Tag Archives: Craft beer

How Important is the Name???

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One item that I have grappled with for some time is the name of my brewery.  There seems to be three different avenues people take in naming a brewery, which appear to be popular.

The first is to name the brewery after the owner.  Think R and B Brewing, Phillips Brewing, Hoyne Brewing, and even Molson.

The second is to name the brewery after an area or landmark.  Think Coal Harbour Brewing, Deep Cove Brewers and Distillers, Granville Island, and Stanley Park Brewing.

The third is to name the brewery after nothing in particular.  Think Storm Brewing, 33 Acres Brewing, Bomber Brewing, and Dead Frog Brewing.

There seems to be no rhyme or reason why names are chosen, and some end up being good and others end up being a little less than interesting.  My belief is at the end of the day, a name is not that important.   In my opinion, If you make shit beer, but have a great name, your chances for success are not going to be great.  On the other hand, if you have a shit name, but make great beer, I think you are going to succeed.

I would love to know what people think are good names in the marketplace?  I have my opinions, and for the most part, I think having a variety of names in the marketplace is a good thing.

Cash Is King.

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Holy crap it takes a lot of money to start a brewery!  I am not sure how else I can say this.  I am dumbstruck by the amount of capital and effort it takes to get to day 1, the day you can start producing beer.  The process of starting any business, especially one like a craft brewery, is a real test of many attributes of your personality.  I would say the biggest is your ability to raise, conserve and allocate your money.

I have spoken to several in the business about how much cash I need to do a production brewery, and the range in numbers I get is astounding.  For smaller breweries, it seems you can do it for about $400,000, and depending on your lease agreement, size of the space, and how quickly you can start making sales, the number can climb really high from there.  Its scary when you hear about how much Red Truck, Red Racer, and others are spending on their new breweries.

For my ambitions and goals, I am hoping that $1.1 million dollars will be sufficient, along with a line of credit to help me out until we get into the black …. likely about 12  months or so (I hope).  I do hope to connect a little more deeply with some of the newer breweries to see if this number is realistic or not.  I would love feedback from anyone.

A big plus to making things more hopeful to succeed is the tasting room that breweries are now allowed to have.  The connection you can make with craft beer enthusiasts, the ability to sample new styles of beer with immediate feedback, and the ability to sell your own beer make gutting it out during the first couple years much more possible.  I am not sure how companies like R and B, Storm and even Coal Harbour were able to succeed without a tasting room.

At the end of the day, I like to think that I am good with money.  But budgeting in my real estate finances, and the finances of my family is a much different beast than managing the budget for the brewery I am starting.

Tags:  Craft Beer, Financing your Start-up, ImStartingACraftBrewery, Vancouver, BC, Starting a Craft Brewery, Cash Is King

Im Starting a Craft Brewery

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Call me crazy, call me nuts, call me anything you want (my wife and family have already thrown all those verbal grenades at me). I am hell bent on starting a craft brewery based in Vancouver, BC.

Why you ask? It might be because I was raised by a father who would teach me his secret home brew recipes that my grandfather had brought to Canada in the 1950’s, after being entirely dissatisfied with the quality and range of beer available in Canada. Or it could be that I was surrounded by friends and family who were actively entrepreneurs and spoke about the great things that happen when you push your own boundaries. But I think the biggest reason may be the most simple. Life is short. These 3 words mean so much. Think about it for a second … we all know friends and family that have passed away too early, or a grandfather who sees their perspective of life change as they are older. The truth is, I wasn’t entirely happy with my life about 5 years ago, and this moment has been five years in the making. More to come on that in subsequent posts.

I hope this blog becomes a useful too for people who are thinking the same thing as me, people who are interested in craft beer and for people that are fascinated with seeing others take the biggest gamble of their life in pursuit of a passion.

So there it is. I am going to commit to uploading regularly with video, information and somewhat humorous posts about this process. I have been working towards this dream for 5 years, and I hope that I am closer now that I have ever been in the past.