I was interviewed for KQED's California Report along with fellow homebrewer,
Richard Brewer-Hay from
Elizabeth St Brewery in Noe Valley, San Francisco. The show was mainly interested in homebrewing during the recession. I have to say, I don't really save much money making my own beer. Renting the warehouse, the initial cost of the equipment, throwing away bad batches, not to mention all the time I spend brewing, it all adds up. I definitely save money and time if I just bought beer from the store, but it just wouldn't be as fun.
Opening a brewery in a recession is other story. I think opening any business in general in this economy is tough. However, I think beer businesses (especially micro breweries) are receding a lot slower than most businesses. Science research, for example, is very slow. So the bottom line... now is the time to open a brewery.
Check out the radio piece!
http://www.californiareport.org/archive/R910161630/c
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Man, you're living one of my dreams. Those are some awesome photos and the radio piece was pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteMy friend got me started on brewing late 2009 and I've done 4 batches from extracts since then. My favorite was probably the IPA, but they were all a lot of fun to make. I'm in Berkeley and I'd love to come taste your beer and see your setup sometimes.