Firstly, we have no intention at the moment of distributing our beers locally or anywhere else, as this takes something bigger than we are wanting this project to become. We are focusing on the brewery/tap room itself for the time being.
We have five beers selected to begin with, those are our Devil's Tail Amber Ale, Liberty APA, AmeriWheat, Port O' Call Porter & 7 Dolls Mexican Cerveza.
Early last year, before a family tragedy occurred we hosted 10 tasting events around the Pensacola area to better understand what beers people liked the most. Starting with more than the five listed above, it was narrowed down to these beers to move forward with. Two of which (Amber Ale & Liberty APA) have each won medals in several competitions around the U.S. We actually have another tasting scheduled for mid to late March coming up so we are brewing up all our beers for that as well, for what we will open the brewery up with on tap.
Where We Are Now
Paperwork, paperwork and yes...More paperwork. Opening and operating a brewery/tap room has a lot of codes, licenses, fees taxes, etc. that go along with it, before you can even think about firing up your system to brew on. We have applied for a C.O.P. license here in Florida. Which is a Consume On Premises license. Meaning that we can brew and sell our beer, for onsite consumption. What they call a 'Brewpub' license. It touts an annual fee of $500.00. Basically meaning this:
- Beer brewed is for consumption on the premises only, no distribution or off-premise sales
- Maximum of 5000bbls/10,000 kegs annual production
We are also in the process of obtaining the following permits/licenses: Business License(s), Local zoning, Federal Brewers Permit, Florida Brewers Permit as well as health code permits pulled for the building(s) we have narrowed down to try and secure for this project. All-in-all the majority of this paperwork has to be done so Uncle Sam can collect his $0.06 on every pint sold and $0.48 on every gallon of beer brewed. Those being the excise taxes on beer. Basically we will sell all points for $5.00, meaning we'll end up pocketing $4.56 after the sales and excise taxes are taken out and paid to the government.
We currently have three spaces in mind and are going to visit one tomorrow with the listing agent. All are roughly the same size, ranging from 1,000 sqft to 1,700 sqft. All three are in the $450-$750 per month range (depending on the size), including utilities. Which is a major bonus for a brewery, with all the water we will be using. The buildings are basically industrial types, with a big roll up door opening to the biggest part of the space. With an office and bathroom area making up the other usage of the space. We would need to add a cool room, storage room and fermentation room, as well as building a blocking wall separating the brewery, from the tap room area and bar, as this is a must in a brewpub. The government wants to keep patrons away from "untaxed" beer.
The Brewhouse
We are currently about 90% away from having everything on this list, so this in effect will be what we will begin brewing on when we open.
(3) 55 gallon Bilchman kettles for the HLT, Mash Tun and Brew kettle (all electric)
The HLT and Boil Kettle will have (2) 5500 watt heating elements
Therminator Wort Chiller
Electric Brewery 50A Control Panel will run the show
Steelhead Pumps
(10) 40 Gallon Minibrew Conical Fermenters
This list is obviously just the tip of the iceberg of all the equipment that will either need to be purchased or that we already have purchased. With the brewery costs for equipment, ingredients, building materials, licensing and permit fees. We have come to a figure (plus 10%) around $25-30K.
That in a nutshell is what we are moving towards and current at with this project. Just wanted to share it with the
