Book: Starting Your Own Brewery

Boy am I in trouble. This is only book number three of the year (which is half way over) out of the twelve I promised myself I would read. I guess it is time to turn the computer off a little earlier at night and pick up my book more regularly. Below you’ll find the review I posted on Amazon.com. 

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“What worse way to describe a book than, ‘It was OK’, it’s like someone telling you your best atribute is that your ‘nice’. But that’s just it, for what it was supposed to be ‘The Brewers Association’s Guide to Starting Your Own Brewery’ (think about it, that’s a lot of weight in that title) it was only OK. There was some nice insight from brewing professionals whose opinions I already respect, there was some rough ideas of what to expect, and some sections with great detail about things I couldn’t care less about at this point – the point of ‘I’m still reading books to plan a brewery’.

I would have really have liked to have seen more real money and real equipment talked about. Basically they broke it down like this: it is hard and expensive, but if you can pull it off it is sooo worth it. That’s not enough for me. Oh, I will mention there was a very detailed business plan which could be a great reference to the right person, but it reads like a business plan, go figure. Real snoozer of a way to end the book.

One last thing, this is an $80 book that as an AHA member I was able to buy for $50 from the Brewers Association so I at least felt like I got a deal, but to now see Amazon with it for sale for $50 kind of burns me up. This isn’t an $80 book (think college text book) nor really a $50 book (think high school text book or instruction manual), it’s more of a decent $25 book (think normal informative/opinionated book). So, all in all I am not saying don’t get this book, but I would only get this book if you are seriously contemplating opening your own brewery and only as one more reference, not the be-all-to-end-all.”

It’s an OK book. Some of it is enjoyable, some of it funny, some of it boring, some of it informative, some of it repetative – dunno, it’s a weak second addition. The first addition came out 12 years ago (which I have never read), I think in the last 12 years they have enough resources to make this book awesome, it was not.

2 Responses to “Book: Starting Your Own Brewery”

  1. Garrett Says:

    Opening a brewery, huh? Sure you don’t want to borrow some of my big-boy kettles to practice on first??? At least the 14 gallon so you can brew a 10gal batch…

    :-p just pulling your chain main. If I could maintain my standard of living and brew for a living… I might consider it, but I hear that ain’t gonna happen (even working for myself).

  2. Brian Says:

    Smart Ass!

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