Craft beer culture and industry have recently grown exponentially with over 4000 craft brewers operating in the United States alone. Brew Your Business: The Ultimate Craft Beer Playbook incorporates cultural, legal, business, public relations, management, science, networking, and brewing experience into one easily accessible book for everyone wanting to know more about craft beer brewing, tasting, and selling. Thoroughly researched, the authors provide a tasty overview of the various types of craft beer, methods for brewing, and opportunities for taking your crafted beer to market. In their Talking from the Tap! Interviews, industry experts offer their takes on what they do, how they arrived in their current positions, why they do it, and where they are going in the industry. Whether you are new to craft beer or have been in the industry for a while, you will find in these pages a go-to guide to many topics of importance to all brewers, drinkers, and enthusiasts. It’s time to get serious about craft brewing and the culture of craft beer. So, choose your favorite suds and set out upon this journey. You won’t be disappointed. Cheers!
Updated business wisdom from the founder of Dogfish Head, the nation's fastest growing independent craft brewery Starting with nothing more than a home brewing kit, Sam Calagione turned his entrepreneurial dream into a foamy reality in the form of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, one of America's best and fastest growing craft breweries. In this newly updated Second Edition, Calagione offers a deeper real-world look at entrepreneurship and what it takes to operate and grow a successful business. In several new chapters, he discusses Dogfish's most innovative marketing ideas, including how social media has become an integral part of the business model and how other small businesses can use it to catch up with bigger competitors. Calagione also presents a compelling argument for choosing to keep his business small and artisanal, despite growing demand for his products. Updated to offer a more complete look at what it takes to keep a small business booming An inspiring story of renegade entrepreneurialism and the rewards of dreaming big, working hard, and thinking unconventionally Shows how to use social media to reach new customers and grow a business For any entrepreneur with a dream, Brewing Up a Business, Second Edition presents an enlightening, in-depth look at what it takes to succeed on their own terms.
Forget about building a business—businesses fail and fade into oblivion. Start a revolution instead. James Watt started a rebellion against tasteless mass market beers by founding BrewDog, now one of the world’s best-known and fastest growing craft breweries, famous for beers, bars, and crowdfunding. In this smart, funny book, he shares his story and explains how you too can tear up the rule book and start a company on your own terms. It’s an anarchic, DIY guide to entrepreneurship—and a new manifesto for business. After spending seven years on the high seas of the North Atlantic, James Watt started BrewDog craft brewery in Scotland with his best friend, Martin Dickie. They didn’t have a business plan. All they had was a mission to revolutionize beer drinking and make other people as passionate about craft beer as they are. They’ve succeeded. Within a few years, BrewDog was huge—a world-famous craft brewery with beer bars around the globe and hundreds of thousands of fans. Those fans became literal backers of their business with the introduction of an unprecedented crowdfunding movement, Equity for Punks. And in rewriting the record books and kickstarting a revolution—James and BrewDog inadvertently forged a whole new approach to business. Business for Punks bottles the essence of James’s methods in an accessible, honest manifesto. Among his mantras: · Cash is motherf*cking king. Cash is the lifeblood of your company. Monitor every penny as if your life depends on it—because it does. · Get people to hate you. You won’t win by trying to make everyone happy, so don’t bother. Let haters fuel your fire while you focus on your hard-core fans. · Steal and bastardize from other fields. Take inspiration freely wherever you find it— except from people in your own industry. · Job interviews suck. They never reveal if someone will be a good employee, only how good that person is at interviews. Instead, take them for a test drive and see if they’re passionate and a good culture fit. Business for Punks rethinks conventional business wisdom so you can go beyond the norm. It’s an anarchic, indispensable guide to thriving on your own terms.
Entrepreneurial dreams do come true! Starting with nothing more than a home brewing kit, Sam Calagione founded Dogfish Head Craft Brewery and made it America's fastest growing independent beer. This unconventional business story reveals how Calagione found success by dreaming big, working hard, and thinking differently-and how you can do it too. "Rarely is a book as good as a beer but this one is. It's written with humor, humility, and passion, essential ingredients for any entrepreneur." -Bob Guccione Jr. founder of Spin magazine and Gear magazine "Brewing Up a Business will inspire both entrepreneurs and aspiring small business people to have the confidence in following their dreams." -Jim Davis Chairman and CEO of New Balance "Sam Calagione embodies the spirit of a true Delaware entrepreneur. Starting out as the smallest brewery in the nation, Sam's ambition, acute business sense, and vision have allowed Dogfish Head Craft Brewery to successfully enter an extremely competitive market as Dogfish Head continues to leave an indelible mark on the beer industry." -Ruth Ann Minner Governor of Delaware "Everything you want to know about succeeding in business you can learn from beer. At least you can if it's the remarkable story of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery. Brewing Up a Business is like a 'how-to' manual for entrepreneurs. With humor, creativity, and wisdom, Sam Calagione has crafted a new kind of business book that's as unique as his great beer!" -Joe Calloway author of Becoming a Category of One and Indispensable
NATIONAL BESTSELLER and named a 2016 Best Book of the Year by Inc., Business Insider, and Forbes Founder of The Boston Beer Company, brewer of Samuel Adams Boston Lager, and a key catalyst of the American craft beer revolution, Jim Koch offers his unique perspective when it comes to business, beer, and turning your passion into a successful company or career. “Boston Beer’s Jim Koch offers readers a six-pack of wisdom.” – The Boston Globe Pull up a chair and crack open a Sam Adams. It’s time to leave behind business as you know it. Quench Your Own Thirst covers everything from finding your own Yoda to Koch’s theory on how a piece of string can teach you the most important lesson you’ll ever learn about business. Koch also has surprising advice on sales, marketing, hiring, and company culture. His anecdotes, quirky musings, and bits of wisdom go far beyond brewing. A fun, engaging guide for building a career or launching a successful business, Quench Your Own Thirst is the key to the ultimate dream: being successful while doing what you love. So, are you quenching you own thirst – or someone else’s? "Like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Larry Ellison, and the other greats, Jim Koch's entrepreneurial journey is motivated by a deep commitment to making superb products and building a unique culture that reinforces innovation and risk-taking. This book tells a compelling story about how he did it. The lessons will be invaluable for anyone starting a business or building a career." —Bill Hambrecht, co-founder or Hambrecht & Quist and chairman of WRHambrecht + Co
