful brewery owners. Everyone loves a well-told war story. They give the challenges of a new venture a human face and simultaneously inspire and educate. Any entrepreneur, regardless of whether they are in the beer industry, would enjoy this section of the book.
Greg Koch from California’s Stone Brewing shares his startup experience in “Better a Beer Geek Than a Rock Star”.
Chuck Skypeck talks about starting Tennessee’s Boscos Pizza Kitchen & Brewery in “From Beer Dreamer to Brewpub Operator”.
Author, beer celebrity, and founder of Delaware’s Dogfish Head, Sam Calagione provides his startup story in “Dogged Pursuit of a Dream”, which has really whetted my appetite for his book, “Brewing Up a Business” (which is sitting on the shelf next to me) to learn even more.
Ron Barchet and Bill Covaleski discuss the success of Pennsylvania’s Victory Brewing Company in “East Coast Victory Conquers All Fronts.
For someone jazzed about culinary tourism’s potential in New York State, the story of what the McMenamin Brothers have achieved in Oregon with an empire of over 50 taverns, brewpubs, restaurants, theaters, and hotels, including full-service getaway destinations, in “Brewpubs Galore in Oregon” was inspiring.
“Creating a Culture of Success in Your Brewery” from John Hickenlooper of Colorado’s Wynkoop Brewing Co., “Ten Tips for Starting Your Craft Brewery” from Marcy Larson of Alaskan Brewing Co., and “Ten Tips for Starting Your Brewpub” from Scott Smith from Colorado’s CooperSmiths Brewing Co. all provide excellent observations and insights for helping folks get their brewery business off to a good start.
Each chapter is an enjoyable and a fairly quick read. It is easy to get excited about your future success, even while picking up important tips from people who learned the hard way.
In the next part of the review, we will look at the “Facility Planning and Operations” section of the book. It is much more technical, including chapters on navigating brewery regulations, and all the more valuable for that. Check out part 2 which covers facility planning and operations and part 3 marketing and distribution.
The Brewers Association’s Guide to Starting Your Own Brewery is available on Amazon.com or from The Brewers Association website
Leave A Comment