Nanobrewing and pipe dreams.......

Well, I have been thinking a lot lately that eventually I would like to open up my own small craft brewery or a brewpub. I have dreams of both really. If I go the brewpub route, I see myself owning a small brick building with a nice deep oak bar. I would have 4 house beers and 2 or 3 seasonal brews, maybe serve some lite lunch and typical pub fare for dinner. Then I would tend the bar and be content. The other dream is just as good I think, it would be to gather up the start up money, get a couple of partners that I like and trust and open up on a small scale and then eventually ramp up to bigger production. I would love to start small like Ithaca Beer and gain my own cult following. I can see myself and a few other people shopping kegs to local bars and getting them to serve it on tap, then eventually 6 and 12 packs being sold in all the local stores.

So these dreams are attainable I think, but I am a long way off from getting there, which leads me to Nanobrewing. I was reading an article in a beer magazine, I am pretty sure it was the magazine All About Beer, but anyway it was all about small "Nanobreweries". Basically, nanobreweries are the next step up from homebrewing but not quite big enough to be conisdered a microbrewery or craft brewery. A lot of these guys and girls started out homebrewing like me and had the same dreams and aspirations of selling and marketing their beers. They typically brew in small amounts, anywhere from 200 to 1000 gallons a year and have gone through the process of getting licensed to brew and sell their beer. I did a little research and I found out that a single person can brew 100 gallons of beer per year before the TTB (wine and beer government body) will tax you. If you live with someone you can brew 200 gallons before being taxed. I found that law very interesting, I figure I could brew at least 100 gallons pretty easily. I figure last year I brewed between 40 - 50 gallons already, so what's a few more batches.

Which brings me to a short term plan, this year I am going to try to really brew a lot more beer. If I can brew 200 gallons without any pressure of taxation from "The Man", well hell I'll give it my best shot. So this year I really want to fine tune my craft and try to really tune up 4 styles of beer. Then in 2 - 3 years, I would like to make the leap to Nanobrewery.

Now which comes to the difficult decision of trying to come up with the perfect brewery name. I have thought of a lot of names and some of them are good and some are just not what I see when I see my beer. I kind of like a few of these but not enough to actually stick with them. Here are just a few: True North Brewing, Stubborn Bull Brewing, Fat Lip Brewing, and Hoodlum Brewing. Now for anyone that knew me years ago or knows me well knows that tough guy names tend to match my past and my personality. Now even though those names strike a chord with me, the vast majority of the general public just doesn't get what those names mean to me and would probably portray them in a negative light. So you see my dilemna.

Anyway, I just wanted to get a few thoughts and dreams out there.