Mt Carmel Notes

First, I have to say that the folks at Mt Carmel are incredibly friendly people. I met with the head brewer, Jared, who gave me a brief tour of their facility and answered all of the questions that I had. Here are some notes from the visit:
-They produce 2000 barrels a year, and they're growing
-They have 6 "regular" beers brewing year round and 4 seasonals (here is a quote from Jared's email that he sent me last night, "Keep an eye out for our springtime ale. It should be hitting stores any day now. It is a light Scottish ale with heather tips in it. It's very session-able and has a killer aroma and taste"). I keep scouring the shelves trying to find this brew!
-The owner started the brewery in his own basement and sold his beer in growlers ( I kind of miss the growlers!). Anyway, he said that it is now illegal in Ohio to brew commercially in your own home which is some serious BS. I need to figure out what beginning brewers have to do to become "legit" now.
-They have seven 15 bbl tanks (he thought cost around $12k ea) and they want to upgrade to 30 bbl tanks
-They only have a handful of employees, 3-5 or something
-They distributed to 10 counties, N KY, and Dayton but they're expanding to Columbus and Cleveland.

Jared suggested that I should apply if I'm serious about getting into the business. I can't think of a better place to learn about the business--I'm working on a cover letter right now.

All in all, they have kind of a quaint operation and I mean that in a good way. Their focus is on the quality of the product over pumping out as much beer as they can. Another cool thing is that I believe the owner, Mike Dewey, has run this business on cash. That's simply unheard of these days, but it's exactly how I want to run FPR. Running a small business on cash relieves some pressure and when things go wrong it's not as difficult to recover. I had a great time on my tour. They were great people, with a nice and clean facility, and an excellent business model. They don't do anything but make great beers.