While the acquisitions, mergers, and other seismic forces reshaping the loftiest peaks of the craft-brewing industry generate the most headlines, the bedrock of craft still rests on the creative drive of independent entrepreneurs.
What homebrewer hasn’t had a similar thought while stirring in a hops addition or sharing a particularly good batch with friends? I could do this for a living, he or she thinks. Why not go pro and open up my own place?
It makes for a good story—and many successful craft-beer pioneers got their start in just this way—only now, with more than 4,600 craft breweries and brewpubs currently operating in the United States, the stakes are much higher and the competition that much more intense. Given expectant outside investors, higher initial costs for equipment and real estate, and increasingly saturated local and regional markets, there’s no longer time to learn as you go or much latitude at all for mistakes.