Running a brewpub in a hill state for tourists

Plan around the visitor calendar

Tourist trade in the hills comes in waves: school holidays, long weekends, festival weeks and, in snow areas, the winter season. Between them the room can be nearly empty. Write the year as a calendar before you plan anything else. Mark the peaks, the shoulders and the dead weeks, using what local hoteliers and taxi drivers tell you and any past records you can find.

Then run your numbers by season, not as a yearly average. A brewpub that earns its whole year in ten weeks needs to hold cash through the other forty. Our guide to running a monthly stock take in a brewpub helps you see what you hold at each point. The cash planning ideas in our other business guides apply even more here.

Brewing at altitude

Water boils at a lower temperature as you climb, about 1 °C lower for every 300 m. At 1,800 m that means a rolling boil at roughly 94 °C rather than 100 °C. Two things follow. Hop bitterness is extracted less efficiently, so bittering charges may need to rise. A boil at a lower temperature also changes how the sulphur compound DMS, which tastes of cooked sweetcorn, is formed and driven off, so keep the boil vigorous and test for DMS in your first batches.

Mash temperatures stay the same, since they sit well below boiling. The change is in the kettle. Check your boiler or heating design as well. Burners and gas systems can behave differently at height. Ask the equipment maker for guidance specific to your altitude.

Cold changes the cellar

Winter nights in the hills can be cold enough to slow fermentation. An ale in an unheated room may stall and leave a sweet, under-fermented beer with diacetyl. Lagers like cool temperatures but still need steady ones. In the afternoon the room can swing the other way. That day to night range is hard on yeast.

Fit temperature control on every fermenter instead of relying on the weather. A hill climate makes it easy to feel that the cellar looks after itself. It does not. Insulate water and glycol lines too, since pipes can freeze in the coldest months.

Supply roads and stock

Everything arrives by road, often on mountain stretches that close in heavy rain or snow. Malt, hops, CO2, cleaning chemicals, packaging and spares all take longer to reach you than they would in a plain city. A landslide can close a road for days.

So hold more stock of the things you cannot get locally, especially CO2 and cleaning chemicals, ahead of the monsoon and the winter. Keep a second supplier. Keep a short list of the spares that stop the brewery if they fail: gaskets, pump seals, a thermometer probe. Stock holding costs money, so find a balance in your stock-take records.

Water and drains

Many hill sites use spring or stream water. It is often soft, which suits pale lagers and pilsner-style beers, but it can vary with rain and snow melt and may carry sediment. Test it regularly for what the brewery needs and for microbiology. Plan for filtration and disinfection.

Wastewater has to go somewhere. Mountain sites are often on fragile slopes with little drainage capacity. Check what the local rules require for treating brewery effluent before it leaves the property.

Staff, kitchen and the beer list

Seasonal demand means seasonal staff. Train a core team of people who stay all year and add helpers for the peaks. Decide early whether to run the kitchen yourself, using our guide to running the brewpub kitchen yourself or leasing it out.

Tourists want easy, familiar beers first: a light lager, a wheat beer, a pale ale. They try a stout or a hazy beer if the server sells it well. Keep a short list that you can brew consistently. Add a seasonal beer for the regulars. A flight of small tasters helps visitors choose. Serve responsibly. Visitors may be driving mountain roads afterwards, so offer food, water and a non-alcoholic option. Be willing to refuse service.

Licences are state specific

Alcohol is a state subject. Hill states have their own excise rules. They may treat brewpubs, tourist areas and sales hours differently from plains states. Check the current notification with a licensing adviser before you plan a site. Do not assume that what worked in another state applies.

Common questions

Does altitude change how beer is brewed?

Yes. Water boils at a lower temperature as you climb, about 1 °C lower per 300 m. That affects hop bitterness and the removal of DMS, so recipes and boil times may need changing.

How should a hill brewpub handle the off season?

Plan the year by season, hold cash for the quiet months and keep a core team. Trim the beer list and brewing schedule to match demand.

What stock should a hill brewpub hold in reserve?

Items that are hard to replace quickly: CO2, cleaning chemicals, key spares and packaging. Roads can close for days in rain or snow.

Are alcohol rules in hill states different?

They can be. Alcohol is a state subject and rules change, so check the current notification with a licensing adviser.