Week 1: Participants meet at Devil’s Half Acre pub in Blue Hill and taste 6 beers representing 6 beer styles. Discussion of the beers and the breweries. Some of the companies are production breweries selling across the state, region or nation; some are brewery-restaurants, and some are small breweries that sell most of their beer in a tasting room at their plant.

Week 2: Discussion of BEER SCHOOL: Bottling Success at the Brooklyn Brewery, by Steve Hindy and Tom Potter. Hindy will provide copies of the chapter explaining how to write a business plan.

Week 3: In groups of 4, participants create a business plan for a Downeast brewery, with a brand name, a label, a plan to raise capital and a plan to market and sell the beer. Will it be a production brewery like Allagash, a brewery-restaurant like Gritty’s or a brewery selling most of its beer at its own pub like Strong’s?

Maine already has 156 breweries—14.2 breweries per 100,000 residents, second only to Vermont with 14.7. Can you show the class why Maine needs one more?

Week 4: The teams pitch their plans for a Downeast brewery.