Jason Romano joins me from Lake Anne Brew House in Reston, VA to discuss his experience in opening and running a small nano-brewery and tap-house.
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Topics in This Week’s Episode (47:18)
- Today my guest is Jason Romano. Jason is a founder and head brewer at Lake Anne Brew House in Reston, Virginia. He is also an award winning brewer including the 2016 and 2017 Virginia Brewers Guild Beer Cup. He joins us to discuss planning and operating a very small brewery and taphouse.
- We start with the topic of what inspired Jason and his wife Melissa to found Lake Anne Brew House.
- Jason shares some of the challenges in planning, opening and operating a small (2 barrel) brewhouse.
- We talk about his business model which is based solely on sales from the tap room.
- Jason tells us about how his wife Melissa, who is an architect, designed and manages the tap room.
- He shares the brewing equipment he uses about twice a week to keep the tap room supplied.
- We discuss some of the first beers he put on tap.
- He shares his thoughts on a few of his flagship beers as well as beers that he rotates or experiments with.
- Jason talks about where he finds inspiration for new beers.
- We discuss the brewing aspects vs business aspects of running the brewery.
- He shares his plans for growth and why he things the tap room model is a great model for those who want to enter the world of pro-brewing.
- We talk about the advantages of staying small as well as packaging options (growlers and crowlers).
- He shares his advice for others looking to build and operate a small brewery.
Sponsors
- Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine!
- And also Anvil Brewing Equipment. Anvil is a new line of kettles, burners and accessories from John Blichmann at Blichmann Engineering. They make top quality brewing equipment built to last a lifetime.
- Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Mobile software and the new DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.
Thanks to Jason Romano for appearing on the show and also to you for listening!
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Thoughts on the Podcast?
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Hello Brad. Thank you so much for what you do. I really appreciate the education you provide through the podcast. You should look into talking to someone from Imperial Yeast for a future episode. I know you’ve had many shows that focus on yeast but I haven’t seen any other company that offers certified organic yeast. In fact that’s all they offer. I would love to hear their story. Thanks again. Bradley