The Business Of Craft Beer

Social media today offers everybody a platform for communicating to the world. This can be positive yet also disastrous for any business. This is especially the case for a brewery that is diligent at building and maintaining their brand. One substantial misstep can lead to a torrent of bad publicity, especially if this situation is not managed effectively. In our 3/12 podcast we’ll talk with Mat Medeiros from Revival Brewing located in Cranston, RI and Marcus Ohanesian from Timberyard Brewing located in East Brookfield, MA. We examine the need for a social media plan to efficiently manage a brewery’s online presence and also what to do when navigating any negative social media experiences. Mat will be teaching a course next fall in the University of Vermont’s new Beer School, which offers online continuing education training for staff in the beer industry. This course, “Social Media: Handling Difficult Situations (& and How to Avoid a Social Media Blow-up)” will be a 4-week online course. Please call us with your questions at 929-477-1757, or if you are unable to attend the live podcast, send us your questions ahead of time. Email me at gregory.dunkling@uvm.edu.

Today, breweries are hyper-focused on their taprooms. Serving beer directly to customers offers not only a financial advantage but also a strong connection to customers. Increasingly, taprooms are beginning to look a lot more like brewpubs with partial or full-food service. If you started out planning to run a brewery but now find yourself running a restaurant and brewery, what are the risks and rewards of operating two very different businesses? This fall UVM’s new Beer School, offers online continuing education courses aimed at serving operating breweries. We will offer two courses: Brewpub/Taproom and Restaurant Planning and Maximizing Taproom Sales and Profits and the focus of today’s podcast. How do you hire and build a team? How does the food menu reflect your brand and community needs? How is menu development and pricing accomplished to avoid financial losses? How can you grow or scale for the long run? Operating an on-premise retail business also involves far more than making good beer. Brewery owners must set-up taproom financial reporting systems and understand how to maximize taproom sales and track key financial numbers. Please join Kary Shumawy and David Nyhan for a discussion of how to successfully turn a taproom into a strong business asset. Please call us with your questions at 929-477-1757, or if you are unable to attend the live podcast, send us your questions ahead of time. Email me at gregory.dunkling@uvm.edu.

Ready to take next steps in your career in craft beer, but wondering how to proceed?  Let us provide some guidance. Join us on December 11, at 6:00pm (EST) for a live, call-in, Q&A podcast featuring UVM Business of Craft Beer program director Gregory Dunkling. Call in with your questions at 929-477-1757, or listen in to learn more about how our incredible and transformative program can assist you in launching a brewery or make a career change into the world of craft beer.

Join us for a conversation about UVM's Business of Craft Beer Professional Certificate program, featuring Program Director Gregory Dunkling. Please call us with your questions at 9294771757, or if you are unable to attend the live podcast, send us your questions ahead of time. You can email us at gregory.dunkling@uvm.edu.

Today's episode will feature Stone Corral Brewery, located in Richmond, Vermont. Stone Corral is a family operated artisanal brewery that was started on their horse ranch in Huntington, Vermont.  In 2016 the brewery moved to its current location adding a taproom and music venue. Stone Corral offers well-balanced brews featuring local, seasonal flavors and borrowing from the German, Belgian and British brewing traditions. Owners Bret and Melissa Hamilton will join us. Please call us with your questions at 929-477-1757, or if you can’t attend the live podcast, send us your questions ahead of time. Email us at Gregory.dunkling@uvm.edu

We'll be joined by Jeff Nowicki from Bump Williams Consulting to help us separate fact from fiction when it comes to the state of the craft beer industry. This will be Part One in a series of discussions this fall and winter examining trends, consumer attitudes about beer, opportunities and potential pitfalls for current and start-up breweries. Join us at noon with your questions, or if you are unable to attend the live podcast, send your questions ahead of time to gregory.dunkling@uvm.edu. The phone lines will be open and you are welcome to call in at (929) 477-1757 to join the conversation.

So you’ve pursued your dream to launch a brewery and developed a comprehensive plan to make this a reality. Now you need funding to realize this dream. On the other hand, you may have had so much success with your brewery you are ready to expand. Where will you find the resources to make this possible? This fall/winter UVM’s Business of Craft Beer Podcasts will cover a range of possible financial approaches to financing a brewery start-up or expanding a current brewery. (Hint: we will have a 5-week short course covering this topic next summer.) We are pleased to have Scott Birkner, Senior Vice President and Rick Sayward, Vice President – of Craft Beverage Lending at United Community Bank. Scott and Rick will describe the process for working with UCB, what they look for in a proposal and criteria to meet to help get your brewery funded. Please call us with your questions at 929-477-1757, or if you are unable to attend the live podcast, send us your questions ahead of time. Email me at gregory.dunkling@uvm.edu.

What if you started a brewery and your IP could literally walk out the front door? Today’s craft breweries increasingly face such a challenge. In a renowned collaborative business environment, is the answer legal protection or reliance on good will? Join us on September 18 at 12:00 noon EST for a discussion and share your thoughts. We will discuss best practices and pragmatic solutions for breweries to implement in protection of  their intellectual property. Presenter: Matthew McLaughlin, founder of McLaughlin, PC, a boutique law firm serving the alcohol industry. McLaughlin was the recipient of the Brewers Association “Defense of the Industry Award” for his work in support of the craft beer industry. The phone lines will be open and you are welcome to call in at (929) 477-1757 to join the conversation!

So you are committed to opening your own brewery but don’t have the required capital. What are your options? Partnership brewing may be a viable solution. In the early days of craft beer this was referred to as contract brewing. Yet today, this business model has evolved considerably. A number of top-ranked breweries utilize a partnership model. Instead of raising capital for a facility, brewing and packaging equipment, and many staff, this business model allows for a focus on recipe development, marketing, branding and sales – and a smaller brewery/taproom. Meanwhile, the cost of getting started or expanding to other regions of the country is considerably less that building your own brewery. The phone lines will be open and you are welcome to call in at (929) 477-1757 to join the conversation!

