Tag Archives: How to start a Brewery

The cat is out the bag ….

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For those of you who want to know a few more of the details about what is happening with our brewery, Jan Zeschky (The Province Newspapers most excellent food and beer writer) has released an updated guide for new breweries planning to open in 2014.  The article shows there are 19 new breweries that plan on opening their doors this year alone!  All are in various stages of development, and it means that this year will be a banner year for new breweries in this amazing province.  For a full read of this article, click here.

While this is really exciting for the beer drinks of this province, and it will likely cement British Columbia as the beer capital of Canada, it also adds a whole new dimension of stress.  If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know I wrote about all the various kinds of stress you feel in opening a brewery.  Click here for a link to this post.  Well, now we can add another type of stress to the mix:  Why would someone pick my beer over all these other great options?  Seriously!  We plan on making good beer, but don’t all of these other breweries as well.  We are nice guys, but aren’t all these other breweries as well.  We plan on having a cool tasting room, but so does everyone else right.  You can see why there is a little stress in my mind!

Another question you ask yourself, and not that the answer really matters, but is anyone else going through similar stress and anxiety ?  I see all of these pictures and posts of people smiling and having fun, and I think how come I up neck deep in stress and work, and everyone else looks so happy?  I guess some days you doubt yourself as this process really sticks it to you.  I find it important to grind through the days that are a challenge and savour the days that are a success.  The reality is that sometimes you feel like you are all alone!

At any rate, I digress.  We are really excited to be a part of the surging craft beer scene in BC, and I hope that we can add value both in terms of our beer, and in terms of the information we provide to the general public.  I hope this blog has inspired some people to dream, and for others I hope it has saved them a bucket of money on mistakes.

Building Permit submitted

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This past week we have successfully submitted our building permit to the City of Vancouver for our the building we are hoping to lease.  It seems so absolutely absurd to submit our building permit without actually having a signed lease in place, but we are making a huge roll of the dice on this.  When you start down the road of starting a brewery, a funny thing happens.  You start doing things that previously you would have thought were crazy.  Things like submitting a building permit without a lease in place!

Let me take a step back and explain things.  When I started off doing creating this brewery, I was quite a bit more risk adverse.  I would avoid over-exposing myself on most anything in business and finances.  Take for instance a personal guarantee, it is something I would have fought tooth and nail not to do about 2 years ago.  However, as time moves on and you are constantly taking chances and risks, what at one time seemed risky, now seems somewhat ordinary.  A good analogy would be bungy jumping.  The first time is scary as hell, the second time a little less so, and so on.  By the 15th time, it is still a rush, but a lot of the fear and inhibition has left the process.

So here we are, development permit in hand, building permit submitted, yet our brewery still has no name and still has no firm lease.  It is exactly the opposite of where I thought we would be considering my personality and this process.  It is where we are however, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.  I hope that we can have our lease signed in the next week, but it seems to keep dragging out and being delayed.  I am sure this will come to a rapid close in the next week, as there is literally nothing left to be done.  Luckily, I have a great group of friends, advisors and family members that have supported me.  Even with all these people around, and experience I have gained, I have learned that nothing is for sure, so my fingers are crossed.

Moving forward, we are going to have to make some big decisions.  Things like contractor, name, equipment, branding and marketing, finishing of tasting room, types of beer, exact size of serving bottle/can, financing to be finished, first hires, legals, accounting, delivery vehicles, etc, etc.  It seems like a mountain of work, but when you work in your own garden, it doesn’t feel much like work.  We potentially take possession of our space February 1st, and while we won’t be able to do much until we get our building permits, I do anticipate some epic floor hockey games.  Anyone want to join me :o)

My next blog will hopefully share some great news  about our lease and officially help our brewery become the newest entrant to the craft beer scene in Vancouver.