An unprecedented guide to successfully start or grow a microbrewery or craft brewery in a much more competitive world. Opening a microbrewery starts with, of course, making great beer. But that is just the beginning. Today’s sophisticated patrons are offered an ever-increasing array of options. It’s so much more than beer nowadays. Yes, great beer is essential, but to attract and hold on to a loyal customer base, you must create a sense of place. Do your research. Understand financing and cash flow. Know how to measure your success. A successful, well-run microbrewery knows how to hire the right employees—employees that will spread word of your business to friends, family, even total strangers, both on and off the clock. Marketing, branding, customer experience; they all matter. There are so many factors that directly and indirectly contribute to success, it may at times be overwhelming. The Microbrewery Handbook offers an extraordinary look at all of the facets of success in the industry. No matter if you are thinking about starting a new venture or are already operating your own microbrewery, this valuable book offers real-world advice and proven strategies to help you thrive in the competitive micro and craft brewing industry. Focused on practical guidance, author D.C. Reeves distills his experience founding Perfect Plain Brewing Company in Pensacola, Florida into an engaging, up-to-date resource for microbrewers everywhere. Clearly showing readers what works in the industry and, just as importantly, what doesn’t work, The Microbrewery Handbook: Helps you create unique, memorable experiences for your customers, your employees, and your city Includes coverage of the financial aspects of building and growing your business, such as banking, investment, and debt Shows you how to transform your business into a community anchor Offers suggestions on building an entire culture around your brand that promotes positivity and attracts the right kind of attention Shares personal stories and advice from a successful microbrew entrepreneur Includes interviews and insight with industry experts as well as owners of some of the nation’s elite craft breweries including Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head, Jeffrey Stuffings of Jester King, and Doug Resier of Burial Brewing The Microbrewery Handbook: Craft, Brew, and Build Your Own Microbrewery Success is an indispensable, first-of-its-kind book for anyone in the micro and craft brewing industry.
A “fascinating and well-documented social history” of American beer, from the immigrants who invented it to the upstart microbrewers who revived it (Chicago Tribune). Grab a pint and settle in with AmbitiousBrew, the fascinating, first-ever history of American beer. Included here are the stories of ingenious German immigrant entrepreneurs like Frederick Pabst and Adolphus Busch, titans of nineteenth-century industrial brewing who introduced the pleasures of beer gardens to a nation that mostly drank rum and whiskey; the temperance movement (one activist declared that “the worst of all our German enemies are Pabst, Schlitz, Blatz, and Miller”); Prohibition; and the twentieth-century passion for microbrews. Historian Maureen Ogle tells a wonderful tale of the American dream—and the great American brew. “As much a painstakingly researched microcosm of American entrepreneurialism as it is a love letter to the country’s favorite buzz-producing beverage . . . ‘Ambitious Brew’ goes down as brisk and refreshingly as, well, you know.” —New York Post
Your brewery is much more than just a small business—it's the fulfillment of your dream to share a love for quality craft beer and beverages. Build success from start-up to expansion with a solid foundation of finance principles geared specifically toward small beverage producers. Learn how to build and interpret financial reports and create basic pro-forma financial statements for launching a brewery, purchasing additional equipment, or determining a new location. Explore the various business models available to you as a craft brewery. Discover pricing models that maximize your profits. Learn how to build a budget and how to use it to hold staff accountable. This book is written to teach complex topics in simple terms. Written in an accessible style, it will help brewery owners and their staff understand the importance of a strong financial foundation. The insights and results-oriented content will help you run a more successful brewery.
For over 25 years, fresh flavourful beer has powered the growth of craft brewing in the United States. Along the way thousands who love great beer have started their own breweries and created thriving businesses. Now the Brewers Association, the national association for small brewers, tells you how to follow in the footsteps of these successful entrepreneurs. Written by industry veterans from every part of the country and every type of brewery, this text delivers the essential industry insight needed by aspiring brewers. In section one, individual brewers tell their stories of success -- and the lessons they leaned the hard way! Section two covers the ingredients and equipment of professional brewing so you can speak knowledgeably with brewmasters and suppliers. Section three delves into the marketing techniques used by both brewpubs and packaging craft breweries to help you to decide which business model to pursue. Finally section four covers finances including a sample business plan and essential operating data from current Brewers Association member breweries.
“Bitter Brew deftly chronicles the contentious succession of kings in a uniquely American dynasty. You’ll never crack open a six again without thinking of this book.” —John Sayles, Director of Eight Men Out and author of A Moment in the Sun The creators of Budweiser and Michelob beers, the Anheuser-Busch company is one of the wealthiest, most colorful and enduring family dynasties in the history of American commerce. In Bitter Brew, critically acclaimed journalist William Knoedelseder tells the riveting, often scandalous saga of the rise and fall of the dysfunctional Busch family—an epic tale of prosperity, profligacy, hubris, and the dark consequences of success that spans three centuries, from the open salvos of the Civil War to the present day.