So you are committed to opening your own brewery but don’t have the required capital. What are your options? Partnership brewing may be a viable solution. In the early days of craft beer this was referred to as contract brewing. Yet today, this business model has evolved considerably. A number of top-ranked breweries utilize a partnership model. Instead of raising capital for a facility, brewing and packaging equipment, and many staff, this business model allows for a focus on recipe development, marketing, branding and sales – and a smaller brewery/taproom. Meanwhile, the cost of getting started or expanding to other regions of the country is considerably less that building your own brewery. Over the next few months we’ll be talking to some of the leading production breweries in this space, Brew Hub and Dorchester Brewing to mention two, along with their partner breweries. We’ll examine the benefits of this approach -- and examine the perspective of the small start-up brewery owner and how they’re able to allocate their financial and personnel resources most efficiently. The phone lines will be open and you are welcome to call in at (929) 477-1757 to join the conversation!

This week's episode of the Business of Craft Beer Blog Talk Radio Show will feature Paul and Christen Gentile of Gentile Brewing Company in Beverly, Massachusetts. Gentile Brewing Company is a family-owned and operated nano craft brewery located north of Boston in Beverly, Massachusetts. Founded in 2015 by Beverly residents Paul and Christen, they are focused on providing their community with fresh craft beer made with quality ingredients.  

test of new model

Join us this week on UVM's Business of Craft Beer Blog Talk Radio for a conversation with Tom Wilmes, Contributing Editor of Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine and Gerry Moran, Global Head of Social Media for Cognizant and Long-time Professor of Marketing at St. Joseph's University. Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine is a collaboration between a group of homebrewers and beer lovers from Fort Collins, Colorado who also happen to have experience making magazines, books, apps and websites. They’re committed to building the ideal place to go to get our daily fix of brewing tips, beer news, and the scoop on the latest in beer gear. Visit their website here: https://beerandbrewing.com/  The phone lines will be open and you are welcome to call in at (929) 477-1757 to join the conversation!

This week's episode of the Business of Craft Beer Blog Talk Radio Show will feature Isaac Arthur, Designer and Partner of CODO Design. CODO Design is an Indianapolis branding & web design firm founded on the belief that we can create better work by directly including our clients in the creative process. Learn more about our Hands-on Branding process. The phone lines will be open and you are welcome to call in at (929) 477-1757 to join the conversation.

This weeks episode will feature Dr. Heather Darby, an Agronomist for UVM Extension.  Heather has been developing the Northwest Crops and Soils Program since she came to UVM in 2003 and provides leadership to the team.  Heather’s passion for sustainable agriculture and the enthusiasm she receives from Vermont’s farmers and professionals have fueled the expansion of her program, which covers the state of Vermont, and brings her around New England, across the country, and beyond to places like the Netherlands, Italy, Denmark, Brazil and Washington DC.  Her goal is to provide sound research based agronomic information for the farmers of Vermont. Her varied interests and the enthusiasm lead her to work with a variety of agronomic crops including forages and specialty crops. Hop production was common throughout the Northeast in the 1800s. However, today most hop production occurs in the Pacific Northwest. Renewed interest and demand for local hops is breathing new life into an otherwise “historical” crop. To increase hops production in the Northeast, Dr. Heather Darby and the UVM Extension Northwest Crops and Soils Team conducts a hops outreach and applied research program. The phone lines will be open and you are welcome to call in at (929) 477-1757 to join the conversation.

Hops Conversation 2.0

This week's episode of the Business of Craft Beer Blog Talk Radio Show will include Stuart Howe, Head Brewer for 12 years at Sharp's Brewery in Rock, Cornwall, United Kingdom. Sharp’s is the largest Brewery of cask conditioned beer in the South West UK and owner of one of the UK's fastest growing beer brands, Doom Bar. Howe joined Sharp’s in 2002, and helped oversee the expansion from 10,000 bbls to 200,000 bbls; and is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions for his brewing and beers. “My raison d’etre as a brewer,” states Howe, “is to make great beers which appeal to true connoisseurs but at the same time are accessible to the average drinker.” For further details on Stuart, see his blog “Brewing at the Dockside” - http://brewingreality.blogspot.com/p/about-me.html The phone lines will be open and you are welcome to call in at (929) 477-1757 to join the conversation.

Please join us this week for a conversation about Craft Beer Co-ops with Andy Martinec, Brewer at Black Star Co-op Pub and Brewery, located in Austin, TX and Shawn Becker, Board President of Flying Bike Cooperative Brewery, located in Seattle, WA. Flying Bike Cooperative Brewery set out “to foster a cooperative craft beer community to learn about, create, and appreciate a diverse selection of quality beers.” Black Star Co-op is the world’s first cooperatively-owned and worker self-managed brewpub. We are owned by a community of more than 3,000 individuals and organizations, and we're democratically managed by our Workers' Assembly. The phone lines will be open and you are welcome to call in at (929) 477-1757 to join the conversation.

Please join us this week for a conversation with Jon Reynold, President of BrewPlan, Inc. The phone lines will be open and you are welcome to call in at (929) 477-1757 to join the conversation.

Please join us this week for a conversation with Steve Young, Founder of SYNEK. SYNEK (“sin-eck”) is the first ever crowdsourced countertop beer dispenser. With a SYNEK you gain access to virtually any beer in the world, which is then dispensed fresh right from your home countertop. The phone lines will be open and you are welcome to call in at (929) 477-1757 to join the conversation.