How hard is it to start a brewery?

[BeerMouth]

Seems like even though a brewery may have made the newest, greatest beer there are challenges to distribution and obtaining accounts receivable in a timely fashion and these challenges vary by province with NB having a more streamlined process to ensure brewers get paid (on time).

[toddthebeerdude]

any consumer product based business establishing channels of distribution is hard. Whether it it is shelf space at Sobeys for a new spice or a tap at a bar for a new brewery it can be a struggle. Big players have a lot of resources to make sure that won't happen easily. New brewers and "lucky" in some regards as the buy local movement allows them into bars and good beer ensures people ask for it. I always but on surveys anywhere I go to stock more local craft beer

[Jimmy]

any consumer product based business establishing channels of distribution is hard. Whether it it is shelf space at Sobeys for a new spice or a tap at a bar for a new brewery it can be a struggle. Big players have a lot of resources to make sure that won't happen easily. New brewers and "lucky" in some regards as the buy local movement allows them into bars and good beer ensures people ask for it. I always but on surveys anywhere I go to stock more local craft beer

I don't care where it's made, as long as it tastes good. Of course I'd prefer to support local, but I'm not going to request beer based simply off the geographic region that it's produced. I'd take quality over local.

Jeff, you just keep pumping that Box Cutter out, and Nash, get your shit pouring, biatch. #local #nscraftbeer

[jeffsmith]

Jeff, you just keep pumping that Box Cutter out, and Nash, get your shit pouring, biatch. #local #nscraftbeer

[toddthebeerdude]

any consumer product based business establishing channels of distribution is hard. Whether it it is shelf space at Sobeys for a new spice or a tap at a bar for a new brewery it can be a struggle. Big players have a lot of resources to make sure that won't happen easily. New brewers and "lucky" in some regards as the buy local movement allows them into bars and good beer ensures people ask for it. I always but on surveys anywhere I go to stock more local craft beer

I don't care where it's made, as long as it tastes good. Of course I'd prefer to support local, but I'm not going to request beer based simply off the geographic region that it's produced. I'd take quality over local.

[Jimmy]

any consumer product based business establishing channels of distribution is hard. Whether it it is shelf space at Sobeys for a new spice or a tap at a bar for a new brewery it can be a struggle. Big players have a lot of resources to make sure that won't happen easily. New brewers and "lucky" in some regards as the buy local movement allows them into bars and good beer ensures people ask for it. I always but on surveys anywhere I go to stock more local craft beer

I don't care where it's made, as long as it tastes good. Of course I'd prefer to support local, but I'm not going to request beer based simply off the geographic region that it's produced. I'd take quality over local.

Why the question mark?

I was responding to your comment about requesting more local beers on the menu. I like to suggest more quality beer on tap - what good is 20 local beers on tap if only 3 of them are good?

[toddthebeerdude]

Why the question mark?

I was responding to your comment about requesting more local beers on the menu. I like to suggest more quality beer on tap - what good is 20 local beers on tap if only 3 of them are good?

agreed

[Jimmy]

Why the question mark?

I was responding to your comment about requesting more local beers on the menu. I like to suggest more quality beer on tap - what good is 20 local beers on tap if only 3 of them are good?

agreed

Good

[toddthebeerdude]

Good

[NASH]

Seems like even though a brewery may have made the newest, greatest beer there are challenges to distribution and obtaining accounts receivable in a timely fashion and these challenges vary by province with NB having a more streamlined process to ensure brewers get paid (on time).

Legislation was updated a few years ago here. Previous to that our payment and ordering system was mostly the same as ANBL. It was a royal fucking pain. It made no sense for a proprietor beside a brewery (or anywhere else) to call NSLC to place the order, then NSLC call the brewery with the order, then the brewery call said proprietor to arrange delivery. Or having a last minute add-on to the order on Friday "I'm not leaving the brewery with your beer for another hour and I have tons of IPA here but NSLC is closed right now so you'll have to order on Monday". And so many other scenarios that made little sense really.

At the time legislation was such that no booze could be delivered without being paid for upfront. That remained the case until the private agency stores began a campaign to have the legislation changed to permit direct ordering without payment to NSLC. They succeeded and when that happened it changed everything across the board, extending now to breweries whom would take direct orders leaving the NSLC out of it right where they belong. The purpose of campaign was being driven by corporate-style greed with the ching-ching of $$$ in the eyes of those that would then deliver say 20 cases of wine to x licensee, extending credit to them like a bank then coming after payment at the end of the month. Most licensees aren't really that profitable and the idea of not having 10 or 20 or 30k tied up in booze at all times is mighty attractive. The ability to sell a good portion of that stock before paying for it really seemed exciting. The agency stores saw this as not only a way to simplify matters but also a way to sell more product.

Extending credit to licensees can be risky business at best. I've seen so many breweries get burnt on this system but it's their own fault. I do not condone it, at all. Most breweries do, mainly because of a couple of them jumping on the bandwagon so that made it difficult for all breweries to follow since now it's the norm. "If you can't extend 30 days credit I can't sell your product, everyone else does". With no NSLC to come down on them I've seen breweries extend credit to some accounts for up to 6 months then have their ass handed to them when the licensee went tits up. Not all companies extend credit though I only know of one that doesn't offhand; a local cider company.

