Barley to Barrel, brought to you by the Crafter Space, is Milwaukee’s first program to take participants through every aspect of starting a brewery. Each week, students will attend evening workshops and learn from experts in their field to help develop a brand, create a brew, and see it through from grain to glass. This 10 week program will provide a hands on, in depth, look at what it takes to start a brewery. The program culminates with a community launch party. Participants will unveil the program’s specialty beer and each will give a five minute pitch on their own brand or brewery to event attendees and investors. Come learn, get dirty, brew a beer on a professional system, create a new product, and launch it to real bars and restaurants!
Don’t take our word for it. Read what other are saying.
Russ Klisch
Lakefront Brewery
Jim McCabe
MKE Brewing Co.
Mark Garthwaite
Wisconsin Brewers Guild
Manoli Kulutbanis
Managing Director, UpScalability
Troy Vosseller
Gener8tor, Sconnie Beer
Michael Anderson
The CrafterSpace
John Graham
The CrafterSpace
Kyle Vetter
1840 Brewing Company
James Larson
Enlightened Brewing Company
Chris King
Foley & Lardner
Erin Burazin
Graphic Designer
David Dupee
Good City Brewing
Kaleb Schwecke
Yakima Valley Hops
Mark Fairbanks
Translator
Sal Strehlow
Colliers International
Tommy Vandervoort
Enlightened Brewing Company
James Shiparski
ABV Social / Bartolotta Restaurants
Eric Gutbrod
Draft & Vessel
Kevin Wright
Third Space Brewing
Joe Poeschl
The CommonsSeptember 6th: 6PM – 8PM
This week we will talk about starting a brewery from scratch. Can I make it in the brewing industry? How much is enough experience to get started? I’m passionate about beer, now what?! All these questions and more will be answered as our expert speakers help the class create the focus of the next 10 weeks; launching a new beer brand!
September 13th: 6PM – 8PM
During week two we will discuss what it is that we want to brew. Do we create a classic style or push boundaries and try something new? It’s all up to you! Together with mentors, the class will discuss the pros and cons of different styles, the importance of ingredients, the challenges of ingredient availability in a growing market, and what makes a solid brew. After a style is selected, commercial examples will be tasted, and a recipe will be created!
September 20th: 6PM – 8PM
This week we will name our creation and build a brand and label behind it. Our mentors will help determine what to call it, how to design a logo, legal label requirements, and how to get approval from the TTB. We will make final decisions on the logo to be created and the name of the product. We will also discuss online and social marketing.
September 27th 6PM – 11PM
This week participants will put on their steel toe boots and brew a beer on Company Brewing’s professional system. The goal this week is to familiarize students with the major differences between home brewing and professional brewing. Participants will get to know the beer they are creating one backbreaking pound of barley or hops at a time!
October 4th: 6PM – 8PM
This week we will work with distributors, event planners, and breweries who self distribute to discuss and understand what it takes to bring product to the marketplace. Students will discuss the pros and cons of self distribution in WI, how to generate excitement around events, and how to sell to beer accounts.
October 11th: 6PM – 9PM
Participants will take a field trip to Quality Tank Solutions to tour the facility and talk about the equipment and systems behind the beer. Whether its a 3BBL nano brewery or a 100BBL production facility the right equipment can make all the difference.
October 18th
We will take the final step and sell product into the market! Participants will venture out into Milwaukee’s market and work to pre-sell the beer they recently brewed to local bar and liquor store accounts.
October 25th: 6PM – 8PM
This week we will focus on the art of the pitch. Having introduced a value proposition worksheet in week 1 everyone will practice pitching their concept to the group in preparation for the launch event. Afterward, we will dive into essentials of TTB, state, and federal licensing.
November 1st: 6PM – 9PM
Our beer will be done and we will help put it into packages! A short demonstration of a commercial canning and/or bottling line in action will be followed by an in depth conversation about the different ways to get beer to the market. Kegs, bottles, cans, party pigs, growlers, we’ll talk about it all!
November 8th: 6PM – 8PM
This week we focus on how to pitch investors, finalize your business plan and complete final prepare for the launch event pitches.
November 15th: 6PM – 9PM
It’s finally time to party and enjoy the fruits of our labor! Bring your friends and show off all of your hard work! Proceeds from the sales of the party will be donated to a local charity.
November 22nd: 6PM – 8PM
After the dust settles, we will all gather one more time to reflect, give feedback, laugh, cry, and of course fulfill all of those kegs we sold!
Yes, it’s illegal to produce beer if you are under age.
Participants can miss two classes, which is 20% of the programming. Our founder, John, made it through college with a B average (80%), so we’d like you to shoot for that as well.
We will have several weeks where participants are encouraged to bring in homebrew and we will have BJCP judges on hand to help talk through the beer and answer questions.
The Barley to Barrel class curriculum is designed to provide insight into the entire process of building a brewery and to expose participants to the current realities of starting a successful brewery.
We have designed this course to take the students to the next step in their brewing career, regardless of where they currently are in the process of starting a brewery. While having brewing experience will help the student take more away from the classes, it is not required.
Classes will be held at Ward4, in Milwaukee, WI. The calendar page lists the topic for each week and the location of each class.
Ward4 have prevalent parking nearby, however all parking for the classes will be street parking. Download the Park MKE app so you don’t have to worry about plugging a meter: http://city.milwaukee.
You will be exposed to the inner workings of a brewery and have the opportunity to meet the next brewmasters of Milwaukee and even get to participate in a brewday on a pro system. What more could a beer geek want?
Certainly! This experience would be an amazing gift for the aspiring brewmaster or beer entrepreneur in your life.
No. We will provide everything that the students need in order to brew and package the beer. Closed toe shoes will be required on brew day.
This program would not happen without the support of our sponsors
If you have any questions about the program, please contact us directly. We will respond for sure.
