Starting a Nano-Brewery

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Nanobrewery - The Lessons I've Learned

I've operated Parish Brewing Co. for over 2 years now, furiously brewing a nano-amount of beer. I get several emails every week from aspiring nano-brewers from all over the country and they all have the same questions about my experiences, my custom equipment, and other general info about starting a tiny commercial brewery. If the probrewer community would humor me, I'd like to use this as a place to get some FAQs documented since I cannot answer all of the emails I get with the full respect and well thought-out answers they deserve. Hopefully this can help some of you daydreaming out there get some answers. Some of these answers may not be what you want to hear, but they are based in fact and my actual experience. I know I would have appreciated some of this info before I embarked upon the nanobrewery path.

1.) Nanobreweries are not profitable. Well, at least if you have to sell at wholesale. The only way a nano can be in the black is if you can sell most or all of your production at full retail price. Even then the return will not justify spending the capital required to get it going. A nano will never, ever make enough profit to pay for organic growth of the brewery. Period.
1)(b) On the other hand, a nano is a great vehicle to get the investment needed to finance a viable craft brewery. In my opinion, that is the only rational reason to go through all of the trouble to build and operate a nano. If you do not have a plan to finance a viable larger operation, don't build a nano. The nano can be used to show real revenue and cost structure in your market, and can be extrapolated to any project size from there.

2.) You can use cheap equipment, like plastic fermenters, and make great beer. They will not last very long, and you have to be seriously anal-retentive about taking care of them and sanitization, but they work. I used some stainless drums found on craigslist for the brewhouse, etc. There are some creative ways to make brewing equipment in the 50 to 150 gal size range and don't be afraid to try something new. I mean, some of the finest brews in the world are fermented in a wood container. Think about that the next time you drool over that cherry, stainless jacketed conical fermenter that probably costs more than my entire brewhouse and cellar combined. Also, most of the money you will spend getting the nano going will not be on brewing equipment. The cost of kegs, walk-in cooler, operating capital, etc will all be likely more than 50% of your total startup cost.

3.) Save your money for another year or two and buy something bigger. Seriously, this is the best advice I can give. If your beer is halfway decent, you will sell way more than you can ever produce on a nano system. You will bust arse like you've never busted arse before and it will still not be anywhere close to being enough beer. Trust me. If your beer is good you will need more than a nano. If your beer isn't good, you probably wouldn't be reading this. Simply put a nano produces a painfully small amount of beer. Save your money for another year or two, get something at least bigger than 7 bbl brew length, and then send me a case of your finest when you realize I was right.

4.) Permitting is a bitch. There are lots of government agencies, and they all want a piece. Get used to it. You get no special treatment because you are a tiny, low cost operation. If they want you to put covers on your fluorescent lights, you better be ready to shell out for that manlift rental. Start talking to your respective agencies as early as possible. There is no best way to start, there is no road map. Every professional brewer on this forum has had to figure it out on their own, unfortunately. Go forth. Be brave. Approach your various govt agencies, be polite, and you will eventually get all of your permits and licenses in hand.

5.) Operating a nano every day isn't very fun. It makes a really fun hobby a painful job - a 2nd job that you work on the evenings and weekends. I know it seems like fun now. You need to have some serious stamina to keep up the pace required to work a day job and also the nanobrewery. I have a huge amount of respect for any of the other nano owners out there who have made it work. They will never get the credit they deserve from most of the craft brewing community for the pain and sacrifice it takes. Just because its a small brewery doesn't mean its any less work than a larger version. I only recently quit my day job to focus on our new large brewery, but until then I worked every weekend for over 2 years. Think about that for a minute. No more fishing. No Saints games. Countless hours of time lost with my toddler daughter and wonderful wife. Whatever you love to do beside brewing and drinking great craft beer, it will probably have to go on the back burner.

6.) It is incredibly rewarding to brew for a living and to hear someone say they love your beer - and that's totally worth all of the bullshite noted above.

Cheers!
Andrew Godley
Parish Brewing Co.
Broussard, Louisiana

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a business where location is key

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I do think a viable option for a brewer is a brewpub.

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I've looked into this as well. I had an idea of doing a brewpub plus sell oustanding bar-b-q. I started looking into Aaron Franklin's pits and how that world works. I make a damn fine smoked brisket and smoked boston butt, but with a son and a wife, and more kids to come, i could never do it, especially both. The good BBQ guys start their days at 3 am, and don't clock out until 7. And even then, they hire someone to manage the pits overnight. Takes anywhere from 12-18 hours to do good brisket and i couldn't even imagine how hard it is to do that on a much larger scale in a much larger pit.

And then trying to find time to brew.

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Does Colorado use the 3-tier system, or is he able to self distribute?

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if all you have is a nano, beer geeks will drink you dry.

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Instead of brewing, which is what you really want to do, you get to pay someone else to brew while you play babysitter to cooks and waitreses and deal with restaurant drama..

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