OnTap Magazine

GOING PRO Kelly KfM Meyer is an author and host of the How Not to Start a Damn Brewery podcast. KELLY KFM MEYER HOW NOT TO START A DAMN BREWERY THE BOOK & PODCAST I ’m an American craft beer fan. One that owned a brewery for a decade. But I don’t anymore. Because of that experience, I have around 700,000.00 less dollars in my bank account. In 2019, after my eight years behind the mash paddle, I saw my brewery circling the drain (which I guess goes counterclockwise in your country). The US craft beer market had around 8400 craft breweries, averaging 3700 hectoliters of productionper year. Sure, that average has cratered to 3000 hectoliters today but how could I know that then? Faced with losing the dream I’d built, I sat down and made a list of the things I’d done wrong, the plans that ended in disaster and the market conditions that fought against me at every step. In my book I highlight the ten biggest mistakes I’d made along my twisted road to disaster. 40 | Spring 2023 | ontapmag.co.za