Reviews

I attended the Immersion Program with my partner, Karen.  The Immersion Program is a the foundation upon which our brewery was designed, and implemented.  This foundation, along with a ton of hard work and discipline to the principles we learned from the program is why our brewery is, and remains, a top performer, in a hyper competitive market like Grand Rapids, "Beer City", Michigan.  We are in our sixth year and are enthusiastically looking forward to continuing to grow and expand our business in the coming years.  I am responsible for brewing and general business operations for The Brass Ring Brewing Company.  After six years, looking back, I would tell anyone who is interested in attempting to build a brewery that completing the Brewery Immersion Course, is in my opinion, the single most impactful thing you can do to prepare yourself for long-terms success in the small brewing space.  You will learn, like we did:

How to buy fermentation chillers for $3,000 and not $40,000*

How to buy quality a quality brew kettle and mash tun for $10k and not $80k

How to acquire a room full of 7bb stainless serving vessels for $22,000 and not $120,000

How to install a fully functional gas driven draft system for $3,000 and not $30,000

How to operate your 7bbl brewery with 30 - 1/2bbl kegs and not a 120

How to clean kegs with your existing equipment for $250 in modifications and not having buying a $10,000 semi-automatic keg cleaner

How to make and produce great beer from grain to glass in 12 days with less than 20 hours of labor per batch (8hrs to brew, 5hrs to clean kegs/clean the vessel, 3hrs to transfer finished beer for service)

How to actually make money at selling beer by managing your key operational costs in real time

How to design and execute a productive, positive tasting room calculated to to provide your guests with a memorable and pleasing brewery experience (your oyster)

How to implement checklist for key operational functions

How to navigate the TTB and obtain your brewing permit and other necessary licensing 

Tom will review your plan, for facilities, brewing, and business and save you tons of work, money, and frustration

In short, seven years after the fact, we still joke around on brew day, "I don't really know why we do certain things, but Tom said to do them, so we do them.  Tom's insight, advice and willingness to share his knowledge of small brewery operations is INVALUABLE.  If you are serious about opening a brewery, your FIRST STEP is to take the Immersion course. 

The benefits of the course continue beyond just opening the brewery, as an alumni you will:

Make friends with other alumni who will share there experiences with you

Enjoy the ability to consult with Tom from time to time on matters important to you

Make lots of great beer and run your business with confidence...no guessing

Enjoy access to the Alumni Forum, which is a great support system for resolving nagging questions and issues spanning the breadth of your future brewery operations from brewing, to front of house, back of house, administration and regulation

We were lucky and found the program before we pounded a single nail or purchased any significant brewing equipment.  Be lucky like us: take the course up front, so you can carry all these benefits and more into your successful planning process. You won't regret it.

Cheers!

Chris Gibbons

The Brass RIng Brewing Company

* all pricing relates to our experience and numbers we paid or were quoted in the spring and summer of 2017

Tom, your immersion course was incredibly helpful for us.  We came out to shore up uncertainties and left with confidence and so much more.  

On the brewing side, the walkthrough was extremely helpful.  Knowing where we could save money and what we did and didn't need surely saved us thousands (maybe tend of thousands).

On the food side, we get rave reviews on our pizzas and we definitely owe that to the course.  

We've reached out to you for help multiple times since the course and your help had been extremely valuable, and we continue to get value from this forum.

This list could go on and on...

Ashley and I have even thought about coming back out and taking the course again someday!

Most of our mistakes are where we ventured from your advice.  The little things are big things and the simplest bits advice end up being so important. 

As an example, you say the one exception to buying everything used is with refrigeration, low and behold, of all the used equipment we bought, everything had worked great...except the refrigerators!

Opening a brewery is way harder than we expected but our chances of success are much better because of the course.

 honestly Tom, the decision to ride out to Colorado and have my and my partners take your course was the best thing we ever did, and I tell everyone I talk to about you. I remember our mindset when we came out and had we not taken the course we would have had too small a brew system, in too bland a space, and with no food. I can look in my area and see people who have opened, doing exactly what I was planning to do, and they are really struggling. Instead, our place is beautiful, our pizza is raved about all over town, and because we went 7bbl instead of 3-5, we're not killing ourselves to keep up and we're selling more beer! So thank you Tom!