It's a better system now, a lot better I think. But you may not see my beer on tap in very many places

[NASH]

BTW, I'm not ripping other NS breweries for extending credit to licensees. Like I said they've basically been forced to, I think. New entrants to the industry feel the need to setup credit accounts to get the sales I'm sure. Makes it tough as balls on them when those accounts aren't voluntarily paid up in a timely fashion though, as HP mentioned.

[NASH]

any consumer product based business establishing channels of distribution is hard. Whether it it is shelf space at Sobeys for a new spice or a tap at a bar for a new brewery it can be a struggle. Big players have a lot of resources to make sure that won't happen easily. New brewers and "lucky" in some regards as the buy local movement allows them into bars and good beer ensures people ask for it. I always but on surveys anywhere I go to stock more local craft beer

I don't care where it's made, as long as it tastes good. Of course I'd prefer to support local, but I'm not going to request beer based simply off the geographic region that it's produced. I'd take quality over local.

Jeff, you just keep pumping that Box Cutter out, and Nash, get your shit pouring, biatch. #local #nscraftbeer

I'm on it, biatch!

I'm with you, I'm all over local like Todd on beer but if it's an inferior product it makes it tough to support. I support local when and where I can. I paid $50 for my plate (made in NS) a long time ago to help get that message out and have NEVER seen another one around the city. It's $50, fuck! I'd love to see some more people put their money where their mouth is, particularly other local proprietors

[bluenose]

I'm on it, biatch!

I'm with you, I'm all over local like Todd on beer but if it's an inferior product it makes it tough to support. I support local when and where I can. I paid $50 for my plate (made in NS) a long time ago to help get that message out and have NEVER seen another one around the city. It's $50, fuck! I'd love to see some more people put their money where their mouth is, particularly other local proprietors

Did you recently register the hoppyasballs.com domain?

[NASH]

I'm on it, biatch!

I'm with you, I'm all over local like Todd on beer but if it's an inferior product it makes it tough to support. I support local when and where I can. I paid $50 for my plate (made in NS) a long time ago to help get that message out and have NEVER seen another one around the city. It's $50, fuck! I'd love to see some more people put their money where their mouth is, particularly other local proprietors

Did you recently register the hoppyasballs.com domain?

I registered it a few years ago, did you want to buy it?

[bluenose]

um... no

[Jimmy]

I'm lost

[bluenose]

I'm lost

Do you have balls?

Are they hoppy?

[Jimmy]

I'm lost

Do you have balls?

Are they hoppy?

Yes I do.

And it depends on the brew day. Last night they were very hoppy.

[dean2k]

I'm lost

Do you have balls?

Are they hoppy?

Yes I do.

And it depends on the brew day. Last night they were very hoppy.

Well, I think I just worked out the branding for Jimmy's one-day brewery (potentially NSFW or prudish people). You're welcome.

[Jimmy]

[Keith]

Haha

[NASH]

Well, I think I just worked out the branding for Jimmy's one-day brewery (potentially NSFW or prudish people). You're welcome.

Hahaha You're not getting the URL, bitches! None of yas. That's right.

Back on topic....

[BeerMouth]

Thank you NASH for the overview of selling on credit and how it has evolved. Like any business, a large book of accounts receivables is not ideal but many feel required by norms to extend credit to their customers. Maybe some customer credit screening by way of corporate credit check would better assist breweries in deciding who to extend credit to and who to decline? Equifax boasts a database of 2 million corporate credit reports. Likely though this database includes mostly Boston Pizzas or East Side Marioes etc. And with the turnover in the pub scene it would seem like fingercrossing would be just as effective as credit screening.

[BeerMouth]

Circling back, I suppose scale is also important. In contrast to large scale craft brewing (i.e. not commercial brewing scale) What about someone who wanted to simply brew and sell 5 gal at a time (nanobrewing?) and sell, say, at a farmers market? Does this brewery model make sense financially? Does this brewery face all the same fees and regulations as a large scale craft brewer?

[Celiacbrew]

Circling back, I suppose scale is also important. In contrast to large scale craft brewing (i.e. not commercial brewing scale) What about someone who wanted to simply brew and sell 5 gal at a time (nanobrewing?) and sell, say, at a farmers market? Does this brewery model make sense financially? Does this brewery face all the same fees and regulations as a large scale craft brewer?

I don't know much about the beer industry, but I would guess at that scale your problem isn't fees, materials etc it would be labour costs. Since it takes the roughly same labour to make 5 gallons as a bigger batch your labour costs will dwarf any other costs when you get down to the 5-10 gallon scale. Let's pretend it takes 5 hours to brew, an hour to package and then 5 more to sell the beer, it takes more than that but lets just pretend, also assume material and capital costs are $0 for simplicity. Your 5 gallon batch will yield 38 500ml bottles. So to make the median wage in NS ($21 currently) you would need to sell your 38 beer for $231 or $6 a bottle.