Running a Craft Brewery with Tomme Arthur – BeerSmith Podcast #196

Tomme Arthur from The Lost Abbey joins me to discuss experiences the last 13 years building and running his craft brewery.

Subscribe on iTunes to Audio version or Video version or on Google Play

Download the MP3 File– Right Click and Save As to download this mp3 file

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Topics in This Week’s Episode (38:11)

My guest this week is Tomme Arthur, co-founder and Director of Brewing Operations at The Lost Abbey brewery. Tomme has spent over 20 years in professional brewing working at breweries as well as White Labs and Pizza Port before founding The Lost Abbey in 2006.

Tomme holds dozens of GABF medals, as well as local, regional and World Beer Cup awards.

We start with a quick update on the consolidation at The Lost Abbey which has occupied a large part of Tomme’s time the last 18 months.

Tomme tells us what its like to operate a fairly large craft brewery, and shares what his typical work day looks like.

We talk about how they make basic descisions like what beers to brew and in what quantities.

He shares what the brewing production cycle is at Lost Abbey

We discuss how he comes up with new ideas for beers as well as how they bring them into production.

He shares his thoughts on quality control and quality assurance for beer.

Tomme tells us some of the ways the beer scene has changed over the years and we discuss the growing competition in craft beer.

We talk about long term planning for growth and expansion as well as how he finances growth.

He shares the biggest problem he ran into at The Lost Abbey and how they solved it.

We discuss the business vs brewing side of the job.

Tomme shares his advice for those looking to start a small brewery as well as his closing thoughts.

Sponsors

Thanks to Tomme Arthur for appearing on the show and also to you for listening!

iTunes Announcements: I launched a new video channel for the BeerSmith podcast on iTunes, so subscribe now! At the moment it will only feature the new widescreen episodes (#75 and up). Older episodes are available on my revamped Youtube channel. Also all of my audio episodes are on iTunes now – so grab the older episodes if you missed any.

Thoughts on the Podcast?

Leave me a comment below or visit our discussion forum to leave a comment in the podcast section there.

Subscribe to the Podcast on iTunes or BeerSmith Radio

You can listen to all of my podcast episodes streaming live around the clock on our BeerSmith Radio online radio station! You can also subscribe to the audio or video using the iTunes links below, or the feed address

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the blog and my newsletter (or use the links in the sidebar) – to get free weekly articles on home brewing.

Related Beer Brewing Articles from BeerSmith: