[Sten]

Fellow homebrewers,
I'm writing a business plan to build a brewery that brews exclusively on contract and am trying to garner advice on what homebrewers going pro would be interested in.

* What batch size(s) (in barrels) would you want to make?
* What value added services would you be interested in (e.g. recipe/brand development, kegging, bottling, canning, labeling, TTB filings, packaging, etc)?
* How long/often would you want to utilize a contract/partner brewer?
* What style(s) would you want to brew?
* Would you seek your own distribution channels or would you want the contract/partner brewer to help with that?
* How would you like the beer to change hands (e.g. alternating proprietorship arrangement with the contract/partner brewer, direct host-brewery to your-brewery sale, 3-tier route from host brewery to wholesaler to retailer, etc)?

Thanks and Cheers!
~Sten

[nateo]

I'm not really sure how to answer your questions, but I'm not actively trying to "go pro" right now, so maybe I'm not who you're interested in.

It seems like you're talking about two different businesses, one being contract brewing for start-up "breweries" and the other being alternating proprietorship for start-ups. If I wanted to start a brewery, it would be so I could make beer. So, the former idea has no appeal to me. The latter would be more up my alley.

Logistically, I'm having a hard time making an alternating proprietorship with start-ups make sense. I would imagine you'd need a lot of small fermentors, and you'd need a lot of different customers to make the system work. I'm picturing something like one of those "brew on premises" places, but really big. So space and time constraints could be a headache.

I could see being interested in contract brewing if I owned a restaurant and wanted to have custom beers, or if I were a caterer or something that could provide a unique, premium beer option for my clients.