Jonathan Kaiser

March 2, 2017 by Jonathan Kaiser Leave a Comment

Smallest Licensed Brewpub in the Region

If you live anywhere near Portland, Bend, Eugene, and many other parts of Oregon, you are probably aware of the Craft Beer scene; either as an active participant or occasional goer. You may also be familiar with the Beer Guide the Willamette Week comes out with each year outlining all breweries within 100 miles of Portland. If you are one to either purchase this guide in softbound form or just browse online, you will find one called “The Smallest Fully Licensed Brewpub Anywhere Near Portland” and, yes, that would be us.

Now, we did not choose that name. Nor did we provide or even hint to that name. Were we surprised to be dubbed that name? No. But honestly, if Willamette Week did the research to come up with that, I think it’s a pretty cool achievement.

It is humbling to see our little nano-brewery grow and get more exposure. As they mentioned we wrote a zero-debt model, scaling year after year with what we bring in. We already doubled our output from last August when we were finally licensed by the TTB (federal government) to start selling our beer, so the model is working. Markets and events are a large part of our business plan and we missed most of that season last year so it will be interesting to see how it plays out this year.

Anywhoooooo … A big thank you to all our followers for your support and encouragement. Oh and of course if you do pick up a copy of the Willamette Week, bring it in and we’ll be happy to autograph it 🙂

Cheers all!

September 6, 2016 by Jonathan Kaiser Leave a Comment

The “Why”s of Kaiser Brewing

As our ‘About’ page says on the website “Kb started over a decade ago when Jonathan Kaiser was given a large box of home brewing equipment. That box sat in his garage for a few more years and he was about ready to sell it when his wife, Wynter, suggested he try making one batch first…And it was love at first brew! Our motto is Community, Fellowship and Good beer and we stand by that.

Our model is not one surrounding the typical Brewery / Public House (BrewPub) out there today. First, we are nano in scale. There are no kitchens, no food, not even beer consumption allowed on-site, with the exception of tastings. These are all purposed though, and yes we are licensed by the OLCC and TTB as a BrewPub. But as a BrewPub, we are first a brewery of course, brewing 1-2bbl batches at a time. We also fill containers from 32oz, up to 2gal, offer direct keg sales, and of course give tastings of what we have on tap. Oh yeah, and all this out of our detached garage.

Some might ask why. Why the garage, why nano in scale, why no consumption on site, why a BrewPub instead of just a Brewery, why do fools fall in love? That last one is probably answered by lots of craft made beer.

I think to simplify it all, after years of home brewing, hundreds of tweaks, countless hours of reading material to learn from, brewing workshops, start-up courses and collaborations, sensory panels and off-flavor evaluations, and the thought of actually pulling the trigger on opening… We set out to do this without having to go into debt, taking on partners or investors, etc. and figured that if nothing else, I still have my day job, and it would be one hell of a man cave!

So, Why Our Model?

The garage? Purchasing a building or even just leasing one for a taproom would be costly and incur debt. And many great businesses have started out of a garage.
Nano in scale? We purchased what we could, within budget, with the plan to scale over time as our sales revenue grows.
No On-site Consumption?
1. We want to allow minors under 21 to enter, especially our own children. We want them to be able to see what starting from the ground up looks like, what it means to work with your hands, engineer and create something. We want them to see options for themselves. Not necessarily brewing, but creative thinking. We want them to witness their family’s hands-on work.
2. To allow on-site consumption and minors we would have to serve food. This is just not feasible at this time.
Why a BrewPub if no on-site consumption? Simple. It allows us Special Event Brewery (SEB) licensing, allows us to self-distribute, and to sell other’s beer, wine, and cider as we choose.
Why zero-debt at start? Just Google what it takes to start a brewery and then double that cost. Think equipment, staff, buildout, building purchase or lease, insurance, licensing, lawyers, and so much more! If your pockets are that deep then go at it. The other way is investors, backers, partners (at minimum three at $250,000 each!) Can it be done? Yes, and it has been proven over and over, but we are not in a hurry. We have time. And I am not going to put my family in that financial debt situation.

So what can you expect from us and where to see us? Our focus will shift with the seasons. During festival, market, and event seasons we will look to be out in those, directly in front of you, in community with you all, with kegs to local breweries as well. When seasons change, and our lovely Oregon weather rolls in and the festivals, markets, events close; we will look to increase our keg distribution to local breweries, pubs, and restaurants. And, well, you will find us in our garage of course, year round, with our kegs stocked and our taps ready to fill your growlers!

If you have other questions for us, just let us know. If you want to come for a tasting, just let us know. Looking for us to host or provide our beer selection at a special event? Just let us know. Or if you are looking to fill a growler, yes even if not our own, just let us know and come on by! You’ll find our new hours posted here.

Cheers everyone, and thank you for your continued support!

September 1, 2016 by Jonathan Kaiser 1 Comment

Hours of Operation

We have had a lot of request for what our hours are, and while we have posted hours on our Facebook page, we felt it better to blog on what our hours will be like.

