Starting Your Own Brewery (Book Review, Part 2, Facility Planning and Operations)

The Brewers Association’s Guide to Starting Your Own Brewery
Edited by Ray Daniels (with more than 25 beer industry veterans contributing) 

This is the second part of my review of The Brewers Association Guide to Starting Your Own Brewery.  If you are curious why an Intellectual Property and Business Attorney would be reviewing such a book, you should check out Part 1 for some background (and because The Life of a Brewer was such a fun and inspiring part of the book). In the second section of the book, Facility Planning and Operations, the expert contributors get down to business with some highly technical aspects of getting started and running your brewery.  The good news is that they handle this subject matter with stories, wit, and a genuine desire to help others avoid their mistakes and share in their success.  It is brewer mentorship at its best (assuming you don’t actually having an industry veteran who has taken you under his or her wing–which you should shoot for, it is a great industry with lots of people willing to share their wisdom). 

This is a four part book review, 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. 

The section starts with essays on raw materials, equipment, and processes for commercial brewing.  They are brief but instructive surveys that should help startup brewers step back and think about what they are going to need, from water, to hope, to brew kettle, to packaging line.  It also includes things like laboratory, heating & cooling systems, and other parts that may not be immediately obvious.  The next chapter puts the basics into the context of really planning for a brewery operation, from site selection to hiring people.  If you are starting a new business, you will no doubt be picking up a few business startup and business planning books and this is a nice supplement to help you apply good business preparation to you brewery business. 

The next three chapters really are things that only an attorney could love.  They address the challenges of Federal Regulation by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Board (TTB), state and local authorities, and the environmental challenges of dealing with wastewater and the folks who regulate it.  Obviously, they can’t really address all the details, they just set the stage for identifying potential issues and giving the brewery entrepreneur a place to start.  As Pete Johnson puts it, 

“Just as every business situation will be unique, laws, regulations, and court interpretations constantly change the legal landscape through which any business must navigate.” 

These chapters help you get your bearings to figure out what agencies you need to deal with and the kind of questions you might take to your attorney. 

The next chapter was perhaps the most technical and esoteric to me, “Better Brewery Floors”.  It’s an entire chapter on options for brewery flooring–taking the idea of putting your brewery on a good foundation to a very literal level.  Seems strange, but it is a great example of a major consideration that would be easy to overlook.  I almost feel like its presence in the book was to provide a warning that there are many such hidden dangers, so don’t assume anything is trivial in your planning. 

The last chapter in the section was an overview of the hops industry.  Given my recent adventures at the Northeast Hop Alliance conference, I really enjoyed this section.  Note that it mostly addresses the national and international hop market (which you will need if you are brewing any sort of volume beer).  The story is still being written on dealing with small, local hops growers. 

This is a four part book review, 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. 

In the next part of the review, we will look at the “Marketing and Distribution Programs” section of the book.  I find sales and marketing fascinating, especially with such a fun product and all of the personality that can go into a craft beer brand.  It is critical to the success of your business, so make sure you tune in for the next part of the review.  

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