I'm Closing My Brewery 

This may sound like a really strange comment but…congrats. You took a big leap of faith to follow your passion and open a brewery. Most of the 2k subs here envy that, myself included. You were able to provide a great experience for people in your local community, and cool content for people here on RU-vid. I’m sure you envisioned this endeavor to be longer lasting and to generate more revenue, but don’t look at it as a total failure. You gained even more experience, and now get to move on to the next chapter. I hope you stick around on RU-vid. You’ve inspired me to brew more Czech lagers. I have a 12 degree pale lager fermenting right now that a can’t wait to put on the new faucet. Na zdravi!

I have absolutely loved watching the content you put out around this brewery but I'm also excited to see what you get up to next. Keep creating and I'll keep watching!

Best of luck with your upcoming endeavors!

I have the same size brewery in Australia. And your words and views are 100% spot on. And you are even more correct when you say people don’t understand what’s involved in running a business and brewery, most think we are living the dream but when you have to do everything yourself it’s very very hard. You have a lot to be proud of and a wealth of knowledge and passion to share, I’m sure your next journey will be positive… Congratulations and kudos to you 👍👍👍

Sad times for beer in Texas. These beers were/are top level. I hope you get the passion back to brew at a scale that allows you to share. It was nice getting to know you in the short time I was able to enjoy the place. Best wishes to you.

thank you for the honest commentary. I really enjoyed the behind the scenes brewery content and canning lives. Best of luck in new endeavours! cheers!

Here’s to new beginnings! I appreciate your vulnerability and honesty! As someone who inspires to go professional your insight is valuable! Cheers, Brew On!

When Sacred Profane first opened their brewery in Biddeford, ME in 2022 their business plan was to only serve two beers: Czech Pale Lager and Czech Dark Lager. Fast forward to 2024 and if you visit their Biddeford location there is now four packaged beers you can buy. Today you can buy: De La Senne Tabas Boubla, Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA, Bissel Brothers DDH IPA and Westmalle Tripel. When Sacred Profane opened their second location in Portland, ME they installed ‘extra’ taps from the get go to serve guest beers. Did you ever consider serving guest beers, either packaged or on draft, at your taproom to encourage folks who prefer to have some variety? For example, where a group of friends might come together and some would drink your Czech beers while others might drink guest IPAs? Cheers!

So bummed to hear this but so grateful you've shared this journey and insight with us all! I've really enjoyed learning about many aspects of the industry from you and love your brewery concept and brand. Planning to come by for your final weekend from Philly, hope there is beer left!

Your honesty and candor have always been a breath of fresh air. I am hoping that you will continue to, in some form, make the incredible Czech lager. I wish you all the very best!

Wish I could’ve made it but I did brew your recipes and they were A+. Cheers to your next adventure man!

Glad I got a chance to visit earlier this spring. I agree, you had excellent beer. I'm definitely interested in purchasing a mug or two if you're selling them. Best of luck on future endeavors, and I'm interested to see the future of this channel as well!

Cheers, to your next chapter. Thank you for all the empowering examples that you've shared over the years.

Being in South Florida I knew it would be a challenge to get to you, but have followed you for a while now. Czech beer is by far the best beer for me, and I am sad that I will probably never try yours now. But, screw it... I just bought some more merch to rock and will keep you in my heart.

I have followed you from Puerto Rico and have enjoyed very much all the videos, My best wishes for a bright future! I am sorry that I did not get to try your beer.

Best of luck on all your future endeavors. I’m glad I was able to make it to your taproom and have a few beers and chat with you. 🍺

Sorry to hear this, but your decisions and input were, are and continue to be enlightening. Also your content is top notch and fun! Best of luck to you in the future!!

So sorry to hear :( Hope things turn around. Wish I was closer but buy your beer it sounds wonderful!

You're the man!!! I wish I would have had to opportunity to visit Tanglefoot!!! I must say watching all your videos, you give a great concept, not on just brewing beer, but all the nuisances that go on behind the scenes. Watching you brew on your system I knew was a task, in that, on the moving of the tanks and so forth. My buddy has a 3-1/2-barrel system with no moving parts, and it is a struggle for him. He much appreciates when I have time to help him brew, so I know it was a grind for you day in and day out. Kudos to you for making it last as long as you did. Dude you will be successful at whatever you ultimately end up doing in the beer industry. You have the knowledge and most importantly...you will give honest tips and advice, not for the sake of earning a Buck. It will be up to the consumer to take it/like it!!! Best of Luck to you Man, I will continue to follow the channel.

Sorry to hear that you’re closing, but thank you for making the videos. I run a 5 bbl distro only brewery here in North Idaho, and at the end of summer will have survived our first year. We benefit from being the only one in the county but we’ve been coming to the realization that we need a retail space, and beyond that we need somewhere eventually that will also have food. I enjoyed watching someone else starting up at around the same time as me, but good luck moving forward!

First of all, thanks for your content. I really enjoyed watching your channel. I can imagine how you feel right now, closing your own business must be a tought one. But it is really really hard to run a brewery + bar as a one man army. To be honest with you, i was surprised how long you lasted. I mean you were a brewer, sales manager, engineer, bartender, cleaner and they marketing guy etc. in one person. I really hope you are proud of what you done and see it as a learning expirience. Best of luck for the future. Wish you all the best

That really sucks! I have loved watching your videos and your passion in making your beer! I hope you keep making content, wherever things take you. Also let us all know if you are selling off glasses, merch, etc. I’d like to get something to remember Tanglefoot by.

