By Michael Higdon
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhZCp5k-HqY?rel=0]
IMBĪB Custom Brews uses Indiegogo to fundraise for a new home brew store, brewery combo
Fourteen days ago a fundraiser started at the Great Basin Community Food Coop and continues on Indiegogo to raise money and awareness for a new homebrew supply store that will also brew beer for club members, on-site sales and special events. As of noon, May 28, the Indiegogo campaign for IMBĪB Custom Brews reached $11,300 of the requested $27,000, with 19 more days to go.
“We just passed $10,000 and we have a few larger donations coming in the next week or so,” Matt Johnson, owner of IMBĪB, wrote.
To encourage donations, they started a referral bonus program on Indiegogo. You receive one entry per $25 of investment to win 10-gallons of custom brewed beer for each person you refer who makes an investment. You must be logged into an Indigogo account in order to track the referrals.
“Our goal is to find a space as soon as possible and get licensed and start brewing,” Matt wrote. “To move more quickly we may ultimately start out on more of a nano scale so we can follow through with the first round of beer club members.”
Nanobrewing is the smallest regulated form of brewing and uses 4-barrel (124 gallons) brew systems or smaller. The goal of most nano breweries is to get started with small investments in order to grow a customer base and eventually scale to a microbrewery.
Matt Johnson, Jason Green and Bart Blank want to build a store that sells homebrew supplies, makes custom brews and produces draft beers for distribution. The homebrew supply part of the business would come first, tentatively opening in August, with later phases of the store opening three to six months later when they establish licensing for the production brewery.
Matt envisions a homebrew store, which would be the fourth in the area after Reno Homebrewer, Just Brew It and BrewChatter, where customers could rent space and equipment on site to make beer without the upfront cost and difficulty of making their first batches alone. Customers would receive expert advice and brew on a 10 or 20 gallon pilot system, then ferment their beer in a temperature controlled environment, bottle at the store and take it all home with prices depending on volume and gravity of the recipe.
In the second phase of the business, Matt, Jason and Bart will take custom beer orders for special events, such as weddings, birthdays or parties. These brews will deliver beers to customers who want something specific and special. Matt said the custom beers would be contracted with the understanding that any leftovers from the seven or 10-barrel brew will go on draft at the store to make the batch more cost effective.
A brew club model will also allow customers to pay an annual membership to receive a guaranteed volume of beer, such as one or two growlers a month, made specifically for club members. Members would give feedback for the monthly recipes.
Read more about IMBĪB Custom Brews on DrinkableReno.com.