So without further adieu, Our Hours…

The brewery is my third responsibility that I carry. My family first, the job I still have even before opening the nano-brewery, and of course the nano-brewery. I have the luxury of working from home at times, but I am also required to commute into PDX. All this to say it makes it hard to have ‘standard hours’ (if there are such things) without employees. Taking that into mind, we are looking at “non-standard” hours of:

• Monday through Friday 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. (recommend email/messaging to confirm)
• Saturday 2:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. (recommend email/messaging to confirm)
• You are in the area and the roll up is open – We are open
• See us post that we are brewing – We are open
• Want to schedule a tasting – email/message us

We are always more than willing to be flexible and accommodate any and all, that is why we ask that you email/message us for confirmation before heading over. If you do happen to be in the area and the roll up door is up, then we are open = general rule of thumb. Additionally, when we are brewing, we will let you all know on Facebook and be open then. We know there are those time you will be in the area so we welcome you to just come on by during the hours posted, but if the roll up is closed, try messaging still.

January 15, 2016 by Jonathan Kaiser Leave a Comment

Kb Nano Build-Out

Forward and onward … is that even a saying?!?!?! This update is probably part 1 in a series of ‘n’ and will share more of what’s been going on around here with pictures of the work we’ve done on our nano-brewery build-out. A few important things:

We sold our old home and bought a new one across town this past June. The new house was built in 1940 with a detached garage, a must-have since you cannot licence a brewery attached to your dwelling
We are looking to officially open March/April (hopefully … come on TTB!) out of our garage.
No on-site consumption, but we will do growler fills and keg distribution, as well as off-site events
The reason we are opting for no on-site consumption is so:
- Minors can still be on premise, accompanied by an adult (specifically our kids since they love to help brew)
- To mitigate additional risk from being on our personal property
From our research, it appears there is more information on what it is like to own and operate a brewery, rather than what is truly involved leading up to getting licensed and opening the doors. I guess I’ll just have to write a book, too…
In networking I have found that brewers are some of the coolest, most welcoming individuals in a competitive market who are not competitive at all, but rather very friendly and helpful

The build-out started by identifying specifics within the garage that would be needed for turning a garage into a brewery, and then creating the plans (see a simple sketch of them below). Primarily, these plans included:

A cold room for brite tanks and keg storage, from which tap lines will come out of for growler fills
A fermentation chamber for x2 1/2 bbl fermenters, x2 1 bbl fermenters and room for more to grow
Storage area
Brewing space
Common area for people to come in, taste samples, fill a growler (or 2), and just check things out

Previous owners had at some point added a shop to the back of the garage, opening a part of the original back wall allowing the shop to flow partially into the garage, separated by another added enclosure. The layout was not optimal so I decided to wall-up the opening and remove the enclosure walls in the garage. Glad I did because while I was demolishing it, I found old, untreated water damage, mouse nests with dropping and filberts, 1×4’s instead of 2×4′, the supports were off, and they had used way too many shims and jerry-rigs! It’s no wonder that an entire overhead shelving storage unit came down on the top of my head, nearly knocking me out during the process!

So while removing the enclosed shop wall to restore the garage to its original look, I found some really cool old wood that I will re-purpose on the front of the cold room wall, and hopefully paint a large mural of our logo on it. I want to avoid changing the look of the wood, and just seal it.

Once I got the enclosure wall tear-down completed, it was time to start framing out the new cold room and fermentation chamber walls. I walled off the back shop from the garage for a storage area in the brewery by putting in new framing, and a large header beam to create an open transition between brewery and storage. Next up was the cold room. I framed and installed an entrance from the storage area into the cold room, and added a solid, exterior door, re-purposed from our local Habitat for Humanity ReStore. The thing is a BEAST, and feels like it weighs 100 lbs! But it will help keep the room insulated, and maintain the right cooling temperatures for keg storage. I then framed and built a new wall, separating the rest of the brewery from the cold room space.

After that it was time to frame out the fermentation chamber. I framed another space in the brewery, up against the cold room wall, with room for a door as well as an air conditioning unit to maintain temperatures. I wanted a nice, big opening for the fermentation room, so I bought a set of exterior double french doors (also from the ReStore. The cost? only $150.00 for all the doors!)

With the framing done, next came the insulation and drywall. YES, I am skipping through this fast, and yes there was a lot in between, but I am trying to keep it somewhat short. Drywall is not my favorite part of construction. Well, I guess the drywall cutting and hanging itself is not so bad. Aside from the white boogers, burning red eyes, sinus infection and hacking cough if you do not wear a mask and goggles (sorry to my wife who told me to wear both). It’s really the mudding, taping, and sanding that I don’t care for much. But is necessary to get a smooth wall. I guess that’s why I am putting that part off until this weekend 🙂

Insulation is not a favorite of mine either. Rolled fiberglass, if not handled right, can get on you, in your clothes, and sticks, itches and just irritates the heck out of you!

So this is where it will be until this weekend, when I will begin the mudding/taping….

I also still have the rigid foam insulation to put up on the walls inside the cold room to keep the temperatures cold. And I need to install the AC units in the fermentation chamber and cold room as well. Then of course there’s the tap lines, and all the finish work to go. So, again, this is been part 1 of ‘n.’ Thanks for joining us on this crazy adventure! And more to come….

Oh yeah, and don’t forget, we also have these for sale (plug). We can ship or deliver them, if you’re in the area. Cheers!