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Good Luck with your trip and your new business venture. The craft beer industry has really exploded in the last few years with small operations are popping up all over the place. A saturated market is a concern however but I'm sure you guys will find a way to differentiate your product from everyone else.
There are many micro brewing places in the Triangle. I went to Nattie Greene's in Raleigh on my last trip and loved it. I would like to get to a White Street and Fullsteam on my next trip. As a previous poster stated the state is controlled by a Republicans and is very business friendly right now. There is a lot of good info on the NC Brewers Guild Website.
On a side note I have been a home brewer for 20 years and I'm thinking about changing careers when we relocate. Will you guys be hiring an "apprentice"? I will work for free! Well for free beer anyway.
NC Beer Guys keep an up to date map of breweries in the state. You can see where saturation is heaviest. I think style wise if you are making something unique there is room, you are starting to see a few NC breweries move into Sours and Wild beers. Until recently I thought there was a big opening for an NC brewery to make a solid West Coast style IPA but NODA has that covered now (with their World Beer Cup win!).
Well no matter what the saturation, there's always an opportunity for one more to wiggle in. And true, I don't expect a "gimme" as stated earlier, but friendly competition is always fun. But back to my original question ..... was there an original? Here in Washington, the liquor control board is very helpful and always ready to give advice, suggestions, and input. I'm hoping the same holds true in NC? Also, has anyone ran into resistance from local government bodies? Are there dry counties in NC, and how does the state handle sales on Sundays?
I don't know the level of difficulty on opening a brewery, the state in general has been in favor of expanding the industry the past decade. From my observations of posts from new local breweries social media posts a lot of the slow down in the building process seems to come from the local level where it's more building/inspection permits.
Hey Brewmaster! We moved from Redmond last July, and I say we NEED you here.
There are dry counties in NC, but the only ones I can think of are up in the Mountains of NC towards Asheville. I know this because we own property up there, and have had to drive out of Sapphire/Cashiers, NC to Brevard for a beer because they don't sell alcohol. (Unless that's changed?) And you can purchase beer on Sundays here, just not liquor. We currently live in Holly Springs, and our town has had a few breweries pop up recently. We could still use more, that's for sure. Or some better ones, maybe. Some of them are very 'so so' IMO, and just don't compare to the breweries in Seattle. There are some days I'd punch a baby for a simple Mac and Jacks. Just sayin'.
Hey Brewmaster! We moved from Redmond last July, and I say we NEED you here.
Whatever drove you to move from Redmond to NC??? And please don't say a truck did it. I do remember those dry counties in the South as well as those Blue Law weird things. We did check and the state liquor board are not the friendliest there in NC when it comes to starting up a business unless you can go full tilt and dump the funds into a commercial spot immediately. And if that isn't the case, someone please let me know.
We're in Sammamish here, and we've gotten everything set up to go into operation, got the approval from the feds (TTB), and got approval from the state, and then the city has apparently but up a brick wall, despite the fact that there is a similar microbrewery just two miles away from us, but still in the city limits. Politicians .... I just love them ..... NOT!
If it was possible, we'd make the move without hesitation. I've traveled through NC a number of times, love that part of the country, and the people are fantastic.
Oh, and just so you know, it's still chilly here, low 70's in the day, 40's at night, pull out the Prozac!!
Their are so many breweries here. Some are run out of trailers, some in tiny strip malls. Nobody sells beer/wine before noon on Sunday, blue laws. Apparently the laws aren't that bad here, because breweries are popping up like weeds.
Yes. Breweries popping up right and left here, but I do not think that it has become saturated. Some of the more successful breweries are started by a few friends with business experience and are smart enough to hire professional brewers. Most of the terrible ones are started by homebrewers who think that because their next-door neighbors like their free beer, then they can make a living doing it on their own.
I also recommend that you contact the NC Brewer Guild with any legal/business related questions.
I am pretty sure you are not allowed to brew in a residence as I haven't run into a single brewery that works that way. I have family that own a brewery and they spent quite a bit of time opening, probably close to a year.
NC has friendly laws to craft beer that is why they keep opening here and the more established like Sierra Nevada, New Belgium and Oskar Blues are open(ing) here. Ashville's subforum might be a good place to X port this as well. The growler, tasting room, self distribute laws are friendlier to start up than other states.
I've heard that StarPoint is in a residence, but can't verify that. I buy their 22s at WSM, and really like the Mornin' Wood and DUH!. their site doesn't seem to indicate an exact brewery location, other than "the pine forests of Carrboro" so maybe it is a residence, or maybe it's just a warehouse without a taproom ( so there's no point in giving a location since you couldn't go there and drink anyway). Either way, I like their brews, but maybe someone else here would be able to verify.
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Redmond to NC??
