How NOT To Start A Damn Brewery: the podcast

Oct 29 2024 75 ep. 92 mins 87

How NOT To Start A Damn Brewery: the podcast artwork

People of Earth, I would like to welcome you to the How NOT To Start a Damn Brewery: the podcast. In this podcast I consider it my duty to share the sometimes gory but always honest truth hidden in the craft beer industry. Mainly that it rarely operates like a business. Margins are trash, distributors are garbage and capital expenditures are a raging dumpster fire. But many of the people are badasses. I autopsy deceased breweries, retailers and distributors. I talk with wineries, breweries and distilleries. All in the search for ways to lure out profitability and best practices. Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/damnbrewery/support

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Tanglefoot Brewing - Andy Martinec

Oct 29 2024 90 mins

Tanglefoot made some solid lagers in an unlikely place. Temple, TX is a town of about 90K people about an hour to Austin. A huge segment of that population has Czech blood in their veins and a thirst for beer from the Old Country. But as Andy Martinec found out the hard way, that didn’t necessarily mean they would support a local business making great examples of Czech lagers.

Pono Brewing - Larry Clouser

Sep 24 2024 114 mins

Pono Brewing of Portland Oregon was conceived as a lifestyle as much if not more than a beer brand. The beers were lively, fun, inventive and everything a craft brewery should be. Larry Clouser and his partners grew from humble beginnings as a contract brewery to statewide distribution to opening a brewpub/restaurant before finally closing the doors in 2023. Larry’s story cov

Blue Cat Brewing Co - Charlie Cole

Aug 15 2024 73 mins

Blue Cat Brewpub was an Illinois icon. One of the state’s first brewpubs, they made award-winning beer for 23 years. After the owners sold and the brewery was rebranded unsuccessfully, the new owners were looking for a way to save the dream. That’s where Charlie Cole came marching into the picture. After working at most of the Quad-city’s breweries, hosting a beer-centric

Margins Wine - Megan Bell

Jul 24 2024 93 mins

And now for something a little different. I came across an article in the San Francisco Chronicle, thanks to my sister-in-law, that cited the struggles of the California wine industry. I found the similarities to the struggles that the people behind their beer businesses face to be truly compelling and undeniably relevant. So I reached out to Megan Bell from Margins Wine becaus

North Center Brewing - Kevin DeGrood

Jun 24 2024 103 mins

In the span of a decade, Michigan saw a major craft beer boom, going from around 100 craft breweries to upwards of 400. In the middle of that marketplace Kevin DeGrood opened Michigan’s North Center Brewing way back in 2015. He watched a fairly virgin market become deflowered with nearly 30 breweries just during the time he was finalizing his business plan. His start up was m

Deschutes Brewery - Gary Fish

May 28 2024 78 mins

The focus of this show has always been to tell the stories of beer operations that one day turned off the lights for the last time. I’ve chosen to be very selective when considering interviewing breweries that are still stirring their mashes. To date, I’ve only shared 5. There are a lot of reasons why but based on listener feedback, I’ve decided to look for opportunities to

Emmanuales - Nick Law

May 17 2024 103 mins

A few seasons back I realized that to truly tell the story of the business of craft beer, we needed input from other countries. So I reached out to Canadian, Australian, Norwegian, UK and South African breweries. Some of those interviews have already been released. But the very first international guest I tried to get was Nick Law. He not only had a beer brand but he’d started

Burnt Hickory Brewing - Scott Hedeen

May 01 2024 115 mins

Scott Hedeen was the quintessential beer fan. Back in the days when it was still cool to run all over Hell’s left testicle and cellar beers that don’t distribute to your state so you can trade them with other nerds of similar or increased nerdocity. The only thing he may have been more into than beer was (maybe is) music. But Scott’s on this podcast not because he sold hi

Coastal Craft Kombucha - Rachel Rappa

Mar 27 2024 84 mins

Rachel Rappa didn’t make beer. She imagined into life what grew into a large-scale kombucha brewery on Long Island in New York. But the similarities between what she experienced growing her fermented sweet tea business to the craft beer industry are startling. She dealt with distributors, retailers, employees, seasonality, limited access to growth capital and packaging issues,

Main & 6 Brewing - Dennis Espinosa

Mar 03 2024 97 mins

When Dennis Espinosa partnered with his mom to open Main and 6 in Jacksonville Florida he had the highest of hopes. In 2017, like pretty much everyone in craft beer, he only saw victory ahead. Most people would agree that he was set up for success. He started with award-winning beers, bought the building and hired an designer to make it special. He won more awards for his beer,