This article about a Boston Lager philanthropic project is pretty interesting. Sam Adams is “giving back” to the beer community in a pretty appropriate way, by making some money and expertise available to start-up breweries.
http://blogs.wsj.com/in-charge/2011/04/04/a-new-loan-program-for-start-up-breweries/
That’s pretty good of them to do.
When I toured the brewery last summer, they offered Boston Brick Red as part of the tasting. They brew this beer and only sell it on tap in Boston. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this beer are used to fund this loan program.
http://www.samueladams.com/btad/promotion.aspx?id=99b23798-b1ba-4440-994c-19c70b446810
That is all nice and well but 25k will not get you that far.
On the other side it is great that they are doing it.
They seem to have a very different corporate ethic than AB. During the hop shortage they had more hops than they needed and made them available to craft brewers that were in need. Good on them for this as well. May not be a huge amount of money, but if you need it for your startup I’m sure it would be a big help.
I’m pretty sure that the advice and being able to say that you have a loan from SA would be more valuable than the actual cash.
+1
If I ever decide to take the plunge…I’ll look them up.
Nice thought, but I doubt it.