Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
If an Asheville trio is successful in raising $25,000 on Kickstarter, they plan to open a sake brewery in town. Blue Kudzu Sake would be only the fourth craft sake brewery in the U.S., according to Mitch Ford, Cat Ford-Coates and Mary Taylor. Do I smell another national trend brewing?
Good luck to this crew. Sounds like a cool idea. And it sounds like they got a solid plan. Read on.
From the Blue Kudzu Sake Kickstarter campaign:
Over the past year through all of our small craft batches and during all of our research and experimentation, we learned that 3 mirco-sake breweries have opened in the United States and are creating small batch craft sake, with very warm reception. We wish to add our name to the small, but growing, craft sake scene in the United States. In an effort to try to start our brewery we enrolled in a local business incubator class at Mountain Biz Works, and developed a working business plan. With their encouragement, we have done extensive market research, as well held customer test sessions. We discovered that our business model is sound and plausible. Eureka! We have a realistic and profitable business plan! Mountain Biz works showed us that we could feasibly start our own kura (sake brewery). To ensure our success we will continue to work with Mountain Bizworks through their mentoring and coaching programs as we expand from home brewing into commercial brewing of American craft sake.
Why We Need Your Help
We do have several obstacles to overcome. First, it will take us 6 months for licensing, and that means we cannot sell anything for 6 months. The real catch is that we have to have the space leased before we can apply for our permits from the state and the federal governments. That’s 6 months of down time, 5 months to go.
Our second obstacle: We do have a financial backer who will loan us the money to open our brewery, but we have to raise an additional $25,000 or more, to combine with our own cash reserves to be able to get the loan. If we can raise the $25,000 we will have enough to secure funding and move forward!
We are also breaking new ground and have had a difficult time finding equipment suppliers. Most brewery design companies do not know anything about building a sake brewery and do not want to risk their reputation by putting their name on a project that they are unfamiliar with. However, through persistence, we have equipment suppliers lined up and the brewery designed. A brewery is an expensive endeavor. That’s why we need your help.
Click over to read more about the Blue Kudzu Sake campaign to raise $25,000 on Kickstarter.
