Flip Flops Don't Work in Breweries

I should really know better. I was dragging around this awkwardly shaped rusty mild steel handrails around the brewery to send them to the scrap dealer and I was wearing my flip flops (i.e. thongs). I always wear flip flops because I don't like wearing socks, and it's part of the liberation I get to experience as a brewer. I get to wear flip flops and walk around my brewery and dress like a bum because I can. Anyway, a sharp edge of this rusty piece of crap came across my foot, causing a good deal of blood loss. Actually, it wasn't that bad, but I'll be wearing shoes from here on out. I have a doctors appointment tomorrow to get a tetanus booster shot. I'm not a big fan of shots, but it's better than lockjaw.



I hope this image doesn't show up on a foot fetish website (at least without me getting royalties).

Construction About to Start

Good things have been happening, but I was hoping to have a picture of a pile of concrete to show you by now. The good news is I picked a new contractor after receiving five bids, and I know he's going to do an outstanding job. The plumber is coming by today to lay out the area, and I'm hoping we can get the concrete work started this week.

This is probably a bit on the dry side, and in fact I get a headache when writing about it. Read it if you care, otherwise I'll try to come up with something a bit more entertaining for the next post.

The concrete work entails cutting out around 1100 square feet of concrete in the brewing area and in the sewer line area, removing a foot of soil, placing a 35 foot trench drain, and pouring a foot of sloped, reinforced concrete, along with a 1 foot curb which will act as a containment area (a city requirement). The area where the sewer line is going will be filled in, and then I'll wait 7 to 10 days for the concrete to cure before the urethane flooring can go in. Once the urethane goes in, I can put my tanks where they need to go, and start setting up equipment. The plumber can then install the water and gas to the brewing area (and the four sinks), my welder can get to work on piping together the brewhouse, the electrician can hook up my equipment, and the burner technician can piece together the combustion system for my boil kettle.

While all of this is going on, drywall is going up to form a vestibule around one of my cargo loading doors (a health department requirement), the office will have wood flooring installed, a glycol chiller / structural platform will be built on the roof, every wall will be painted, and all concrete will be sealed. A few miscellaneous items like hooking up a few augers, getting city and health department inspections, and dealing with my own sanity will be involved as well.

Exciting stuff, and I pray to God it all gets done quickly. You and I have been waiting far too long!

Just Checking In

Sorry for the lack of posts lately-- I just got back in town, and have a pile of work to get caught up on. I spent 5 days in Denver at the Great American Beer Festival and checking out nearby breweries (Great Divide, Flying Dog, New Belgium), and had the chance to meet with new and old friends. Rachel enjoyed it as well, but I could tell she's not used to devoting several days to beer.

Then we went off to Manhattan from Saturday til yesterday (Wednesday) to meet up with my parents and my brother and his fiancee. We had great time there. I did visit a few beer bars in the area-- CB Six and Blind Tiger Ale House. My Dad and I went to Spuyten Duyvil to learn they did not open until 5, but did make some very nice purchases at their 'grocery store' (a closet sized store with loads of great, rare beers). Earlier in the day we met with Garrett Oliver, the brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery, who gave us a private tour and answered all of our questions, most of which were about Local 1, a Belgian-style, bottle conditioned beer they are artfully producing there. Garrett is a great, smart guy, and I thank him for taking the time to show us around.

Next time I'll post some pictures of the tour of New Belgium (incredible place!) and include a bit more about the GABF, but for now it's back to work!

More Guessing About Launch Dates

Alright already, I should probably not throw out any more opening dates. I don't know what it is with brewery startups-- we have a compulsion to announce dates that in our limited experience seem plausible. Maybe it's a case that if we announce it and believe it, it will actually come true? I'll try to explain what happened, and hopefully you'll understand why you aren't drinking a Saison Rue right now.

On May 22nd, when I initially leased 715 Dunn, I proclaimed The Bruery would start brewing in August and start selling in September. Early on I had an architect that was going to put together the plans, but then shortly after I decided I could draw up the plans on my own and save $5,000 - $10,000 in the process. Strike one. Architects know what they are doing, and I don't. I think I would have saved two months if the architect drew up the plans. What does two months of rent and lost opportunity cost? Probably more than an architect.

On June 27th, I thought I'd be ready to start construction. My plans were put together (or at least I thought they were), and I was ready to get a bid from a contractor I already picked out. Getting just one bid? Strike two.

