This month’s “Session” effort is hosted by Chuck over at AllBrews. Rather than dip into the waters of beer nerdom, he’s asked a novel question for this month’s community blogging effort:
In this Session, I’d like to invite comments and observations from bloggers and others who have first-hand knowledge of the complexities and pitfalls of starting a commercial brewery. What were the prescient decisions that saved the day or the errors of omission or commission that caused an otherwise promising enterprise to careen tragically off the rails?
The ideal assistant brewer for my business.
Technically speaking, I’m not fit to answer this question as I am but a mere homebrewer. Although I did tackle this topic earlier this week about some who make it seem easy to “go pro.”
In that vein, I believe Chuck makes an adept observation about the idea of becoming a professional brewer: “Making beer is the easy part, building a successful business is hard.” Craft beer is all the rage right now and the last thing I’d want for others to do is get involved and not be successful. Although I’m constantly pleased to see homebrewers making that shift because of their knowledge and love for beer, not simply to make money.
Either way, being a brewer, brewery owner or even a homebrewer isn’t glamorous. So I put together this handy chart to give you a better idea (click image to enlarge):
+Bryan Roth
“Don’t drink to get drunk. Drink to enjoy life.” — Jack Kerouac
