Advice on getting into the beer industry

Thinking make beer.

 

It's Saturday. This is more of a Monday morning type thread no?

As usual with this type of thread - maybe provide a lot more info in terms of a) your experience (business executive covers all manner of sins) and b) what part of the beer industry you actually want to get involved in, and any direct/relevant experience you may already have in that area.

 

I just recently did it. Shot in the dark emailed a brewery. Offered my time. anything they need. Now im cleaning kegs. Its a start and the foot in the door i needed no matter how dirty the work. But im only 23. I dont mind doing the dirty work for next to nothing. As long as im learning. Good luck.

 

LOL, in a 24/7 world, why wait until Monday morning?!

a) Currently a VP of HR/Operations in a brokerage. Prior industry experience at a similar level in retail and manufacturing. Budget management of up to $8M, up to 1,200 employees, union & non-union environments.

b) Live in a mid-size Canadian border city with no plans to relocate. On this basis, thinking some options may be limited? However, my first thoughts are working in a brewery. Like URK1127's idea. Maybe I should reach out to the local beer breweries (craft movement is hitting our city) to enquire.

 

Tricky. Foot in the door professions usually pay minimum wage, even our holy beer hobby. So you really need to think long and hard.

Starting your own brewery is atleast $100k easily. Permits and such are the biggest hurdle around my parts.

Have you home brewed before?

I too love almost all parts of our growing beer culture but never made the jump to make it a part of my profession. I think drinking and home brewing bbl batches is enough for me.

Atleast locally, they all seem to say much like @Urk1127 is saying. Do the grunt work and they will teach you to brew.

Honestly it sounds like your business background could aid in getting a front office type job and that could translate into you walking the floors and 'helping' eventually.

 

All excellent points, and somewhat where my head has been at. Minimum wage isn't all that appealing...

I have no brewing experience. Mainly because my career requires a lot of hours and I have 2 small children and spouse with his own hours intensive career.

But I like your idea about translating my skills into a front office role so I can gain exposure to other aspects of the industry.

 

I work a full time job and on my days off i drive an hour to said brewery to dump and santize kegs in and out. And i don't make money. I get paid in beer. Which right now im ok with that. Its a process but so far im learning some things. Its honestly been one of the most difficult things to get into. The towns around here are small. All the brewers are tight knit. Its who you know around here. It was easier to get into firefighting than it was brewing lol.

@hotsudge
What i believe helped me is the Cicerone tests. The certified beer server exam will give you a legitimate certification that more or less is "proof" you know beer. And on paper to back up your word, skills always look better obviously. Pass the first, you take the second when you can. First can be done online.

https://www.cicerone.org/us-en/certifications/certified-beer-server

I did it, and it helped me get into a brewery. That website will tell you everything. Plus its cool i can say "im certified in beer" lol. A 15 yr beer hobby you should have no problem with the first test i honestly wouldnt pay the $100 plus for the practice downloads and stuff. Ut there are questions on kegs lines, pressurized systems too.

 

I'm going to be the grinch or crampus or whatever it is that smashes dreams. It is easy to romanticize the idea of shirking the corporate life in favor of minimizing one's responsibility. I make great money doing what I do, supporting my family with some side cash for getting my wife through her post grad while feeding my beer habit as well. As much ad i would like to brew professionally, too much rests on my shoulderd, and my life is quite comfortable. In the end are you willing to throw out everything you have worked for to be the bottom employee in a brewery that probably can't pay its highest paid employees a fraction of what you are used to making? Are you willing to do all the crap work just to learn how to convert starches into sugars? Does lugging 50 pound bags up a ladder sound like fun? How about shoveling hot cereal out of a mash tun? How about exposing yourself to dangerous chemicals to clean the mash tuns and fermenters? It equates to a shitty low paying job in the end that you need to be passionate about.
with that out of the way, @Oktoberfiesta brings up a good point about homebrewing. Brewing itself is a wonderful hobby that you can easily get into for a small investment. I am sure there is a homebrew club near you that could lead the way and help get you started.
Lastly, you could always invest In a start up brewery. As an investor you could still maintain your current job, but possibly moonlite at the brewery. It could afford you the opportunity to shadow the brewer as well, circumventing the "working your way up" part of the experience.

 

Thats what i was talking about from a lower 20 yr old point of view i will do dirty, disgusting dangerous things. But my only responsibilities right now are paying a few bills and my dog. From a perspective of somebody who already has a family and all that, its a huge risk like you said and i may not be able to do what im doing right now. I should have mentioned im young so i have time and less worry. So take it with a grain of salt. Because im in the boat with everybody who has nothing to lose yet.

 

I read this and immediately thought of Deb Loch.