After I got the bid (or more accurately an estimate because the contractor had no idea how to price out my less than detailed plans), I figured I could get my plans approved by the city over the counter and start construction. I learned the city won't accept the plans until they are approved by the Health Department. Better get my plans into the Health Department, no big deal. Health Department approval is only a formality, as they don't care about breweries-- right? Wrong! Health Department approval takes about 2 months due to my need to negotiate to lessen what they required of me. Strike three (thankfully, this isn't baseball). I learned that you don't negotiate with the health department, at least if you want to get your plans approved. They did make some concessions which will save a bit of money and time, but overall I would be in a better position had I went with the flow.

I finally get my plans approved by the city on September 20th (which takes two weeks, and is not done over the counter), and I'm finally ready to start construction. I eagerly call my contractor, leave a message. Call an hour later, leave another message. Repeat for two days. Finally get a hold of him, and he says how busy he is, and how he'll call me right back. That was two weeks ago, and still no word from him. I've learned enough by now that I probably wouldn't be getting a call back from him, so then I called several contractors for bids.

For the last two weeks, I've been dealing with general contractors and subcontractors in their bidding process. Today, I'm waiting on several bids. I should have all of them by the end of this week, or more accurately, the bids I'll be considering will be in by Friday.

So what needs to happen before The Bruery can open? Construction needs to start. If I pick a general contractor this week, there's a chance they could start next week, but more likely it'll be the following week. Construction will take a minimum of four weeks. The Health Department needs to inspect, and will probably have some changes they'd like to see. Add two weeks. The City needs to inspect, and perhaps there's another change that needs to happen. Add another week. During this time after construction, equipment is installed. Most of the equipment installation will be fairly straight forward, except for the kettle burner system. I can't do much with the direct fire burner system until the kettle is in its proper place, so I'm not sure how long that will take. Let's just say my best guess at this time is it'll be another 8-10 weeks before I can brew the first batch, which would bring me into the first week of December. If that comes true, I think a New Year's Day grand opening party is called for. 2008 is my year!

I've learned a lot going through this, and gained some grey hair and a few inches in the waistline as a result. This is a blog about my experience opening a brewery, so I should state what I would have done differently if I had to go through this experience again. If I could go back in time to May 22nd, I would have done the following:

- Hired an electrician to confirm I had three phase power before I signed the lease.
- Hired a plumber to confirm the sewer depth before I signed the lease.
- Hired an architect to draw up the plans
- Received multiple bids from contractors
- Submitted my plans to the Health Department ASAP even if the plans were not as complete as they should be
- Make the changes the Health Department required without debate
- Overestimate how long things actually take
- Remember that each day I am not open costs $134 in rent ($5.58 an hour!), and much more in lost opportunity. Hiring out is often the less expensive option when you don't have the experience or time to complete that task
- Give a moment to celebrate each achievement, and then move on to the next item on the list
- Don't blame myself or others when it isn't productive

This list could go on, and I'll probably add to it when I learn of other things I should have done and should be doing. I hope this is useful to those of you who share the same dream of opening and running a brewery. It's therapeutic for me to write this and get a better sense for myself of why it is October 3rd and I haven't started construction yet. As for other advice I need to give myself, do as much as you can every day, and remember that everything has a lead time, no matter how small the task seems to be. When the opening of a business is dependent on many things outside of your control, and those with control don't have an incentive to be expedient, don't estimate on how long they will take, and more importantly don't take guesses on when the business will be open. Don't be hard on yourself when your guesses don't come true-- you're doing the best you can.

Thanks for reading this blog and for supporting my dream of running a brewery.

Writing Mission Statements

Mission and vision statements are an important part of any business, especially in the first few years of a new business. What is the purpose of this business? Who does the business serve? What expectations are there for the future of this business? If there aren't clear answers to these questions, it is unclear what steps to take to produce a successful result.

I'm sitting here at The Bruery in a dim office, looking at a few hundred ants on a nearby table. I made the mistake of leaving a wrapper on the table yesterday, and a civilization is now able to eat because of me. I kill a few just for the fun of it (where did I put my lighter?), and I'm frustrated. Don't take it out on ants, Pat. On the desk behind me, there are a dozen sheets of notepaper, with scribbles and barely legible writing about goals and purposes. I'm trying to come up with a one sentence mission statement that says it all. I don't want to include any semi-colons or too many commas. I want it to be short, sweet, and say everything that I want the brewery to be with some specificity. Impossible? I think so.

It's an odd time to be coming up with this. The Bruery consists of me and a bunch of equipment that is non-functional. There are lots of ideas, of course. I'm trying to get construction started so I can get on with my life and start making beer. When I'm trying to come up with a mission statement, I'm thinking of a bustling brewery with many bright workers, thousands of loyal customers, and a clear sense of what The Bruery is. At this moment, nothing is clear, not even my eyeglasses. I can't remember the last time I cleaned those.

