Mellody Brewing

Plan your work - work your plan

Normal Peal said that...

That's right, I started a rough draft of a business plan.  I've taken notes electronically, and by hand for years.  I feel like J.K, Rowling in that I have a drawer full of notes (she did lots of notes in the beginning before she wrote the Potter Series - yeah geekdom ho I am a Potter fan...)  Looking them over the past few nights has been an interesting journey.  Some are clearly written in a buzzed state.  I tried to take a picture of one that I must have written at Monk's Cafe, as it was related to the "Belgianification" of American beer.  Not only did I spell it wrong, but my writing screams beer induced idea. 

Are you looking to start your own business? Wondering where to start with a business plan?  I followed guides on the following sites and a few others:

SBA Guidance

Sample Brewery Business Plan

I am looking for some cool business plan software to help transpose it into a presentable, easy to read format.  Any suggestions, let me know.

This I Believe...

One of my little joys in life is hearing the This I Believe pieces on NPR in the mornings. It is usually on Fridays as I drive to work. They are touching, meaningful and personal. I am working on a submission (non-beer or brewery related) but wanted to say here how these influence me. Not unlike the "X Steps to Beerdom" articles in BeerAdvocate Magazine inspire me to try to start my own business, the This I Believe shorts make me strive to be more. I find lots of the pieces to be truly inspirational, a true look into the human experience. A few of the recent ones have recently righted me in a personal funk I'm in both personally and work-wise (hence the snarky posts of late regarding work.) This path I've put myself on and creating the reality of it by writing about it has recently weighted me down. I'm scared Mellody Brewing won't succeed and this will be just a waste of time. Odds are against me, things change in life, there's an apparent economic slow down or recession in the works, priorities change, blah...blah...blah...Do I have what it takes to battle through it? I like to think I do, but I guess only time will tell. So, for the purposes of staying on topic I will say:

"This I Believe...I have no idea where this is going, but I sure do hope it is a worth-while ride."

It's Pillage Time!!

This apocryphal legend of José Gaspar (Gasparilla), supposedly a Spanish pirate captain who operated in southwest Florida. The theme is an "invasion" by Gasparilla and his men, which begins when the "Krewe" (made up of residents of the city) arrives on a 165' long pirate ship, the Jose Gasparilla, in Tampa Bay and land near downtown Tampa. The mayor of Tampa then lends the key of the city to the pirate captain and a parade ensues down Bayshore Boulevard, one of Tampa's major streets. The krewes throw beads, woman bear their chest, while pirates are shooting blank pistols from floats during the parade. (Source Wikipedia)

I'm a Gasparilla Invasion virgin...here's to a great event in Tampa where beer in a can makes a whole lot of sense.  I'm sure to be getting some, and drinking lots.  ARGH!!!!!

The Tipping Point

When I moved here, I was sad to see I had to travel to St. Pete to find a good beer selection.  The Independent was the only place I knew of (or found on Beerfly on BA) that had what I considered a decent beer selection.  In the year and a half since I moved here, that is changing.  More bars are carrying a different variety of beer.  World of Beer opened in Westchase, and while I'm not saying they changed the marketplace, I think they are creating a demand that the distributors are now listening too and the other area bars and resturants are tapping into.  We now have two other beer centric bars opening in the area.  One in Oldsmar and another in Old Hype Park Village.  These are to be solely focused on beer, which is an exciting trend.  I think this is the beginning of a tipping point here in Tampa.  More beer bars means a maturing palette in our beer drinkers.  This in turn will mean a demand of craft brewed local beer.  This too is happening, not only with my dreams but with a great brewer at St. Somewhere in Tarpon Springs and Dunedin Brewery.  I see some great times here in Tampa in the not to distant future...here's to being a part of it (hopefully.)

MEOW!!!!

This video pretty much sums up my day today, and just another reason why I need out! It also shows you why I drink so much beer!! Kidding on that last part, kinda...

Dont touch me Im a real live wire

I may have mentioned this already, but am too lazy to check old posts. One of the crazy hair-brained marketing schemes I have related to the brewery is that each batch would be brewed or fermented with music playing in the background. Kinda like the idea that playing music for your plants makes them happy, I figure the same can only be true with the yeast as well. So, the idea goes like this: brewing a stout to The Pogues, or a Pale Ale to the Beastie Boys, etc. This beer infused with P Funk or something like that.

Well, driving home from work in the endless traffic line up that is my hell driving home, I started exploring my ipod. Usually I listen to All Things Considered but the news lately is depressing (Slowing economy, democrats calling each other names, republicans in general, the war, oh yeah and did I mention the economy?) Anyway, I digress. So, in my meandering I came across a group I haven't listened to in years, one that my brother used to obsess and I guess that rubbed off on me when I downloaded various Talking Heads albums at some point in my long iTunes usage history. Where you going with this you ask? Well, I must say The Talking Heads would make a great IPA. I mean, come on just imagine drinking and singing along, "psycho killer, Qu'est-ce que c'est? fa fa fa farrr better..run run run run, run run run away!! oh oh oH eye eye eye EYE ohhhhhh!!" I think I missed a fa or two but you get the point.

Can Can

Canning...does it hurt your brand image?

I believe there's an unwarranted stigma to canned beer.  Maybe it is because most canned beer is associated with Schlitz, PBR, and the Lights.  It is seen as the  "common man's beer." Whatever! A few craft breweries have taken on canning, and I think it is great.  Slyfox in PA, and Oskar Bills Grill and Brewery in Colorado have been doing some good beers in cans.  I like the idea of offering the market in Florida the ability to tailgate and boat or head to the beach with some Mellody products.  Cans will offer that flexibility.  Admittedly, there are taste and other issues to be addressed when it comes to canning.  I don't think, for example, you would can a Barley Wine or an Imperial Stout.  But, who says canning a refreshing Pale Ale won't work? 

This obviously impacts operations as well.  Bottling and kegging are standard, to add a canning line would be a whole other level of layout and design, plus quality control issues.  Man...guess we have another topic for Sunday Research!

What I hope to be...

....a Pro Brewer.  I have spent countless hours reading this site today (Sunday.) Watching football, transferring homebrew and reading Pro Brewer.  Geekfest, I know.   

You want to be me, admit it.

Is It Me?

...or have beer commercials during football playoffs lost their spark?  The last few years, there have been some good commericals up to and including the Superbowl.  Not so much this year in my opinion.  I'm not advocating drinking beer from the big ones, but I have always enjoyed their commecials.  Recent years have shifted from the sex sells to more of a respect beer and quality beer marketing message.  Interesting they shift that way, as craft beer continues to slowly chip into their marketshare.  The latest AB commercials, talking about the true American Lager, and its quality ingredients really irks me too.  I'm not really sure why, but honestly Joe American Beerdrinker really doesn't care about ingredients, if you asked me.  If they think that by telling me they use quality ingredients and choice water, etc. I'm going to change my buying habits, they need some new market research.

Non-beer related - I'm hoping for a Packers vs. Patriots bowl game. 

Florida, wtf?

Growlers = illegal.

Self distribution = not possible (from what I can tell.)

Tax per gallon brewed = one of the highest in the country.

Sampling at a brewery = illegal

Going to be a fun, uphill battle. Others are doing it, but we don't seem to have the support or ease as other small brewers have in other states.  I'm sure there will be more battles locally too - but will be interesting.