As I recall, she was a homebrewer in her mid-forties who was unsatisfied with the idea of working into retirement in the corporate world, so she decided to make a career change.

She began at the ground floor, working at a homebrew supply shop and learning the ins and outs of the trade. A few years later she began an intensive internship at our oldest area microbrewery, Summit Brewing Company. A few years after that, she opened a brewery.

This took many years, of course, but hers is only one of many such examples. The point is that it can be done if the will to change and work for it is there.

 

What does your dog charge you?

 

Oddly enough, this thread WAS started on a Monday (July 18th)

 

Start with a distributor. If you position yourself correctly, you will have direct access to representatives and even ownership from all of the breweries that you distribute. If you are on the sales side, you will also have contact with reps from other breweries out in the market. There is incredibly high turnover with even the largest breweries, and everyone talks, so when jobs are open you will hear about it. Beware, there is not a lot of money in the beer industry. We do it because we love it, not because we want to get rich.

 

The thread that was started today got merged with a similar one started then.

 

I've heard stories about the hot caustic cleaners... ouch.

 

You must not own a dog.

 

Your options are definitely limited without consideration to relocation. How many breweries are within a reasonable commuting distance to you, and how many of them might have a quality job open in the near future? As an example, I received the monthly newsletter from Bell's today, and they are hiring from "internships to management." So there are opportunities that you are missing.

 

This is pretty good advice, and reflects my own experience. Once out of college I knew I wanted to work in beer, but didn't have a very streamlined vision of just what I wanted to do or how to get there. At first I thought I wanted to get into brewing, so I started knocking on doors at local breweries and trying to volunteer my free time. What I found was that brewing actually wasn't for me. It was a lot like the full time factory jobs I had been working to pay the bills at the time: it was monotonous, tedious, dirty, labor intensive, and just not that fun to me. So I went back to the drawing board and took a job in retail. I worked a part time weekend job (while still working that full time shitty factory job) at a big box liquor store in their beer department. I mostly did the grunt work like stock the shelves and work the redemption area and stuff, but I also got valuable experience pouring tastings and doing seminars with brewery reps and things of that nature. Being that it was a big store, brewery and distributor reps paid a lot of attention to it and I had the good fortune of networking with them too.

After a couple years of this I started job searching and interviewing and got a job offer as a sales rep for the biggest craft beer distributor in my state. (I should note that I kind of skipped a step here in that most people starting an entry job with a distributor end up as a delivery guy or merchandiser before working their way up). I learned a TON while working on the distribution side of things. Most people have very little knowledge of what goes on in the middle tier, but it might just be arguably the most important of the three tiers. I learned how to execute a great sales call. I learned to interact with retailers and bar managers and what their needs and expectations were and how to meet them. I learned how to properly merchandise and position product so that it would sell most efficiently. I learned how to set up and execute promos and events. I got to network even more closely with brewery reps and even sometimes owners. I was lucky enough to travel the country and visit many of the breweries I worked with and got to experience each brewery's culture first-hand. Most importantly, I made lasting relationships and even close friendships with people in all facets of the industry. Now, after almost four years of working the distribution side, I've taken a job offer in a sales position from an awesome, well respected and well established brewery. I look forward to rounding out my experience in the third tier of the industry. Most importantly, I'm happy and I love what I do.

To the OP- I hope you realize what you're getting yourself into if you are serious about trying to open a brewery, because it's never been harder. Especially in a saturated market like MA. Don't plan on ever getting rich. Don't think for a second that achieving your goals won't take anything less than an incredible amount of hard work. And DO NOT rush things. Opening a brewery as soon as you can get the funding would be a big mistake if you also don't have the experience and connections you'll need to succeed. First and foremost, make sure you're actually going to like it. Do all the dirty jobs. Spend years and years gaining hands-on experience in the industry. If after that you still think it's what you want to do, then worry about starting a business. And realize that that too, will present you with a new and ridiculous set of challenges that you still won't be totally prepared for. Good luck.

 

My bet is that you likely would be able to sell. To make any money in the beverage industry, being good at sales is the ticket. You probably know beer well, but how about wine? Getting a sales position at a beer/wine distributor (if Canada has similar distribution companies to the US) could get you "in the door", you'd meet people and then employment options should increase fairly quickly. Small to mid-size distributors generally are more fun than the bigger groups.

 

Interesting many mention free beer. That is likely the only perk I saw out of many people I saw/know who either wanted To work or do work at breweries locally."hey I may make $10.50/hr working 12 hour days distributing beer but atleast they tell me I can take home a case a beer a week. ". I also hear from guys that make nothing but are allowed unlimited draft pints after hours....the only downside is that most workers work a good 45 minutes away.

We'll pay you shit but teach you how to brew or give you free beer

That's what I have learned. Almost no different than other professions. Buzz kil lost?