# Startup Brewery



## Jacko1234 (27/3/19)

Does anyone know it it is possible to get a wine/mead producing (wholesale only) license if you are brewing from a residential home? 
For example an indoor empty concreted space roughly 15m x 6m. Would be happy to spend money modifying the room if regulations required.

As mead takes a long time to age, at the moment what's killing the idea is if I had to rent a commercial facility for brewing from the beginning, there would be no income for at least the first 12 months.

The other option of course is to have everything already made in advance in the location mentioned above and then rent a facility and get the license and magically the product is all ready to sell instantly. However I would rather just be allowed to brew it where I want to in the first place.


----------



## Roosterboy (28/3/19)

Jacko1234 said:


> Does anyone know it it is possible to get a wine/mead producing (wholesale only) license if you are brewing from a residential home?
> For example an indoor empty concreted space roughly 15m x 6m. Would be happy to spend money modifying the room if regulations required.
> 
> As mead takes a long time to age, at the moment what's killing the idea is if I had to rent a commercial facility for brewing from the beginning, there would be no income for at least the first 12 months.
> ...


No council would allow you to have a wine / mead making business in a residential home. You wouldn't be able to do it for many reasons.
As for aging the mead at home then getting an industrial site , you have to answer
a whole list of questions from the ATO to get an excise license. You would be lying to the 
ATO, risky way to start a business.


----------



## Jacko1234 (28/3/19)

Roosterboy said:


> No council would allow you to have a wine / mead making business in a residential home. You wouldn't be able to do it for many reasons.
> As for aging the mead at home then getting an industrial site , you have to answer
> a whole list of questions from the ATO to get an excise license. You would be lying to the
> ATO, risky way to start a business.



These guys are closed now by the looks of it but they ran brewing workshops from out of their home. http://www.allgrainbrewing.com.au/about 

Someone on Facebook said they did it in Tasmania and was classed as a home business. So it depends on the council I suppose.


----------



## labels (28/3/19)

Roosterboy said:


> No council would allow you to have a wine / mead making business in a residential home. You wouldn't be able to do it for many reasons.
> As for aging the mead at home then getting an industrial site , you have to answer
> a whole list of questions from the ATO to get an excise license. You would be lying to the
> ATO, risky way to start a business.


Wine and Mead are not subject to excise tax, should be a whole lot easier than beer


----------



## Roosterboy (28/3/19)

labels said:


> Wine and Mead are not subject to excise tax, should be a whole lot easier than beer


Sorry , WET (Wine Equalisation Tax). I can't imagine they wouldn't ask similar questions though as everything has to be tracked in and 
out with the dates .


----------



## FarsideOfCrazy (28/3/19)

labels said:


> Wine and Mead are not subject to excise tax, should be a whole lot easier than beer


This got me thinking about something I was told about beer excise so I looked up mead excise. It looks like it comes under the same tax as wine, it's called WET. So it's still worth asking the ato what the taxes will be.


----------



## fdsaasdf (29/3/19)

Roosterboy said:


> No council would allow you to have a wine / mead making business in a residential home. You wouldn't be able to do it for many reasons.
> As for aging the mead at home then getting an industrial site , you have to answer
> a whole list of questions from the ATO to get an excise license. You would be lying to the
> ATO, risky way to start a business.


Plenty of councils have allowed breweries to start in residential homes (e.g. http://craftbeerreviewer.com/feature-another-way-start-brewery/), if dangerous goods aren't a concern then why wouldn't it be possible to do the same for WET products?


----------



## Roosterboy (29/3/19)

I forget not all states are like NSW, a quick list of problems is ;waste water management, loading dock for trucks , heavy vehicle parking/turning , customers parking , increased heavy vehicles in residential area, increased odours residents can complain about, decreased property values residents can complain about, increased drunk and disorderly residents will complain about, even water run off from rain . It sounds stupid but if you have ever put a business in a residential area in NSW you would understand.


----------



## sp0rk (29/3/19)

Roosterboy said:


> No council would allow you to have a wine / mead making business in a residential home. You wouldn't be able to do it for many reasons.
> As for aging the mead at home then getting an industrial site , you have to answer
> a whole list of questions from the ATO to get an excise license. You would be lying to the
> ATO, risky way to start a business.


There's a guy here in the Upper Hunter making mead from his back shed (in a suburban area) with council approval
It's not that hard


----------



## Roosterboy (29/3/19)

sp0rk said:


> There's a guy here in the Upper Hunter making mead from his back shed (in a suburban area) with council approval
> It's not that hard


That is the exception, you don't hear about the ones that are knocked back. The other thing is ask the guy how much it cost him. I would be interested to know the zoning of his land. I have a mate who lives in a "suburban" area that is zoned light industrial because of some historical quirk but these things aren't common.


----------



## FarsideOfCrazy (29/3/19)

Get on the blower and talk to your local council and also the ATO. Do your homework, with anything like this there's generally a lot of applications to be filled out and questions answered. If you're passionate enough about your dream of creating a meadery?  then go for it! Don't die wondering, "what if I gave that a go?".

Good luck


----------



## wide eyed and legless (29/3/19)

Jacko if you look at the negatives you will lose sight of the positives, not taking a risk doesn't achieve anything. Just have a crack.


----------



## Jacko1234 (30/3/19)

Roosterboy said:


> I forget not all states are like NSW, a quick list of problems is ;waste water management, loading dock for trucks , heavy vehicle parking/turning , customers parking , increased heavy vehicles in residential area, increased odours residents can complain about, decreased property values residents can complain about, increased drunk and disorderly residents will complain about, even water run off from rain . It sounds stupid but if you have ever put a business in a residential area in NSW you would understand.




There wouldn't be customers coming it's solely wholesale either bottles or legs to restaurants etc. Once enough money raised to buy a shop then move out and switch to seeing to the public too


----------



## scomet (30/3/19)

There was a residential property for sale posted on here some years back in Brisbane (I think) and that had a beer and wine production licence included in the sale for manufacturing in the garage, wholesale only, ring the council.


----------



## Roosterboy (30/3/19)

Hey Jacko1234 , I wasn't trying to be really negative mate , I'm sorry if that's how it ended up , I was 
really just trying to explain how stupid the system is and how what appears not to be a big deal can end up
costing more than if you just started in a small industrial area. Councils are a joke and many are borderline
corrupt so just be careful and good luck.


----------



## MHB (30/3/19)

Same in Boolaroo, Lake Macquarie (council next to Newcastle), guy had a licensed wholesale brewery in his garage.
I think that there is a bit of a change in the wind, lots of people are working from home running all sorts of businesses...
I think its a bit like the old joke "you don't get locked up for being mad, you get locked up for bothering people". Same sort of thing is starting to happen with home business, as long as you don't upset the neibours…
Mark


----------

