Had a funny idea for a beer related business. I’m not saying its a good idea as I for one can think of no end of possible pitfalls, both legally and business-related.
Say you don’t have a huge amount of initial capital, but you have some cool, dark storage space and enough patience to wait 5 years before starting to earn money…
Buy a number of cases of the major yearly releases of strong ales and barleywines from the major microbrewers. Bigfoot, et al. Do the same the following year, and the next couple. Register a website and then sell “vertical beer tasting sets”. Say, a Five Year Bigfoot, for, I don’t know how to price, maybe $20-$25? It seems like vertical tastings are very cool amongst the growing populace of beer geeks, and what this would offer is the convenience to those beer geeks who are not patient enough to keep their own stash for years.
Obviously there are things to consider, such as legal roadblocks, shipping across state lines, and all of that, and like a distillery, this is one of those businesses that require one to preconceive demand years in advance, which is a very good trick if one can manage it, and from the state of closing and reopening Scotch distilleries, many don’t manage it.