Beer Brewers Co-op and Incubator in Early Stages

There are co-ops for housing, health care, food, taxis, child care, coffee and even sustainable energy in Philadelphia. So why not one for beer?

The question occurred to a group of local beer brewers who have over the last year began the work of forming a cooperative that would combine business incubation, brewing education, and the production of its own line of beer.

The idea is to build a brewery that could be used by brewer-members to brew their own recipes, as well a co-op branded line of beer to be sold to consumer-members and non-members. Consumer-members would also have access to training and education workshops on brewing.

Another goal of the cooperative is that some of these brewers will use the co-op to spin-off to create their own businesses. In effect, they would be using the shared brewery to get over the hurdles of the high start-up costs of buying equipment, according to an FAQ about the co-op.

The exact model is still being worked out, but the organizers are looking into precedents set by other beer cooperatives.

“We were originally inspired by a similar effort that is taking place in Bellingham, Washington called the Bellingham Beer League,” said Caitlin Zacharias, a steering committee member and home brewer.

The co-op, now called the Brewers’ Co-op of Philadelphia, has a 12-person steering committee that meets on a monthly basis. It is currently in the process of forming bylaws, developing a logo and purchasing a domain name.

There is also a advisory committee with two members, including Peter Frank, the new executive director of the Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliance (PACA), and Caitlin Quigley, also a member of PACA. Read our profile of Frank here.

Zacharias said that the current line-up of organizers range from casual to serious home brewers (those looking to sell) and current brewing professionals.

Image via Flickr user Matthew Peoples