My Dad and I meet on a weekly basis. He is my advisor and business coach, and has a great deal of knowledge on how to run a company and come up with goals and strategies. He gave me the assignment of coming up with a single sentence that describes why I'm doing what I'm doing. There are so many reasons-- I hate the law (not the law itself, just advising others on it), I love making beer, drinking beer, and being in the company of people who share a similar interest in beer. I want to be in a craft-related business-- making something for the enjoyment of others. Sure, I want to make money too, but that's not why I chose to be in the beer business. I want to share beer with others, and I want The Bruery to have an impact on the beer industry as a whole. I'd like to be the cause for many to experience a new side of beer-- a paradigm shift that makes someone realize that beer is so much more complex, interesting, and enjoyable than what they had previously believed.

The best thing I can come up with is pretty vague, but I think it makes more sense when I explain the different parts:

"The mission of The Bruery is to enjoy crafting unique beer for the enjoyment of our supporters."

To address each part of the mission statement-- "To enjoy crafting...": I want to get out of bed every morning and be excited to run The Bruery. Whether it's making beer, selling beer, or managing the business, I'm doing it because I enjoy it. If I don't enjoy it, then I'll need to find out why and correct it. I think making money is addressed in this section of the vision statement, as I probably won't be enjoying what I'm doing unless I'm able to make a living doing it. Likewise, I want those who work at The Bruery to get the same enjoyment out of being here as well. If they aren't enjoying it, I want to know, especially if it increases the enjoyment for everyone else.

"...unique beer...": Our beers should stand out from others on the shelf and give us a sense of pride that we're doing things our own way.

"... for the enjoyment of our supporters.": The word "enjoyment" is quite vague, but we want people to like our beer. We want people to have the beer in an atmosphere of enjoyment, and I think most craft beers are had with this in mind. Whether the person having the beer is experiencing this beer for the first time and is being exposed to a world of new flavors, or this beer is an old standby, we want that person to find value in our beer and not be disappointed by it. Thus, we'll have very high standards of quality. If I don't like it, I won't expect anyone else to either. Our beer may not be compatible with everyone's tastes, but it will be a priority to make sure those who enjoy complexity in their beer are enjoying our beer. Developing a relationship with those who enjoy our beer, or our "supporters", is important to me. I think having a connection to the customer is one of the things that will make it enjoyable for myself and for future workers of The Bruery.

What do you think of this as a mission statement? What am I missing?

Hop and Malt Prices

If you check out other beer blogs, you've probably heard that hops are in short supply in this 2007 harvest, and prices are going through the roof. I'm trying to contract out some hops for this next year, and most places don't believe they have enough supply to enter into those contracts this late in the game. Even if they could sell me the hops I want, prices are about double of 2006 harvest prices. So what the hell am I going to do?

I'm in the process of securing all the hops I'll need for the year by getting my hands on what's left over from the 2006 harvest. I've been able to get Czech Saaz, Styrian Goldings, US Sterling, German Magnum, US Warrior, and US Summit. I have 440 lbs. of hops in inventory, and I'll be buying more in an attempt to hold me over until the 2008 harvest. All of these are vaccum sealed and have been cold stored (and are now stored at 10 below), so they should be very fresh. Most of my hop usage is for bittering, so I'm somewhat fortunate to be focusing on Belgian-style beers, seeing that most are in the 15 - 35 IBU range and tend not to have too much in the way of aroma hops. I'm a big fan of IPA's and Double IPA's, so I hope this shortage and price hike doesn't affect those styles too much.

As for malt prices, they are expected to climb 50 - 100%. There isn't much I can do about that, but I haven't heard of any talk of not being able to secure malt without a contract. I'll be looking into this more. It doesn't help that I don't have a silo-- bulk storage of grain is out of the question for me right now.

Plans Approved by City

Finally, we're ready to start construction! Plans were approved this morning by the City of Placentia, and my general contractor just needs to pull the permit, and I need to pay a hefty fee. Seems easy enough, right? The only thing holding me back is that my contractor isn't returning my phone calls. The City is closed tomorrow, so the permit will have to be pulled on Monday.

Regardless, I'm trying to reflect on the accomplishment that my plans were approved, and things can finally move along. I think celebrating all of the small achievements along the way is important in keeping sane, and as a reminder about what I'm trying to do. I'm not in the business of building breweries; I'm in the business of brewing beer. I now know how to start a brewery, and I hope I'll remember how to brew when it comes time!

If construction starts next week, I'm aiming to start brewing in late October / early November. If that's correct, then I'd be on track to sell bottles / kegs in early December. I haven't been right on guessing when things would get done previously, so I probably shouldn't be putting dates out there, but I will anyway. I'm really looking forward to brewing a winter seasonal, so I pray this timeline pans out.