Dan Conley from Community Beer Works talks about nanobrewing, the scale differences in breweries and the process involved of starting a brewery of your own.

1. Fun & Excitement While
Opening a Brewery
Dan Conley
Community Beer Works
dan@communitybeerworks.com
http://www.communitybeerworks.com

2. What is Community
Beer Works?
• Nanobrewery coming soon to a Buffalo near
you
• How soon? That's the point of this presentation
• 15 Lafayette Ave, by Niagara St (Mmm,
Santasiero's)
• Seven guys: Ethan, Dave, Rudy, Greg, Dan,
Chris, Matt

3. A bit of perspective
5 mm
If we're an ant...

4. A bit of perspective
7.5 cm
Flying Bison is a baseball...

5. A bit of perspective
6.5 m
Sam Adams is a killer whale...

6. A bit of perspective
3.9 km
...and Budweiser is a moon of Jupiter

7. Lies and damn lies
Brewery bbl/year Ratio Size
CBW 432 1 5 mm
Flying
6,500 15.05 7.5 cm
Bison
Boston
565,000 1,307.87 6.5 m
Beer Co.
Anheuser 339,945,1
786,910 3.9 km
Busch 17
1 bbl = 31 US gallons

8. Now then: the process

9. Now then: the process
• Find a location
• File with the Federal Alcohol and Tobacco
Taxation and Trade Bureau (TTB)
• File with the New York State Liquor Authority
(SLA)
• Pass inspection from the NYS Department of
Agriculture
• Make some beer!

10. Location
• You need a lease before you can
file with the TTB
• Zoning laws assume you're a
giant brewery
• It was tough to find a location in a
community
• Breweries use a lot of gas and
water

11. TTB
• All owners need to pass a
background check
• Be prepared to write: our
application was over 65 pages
• You WILL misfile something.
The WILL be delays.
• Once you file, no brewing on
site. At all.
• No more than 90 days later,
get a Brewer's Notice Just one page of fun

12. 90 days for the
Brewer's Notice

13. 90 days for the
Brewer's Notice
We filed January 18, 141 days ago.

14. We've never used these

15. The Kicker
• You need a location before you file
• All told, it's at least a year (TTB, SLA, etc)
• This means you're paying rent and utilities
while being legally prohibited from making
money

16. What We've Learned
• Have friends. You cannot do this alone. We're the
League of Extraordinary Brewers.
• Have lots of money and free time. You'll dump both
into the brewery.
• Social media! Friends have benefits.
• Brewer's Notice: have detailed plans.
• Nano is the way to go (n=1).