As we are on the cusp of becoming operational, I’ve had a chance to reflect back – way back to our beginnings. The idea was to model the brewery on the Community Supported Agriculture (or CSA) idea. We just changed the “A” for a “B” to get Community Supported Brewing. To see if the CSB concept had any legs, we started the brewery with a Kickstarter campaign in the summer of 2012. The moment I pressed the button to launch the project was one of the most frightening of my life; I’d put a little piece of my soul into this Bogus concept and had no idea if people would support it. But support you did, and from that moment onward, I’ve been humbled and honored by the response of this community.
Since that day our goals, designs and plans look almost nothing like how they started. However, one part we refused to change, was the community part. It turned out that was not commonly done when it comes to raising equity, and starting a company by taking it (Idaho) public certainly wasn’t the easiest way to go about raising the necessary funds. But it was the right way to do it. We’ve met a lot of great people along the way who are excited about beer and excited about where they live. So now instead of the 5 of us starting a brewery, it’s the 211 of us who are starting one.
So as our public offering comes to a close, you have my sincere thanks and a ton of excitement about finally being able to start up our new brewhouse.
Gratitude is not something that one can quantify, but I would be remiss as an engineer if I didn’t give you some numbers anyway. We had 223 backers on our Kickstarter project and raised just under $31,000. We’ve now got 206 owners that have invested $400,000 in Bogus Brewing. 340 of you will have a mug with your name on it stored at the brewery. And one of us has a lot more gray hair than he used to.
I would also be remiss if I didn’t plug the opportunity one last time. Just a few more days and then we’ll quit annoying you with our reminders about the offering! April 17 is our last day we’re allowed to sell stock, and I’m hoping we’ll be able to sell the rest of the available stock. They’ve been going fast the last couple days! Check out more on our Ownership tab. Regardless of how much more we do in fact sell, we’ve been blown away by your support.
So, here’s to you, Idaho! You’ve made a Bogus concept totally legit.
