Brewing for a Restaurant

[blueberry]

I was approached by an owner who is opening a new restaurant near me and they wanted to know if I could brew for them. I would brew on my own time at home. This is not a brew pub asking me to use their equipment and brew. Is this even possible? I have no idea what the first steps would even be in terms of a legal aspect. If anyone has info on the subject or can point me towards some sources. Much appreciated.

[jwatkins56550]

the nano-brewing episode on the session had some good info.

[herbaljoe]

I was approached by an owner who is opening a new restaurant near me and they wanted to know if I could brew for them. I would brew on my own time at home. This is not a brew pub asking me to use their equipment and brew. Is this even possible? I have no idea what the first steps would even be in terms of a legal aspect. If anyone has info on the subject or can point me towards some sources. Much appreciated.

I don't know of anywhere where this is actually legal. I've been approached in this manner as well and I had to turn it down, as tempting as it was.

[BadRock]

Check out this show, it might answer some of your questions and give you a direction to head.


Nano and Partner Brewing

[Mills]

Great compliment man! You should be proud! I second or third the advice of checking out the nano show.

Mills

[ajlewis13]

Found myself in a similar situation and ran with it (Brass Monkey Brewing, Kokomo IN). It's definitely possible but a lot of work. By the time my license arrived the restaurant was already so far in the red that there was no way my 10 gallon system could pull them out...so I was only brewing for about 6 months before they closed their doors. The way we approached it was that I basically started my own brewery and rented space from them with the retaurant being my one and only customer. Long story short I loved the brewing part but hated the business owner side. Despite the short run and headaches I'd do it again in a second...good luck!

[Adam]

Michigan is the worst Great Lakes region state to brew commercially. Highest beer tax. I looked into it and will be opening my brewery in Wisconsin instead.

You'll need to be licensed by the state with a brewery license. You must sell wholesale and cannot sell direct to the restaurant. You cannot hold a brewery license and a wholesale license at the same time. You will need a $50/1,000bbl estimated production surety, not to exceed $100,000.

Federal beer tax is $7 per barrel for under 60K barrel production. MI state beer tax is $6.30 per barrel. Under 50K bbl production you get a $2/ bbl credit.

Contrast that with Wisconsin and it's $2/bbl beer tax with a $1/bbl credit less than 50,000 bbl production.

For Michigan, look here for the regulatory body for alcohol. Here's the retail guide which covers the entire industry.

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dleg/ ... 4923_7.pdf

[blueberry]

Thank you adam,
The more I looked into it I was realizing that Michigan sucks for this type of thing. Thanks for all your help everybody. I will just keep to myself and brew for me and my friends.

edit: I don't know if she had any part of this but Fuck Granholm.