Wiseass Brewing
We started home brewing in 2000. It didn't take us long before we realized we were good at it. Early on we entered a few home brewing competitions. Once we had taken home a handful of ribbons and medals, we decided to set our sights higher. Over time our process has become more sophisticated and our scale has increased. From those first 19 liter (5 gallon) batches in the garage, we gradually built our system up to a 1 barrel (117 liter, 31 gallon) brewery built on a back patio, complete with glycol cooled fermenters. We now have 10 original beer recipes and 3 original soft drink recipes. It's time to take the next step and move our equipment to a space where we can brew full time, share our creations with the public, and continue growing.
Reaching our goal of raising $30,000 will allow us to lease a commercial space large enough to accommodate all of our equipment, make necessary improvements to plumbing and ventilation, acquire materials, and cover incidental start up costs. If we exceed our funding goal, we will use the excess to increase our brewing capacity. We are hoping to open in Des Moines, Washington (you wouldn't believe how many people have asked why I'd want to open a brewery in Iowa), but that is subject to change.
Our strategy is based on the success of several other Pacific Northwest craft breweries who started on a small scale and have since expanded. Some have grown from half barrel to 10 barrel or more in only a few years. It is our ambition to follow in their footsteps, and Western Washington is the ideal place to do it. Not only do we have one of the largest populations of craft beer enthusiasts in the country, but we have the most productive hop growing region in the world only a few hours drive away.
Product simulation. Actual growlers will be WAY cooler.
Part of our philosophy is environmental sustainability. We will use organic ingredients whenever they are available and strive to make our brewery as energy efficient as possible. We have no immediate plans to bottle or can our beverages. It takes a significant amount of energy to produce retail packaging, even from recycled materials. Rather than using a new bottle every time we sell a beer, we will encourage our consumers to purchase beer in reusable bottles. Many purveyors of quality beverages sell beer-to-go in growlers. If it takes some time before Wiseass beer is available on a tap near you, we won't fault you for filling a Wiseass growler with fine beverages produced by our many brewing colleagues. As long as you're reducing waste, you're okay in our book. If we ever do bottle our beer, it will likely be in the form of a bottle exchange program. That's the way it used to be, and we would like to see it that way again.
RoboHop 2 brewing 20 liters of barleywine (original gravity 1.102).
Another principle we espouse is open source technology. RoboHop, our one barrel brewing system, is controlled by a Linux PC. RoboHop 2, our portable 40 liter brewing system is controlled by a Raspberry Pi. As we continue developing our automation hardware (and clean up that mess of cables) we will make all software and hardware designs freely available to the public. We will also open source beer and soft drink recipes. Our web page will feature data from our brewery updated in real time.
At the outset, we will not have a tap room. Our beverages will only be available at ale houses and specialty beverage stores in the Puget Sound area. There are many incentives to potential backers that we would have liked to offer, such as a mug club membership good for special offers and product discounts. While we cannot offer these incentives now, we will not forget our backers. Every backer will have their name engraved on a plaque which will hang in the brewery. When the time comes to open our tap room, we will find ways to extend our gratitude. Until that time, we anticipate opportunities to invite our backers to tastings and other events. All sponsors above $25 will also receive a voucher redeemable at the brewery for a growler or keg fill, when supplies become available.
Once we reach our funding goal, it will likely take several months before we can begin selling beer, but we hope to start producing soft drinks as soon as possible. Our existing recipes include root beer, ginger ale, and lemon lime soda. We are working on low calorie versions of these, and other recipes as well. We will seek USDA organic certification for our soft drink products. We hope we can offer our beer as well as our soft drinks at natural food retailers and farmers' markets in the Puget Sound area.
