Our friends at Braven Brewing Company are growing fast — almost too fast, to keep up with the demand for their deliciously crafted beer offerings. In an effort to build their own brewery brick & mortar, so as to personally serve their quickly converted customers, they have turned to crowdsourcing. Read our Q&A with Braven owners Eric Feldman & Marshall Thompson below to find out how you can contribute & acquire equity!

 

Paul Leone, Executive Director of the New York State Brewers Association, says that Braven Brewing Company is the first brewery in NY State to utilize equity crowdfunding as a means for growth. Do you feel that your desire to succeed has expanded beyond your own goals and is also invested in the potential for future rising craft breweries?

Growth capital is hard to come by, especially for small business owners who aren’t connected with the private equity world or have a very rich uncle. We think equity crowdfunding is an exciting new channel to help those small business owners grow to keep up with demand. Braven production skyrocketed last year and we’ve been working hard to keep pace – it’s a great problem to have, and we see equity investment as our best avenue for sustained growth in 2016. NYC is home to many more amazing startup breweries that could use equity crowdfunding to facilitate their expansion as well. We hope our experience can help raise awareness of this new fundraising option.

What is the timeframe for investors to contribute to Braven Brewing Company on CircleUp? Can you provide a bit of insight into how your campaign will be set-up for those not yet on the platform?

Successful campaigns on CircleUp close in about 60 days, so we’re aiming to close our offering in early April. We’re already live with our campaign so any interested Accredited Investors can join CircleUp and review our offering page at https://circleup.com/c/braven-brewing-company.

CircleUp’s approval process is pretty intense, as their site states that they choose to focus on “innovative consumer products and retail brands”. What does it mean for Braven to be selected as a company they believe has the right formula to succeed?

Getting approved for CircleUp was an accomplishment in and of itself – we’re very proud to be included on their consumer companies platform. As a registered broker/dealer, CircleUp performs extensive due diligence on all the companies who apply to the platform and only select a few who fit their strict criteria. CircleUp’s confidence in our business model and company shows investors that we’re a viable player in the competitive beer market.

We know one of Braven’s primary goals is to construct a brick & mortar brewery and bring craft beer production back to Bushwick. Do you have any building locations in mind yet, or a concept for what the brewery will look like?

Absolutely – in fact we already have a Letter of Intent on a large space just off the Morgan Avenue stop on the L train. Once we close this round, we’ll jump right into action building out the space. Breweries are not a quick job though, so we plan to take at least 10-12 months to build the 150+ person capacity taproom and microbrewery.

With the launch of Bushwick Pilsner and Black Pale Ale in 2015, you now have 3 annual offerings. Will your production be able to continue until the brewery you’ve been dreaming of comes to life?

We’re humbled by the overwhelming response we’ve received for our flagship beers so far and plan to continue distributing them while we build out our tap room in Bushwick. Once the tap room is open you can expect a lot of exciting new styles and seasonals as well. We plan to use our 10 BBL system as a “test kitchen” for experimental styles and one-offs that, if successful, can be scaled up for distribution throughout the city and region. But you’ll have to come to our taproom to try them out before anyone else.

---

Can't visit the site everyday like us? Bummer! No worries, we've got you covered. Submit your email below to receive our monthlyish newsletter on reviews, tours, events and more!

Email address:

Leave this field empty if you're human: