Fun & Excitement While Opening a Brewery

Fun & Excitement While Opening a Brewery

Dan ConleyCommunity Beer Works

dan@communitybeerworks.comhttp://www.communitybeerworks.com

What is Community Beer Works?

• Nanobrewery coming soon to a Buffalo near you

• How soon? That's the point of this presentation

• 15 Lafayette Ave, by Niagara St (Mmm, Santasiero's)

• Seven guys: Ethan, Dave, Rudy, Greg, Dan, Chris, Matt

A bit of perspective

If we're an ant...5 mm

A bit of perspective

Flying Bison is a baseball...7.5 cm

A bit of perspective

Sam Adams is a killer whale...6.5 m

A bit of perspective

...and Budweiser is a moon of Jupiter3.9 km

Lies and damn liesBrewery bbl/year Ratio Size

CBW 432 1 5 mm

Flying Bison 6,500 15.05 7.5 cm

Boston Beer Co. 565,000 1,307.87 6.5 m

Anheuser Busch

339,945,117 786,910 3.9 km

1 bbl = 31 US gallons

Now then: the process

Now then: the process• Find a location

• File with the Federal Alcohol and Tobacco Taxation and Trade Bureau (TTB)

• File with the New York State Liquor Authority (SLA)

• Pass inspection from the NYS Department of Agriculture

• Make some beer!

Location• You need a lease before you can

file with the TTB

• Zoning laws assume you're a giant brewery

• It was tough to find a location in a community

• Breweries use a lot of gas and water

TTB• All owners need to pass a

background check

• Be prepared to write: our application was over 65 pages

• You WILL misfile something. The WILL be delays.

• Once you file, no brewing on site. At all.

• No more than 90 days later, get a Brewer's Notice Just one page of fun

90 days for the Brewer's Notice

90 days for the Brewer's Notice

We filed January 18, 141 days ago.

We've never used these

The Kicker

• You need a location before you file

• All told, it's at least a year (TTB, SLA, etc)

• This means you're paying rent and utilities while being legally prohibited from making money

What We've Learned• Have friends. You cannot do this alone. We're the

League of Extraordinary Brewers.

• Have lots of money and free time. You'll dump both into the brewery.

• Social media! Friends have benefits.

• Brewer's Notice: have detailed plans.

• Nano is the way to go (n=1).