want to be a commercial Brewer

[DEMPSEY]

Here is food for thought,
http://www.brewerymanual.com/newspage%284%29.html

[Padraic]

Can that really be applied directly there, we're way behind on brewery numbers than the uk!

And we don't have tied houses here, well not legally anyway...

[LordEoin]

he says he was happiest of all when he and Metz "were just chewing the fat and making beer" on a five gallon kit in his garage.

"I thought that's what it would be about," he said. "But in all honesty, 80% of our time was spent cleaning equipment and chasing invoices."

It's a big jump from a hobby to a profession...

[DEMPSEY]

I remember reading an interview years ago in Byte magazine with Federico Faggin. He developed Intel's first microprocessors. He said soon after they completed the 8080 they submitted plans for its successor, but his bosses told him that they had to wait to milk as much cash from the 8080. He said "I left and formed Zilog because I wanted to design microprocessors. We designed the Z80, and it was such a success that I spent all my time running the business and never got to design another microprocessor"

And the answer to this ,if you snooze,you looze. The brewery in the linked story is typical of many business's,like driving a car,you have got to watch the road ahead and notice the weather for changes. At the moment there is an upsurge of interest in craft beer here in Ireland. A good time if are planning to get into this business,however that will not last. Having a good business plan is essential. That does not mean talking to alot of other homebrewers about what should be the best recipe for my new beer. Read the link above again and you will see that they won many awards for their beer's. Have your best recipe and then talk to people already in the business and get there advice.  

[Will_D]

Yes, so what is the "sliding Darling scales of beer duty".
(Hence the name of the last beer FUD

It sounds different to what we have (TG) here for small brewers

Beware that what the Brits do today we stupidly follow.

The article seems to imply that they were out priced by undercutting competition!