We closed our brewery in Wichita, KS in 2021 following a dispute with our landlord. It sucked, especially when we couldn't find another space to open in that would adequately fit our needs. However, my wife and I enjoy the time we have for us and our kids now and are using the time to recharge and regroup. We also were worried about the state of the industry over the next decade or so. We think another (likely non-beer) business model will be a better performing one. I still love beer and hope you get your love back and am getting back into scaling up my homebrewing game for my friends and family to continue to share the Augustino Brewing love in the future and hopefully you can do the same if that's your desire as well. Best wishes!

That really sucks, I never got a chance to visit Tanglefoot. Good luck in your future endeavors!

Keep going man! Try to get you a spot in Austin! Czech beer will catch on soon! Your passion and attention to detail will get rewarded

In the US, customers expect a kitchen when they go to a brewery. After a few drinks people get hungry. Then they have to leave to go get food. Every time I go to a microbrewery that doesn't have a kitchen, I think that they will go under soon. They usually do. It's too bad because I've had some great beers at these places. Maybe this isn't a big deal in Europe where you are within walking distance from food. Me personally, I will always choose a brewery that has food over one that doesn't. I hope you still homebrew and enjoy the process of making beer. Good luck with your future business ventures.

Saddness to hear but you are so honest and true to yourself. I know how you feel...running a one man show brewery myself and it´s a struggle but still is fun. Keeping costs, making beers, but in te end I do have to sell the beer I produce. Thanx for sharing this...Hope that everything turns out great in the end...

Sorry to hear that you are closing, have been watching your videos for a while and I am thinking about opening a brewery myself, so a video on the first steps would be really appreciated.

Me and Lex are for sure going to get up there before you close down. Love your beer and the atmosphere! I personally wouldn't change a thing about the experience we have when we're there. Its always a good time losing to you in darts while drinking that delicious 13°. Gonna miss you buddy, best of luck, and stay in touch! Maybe I can make it to austin and shoot a round of 18 with you soon!

Sad to hear the news; it's tough for any small business owner who has invested so much time, money, and commitment. At least this situation offers valuable lessons for others looking to enter the business. You can't just be in it to brew the beer; you also have to handle marketing, hospitality, and finance. Pretty much taking on the responsibility for a full team. I wish you the best of luck and can't what to see what the future holds for you.

Dude, so sorry to hear this. Let's hope Tanglefoot re-emerges in a better form soon! Cheers, brother!

Sad to hear this! It’s seems a wave of No sales then Great sales is normal anymore 🤦‍♂️ events help out tremendously but organizing them is taxing! Location is always a major factor. I enjoyed my visit to your brewery. All of your beers are on point & to style. How’s the other brewery across town doing? Hope you keep brewing even if it’s just to gain the fun factor back again🍻 Cheers & Naz Zdravi

Ah man, so sad to hear this. I am in Louisiana and planned to swing by next time I was going through Texas. You gave me advise last week on switching yeast to fix my bad beer, mexican lager yeast comes in next week. While I am terribly sad to hear you are closing, I and I'm sure many others would love to hear more transparency with numbers as I am sure many of your followers are considering opening a brewery and it would be interesting to hear a deep dive post mortem of numbers to gut check those considering opening a brewery. Cheers

Gutted for you mate but the one who falls and gets up is stronger than the one who never tried. Have enjoyed watching your journey and hope to see you on another one soon. All the best 🍺

All the best to you ♥

Im really sorry to hear this andy! I've never had the guts to open a small buiness so i cant really understand the stress you are under, but I do understand the logic behind closing. Sad I never got to taste your beer!

So sorry to hear this news; I've really enjoyed your videos. I actually own a small winery in Cal that experiences much the same sales ups and downs. I also thought that I could just make good wine (and we have many gold/dbl gold/etc wines) and the sales would grow naturally. Not the case. I tell my wife that we are not a winery, we are really in the events business and we just happen to sell wine at these events. It's just a fact of the current market. Now, in order to grow our business, we are opening a restaurant combined with the tasting room. It's not something we've done before, but it's all hospitality. Enough about me, but I just wanted to share that your results are not unique to Tanglefoot or even the beer market. And if you don't want to do the larger event/hospitality business that's ok, and it's good that you were able to be candid and honest and make that decision. A 2-hr round trip commute is killer and I can understand how that can sap your motivation. Will be eagerly watching your next chapter on YT.

Closing sucks, but enjoy those commute free days! Thanks for all the info, it is always great hearing some truth info into the industry. Cheers!

Sorry to see this. Have really enjoyed your videos since I found you channel a few months ago. I hoped it was a bit clickbaity video title and you'd got new premises or something. Very honest video. Good luck with whatever you do next!

Sorry to hear that.. but watching for awhile it's not a surprise. Hope that you can continue to build the brand via other arrangements. I know there are multiple places that closed their physical location to continue on in a contract capicity here in Connecticut, so the model does seem like it can work.

I have brewed your beer and it was fantastic. I went to your website to buy a hat or glass to thank you and didn’t see how to do this. Just throwing it out that I kind of wanted to give you some money for such a great brew. One other thing that I noticed on a live stream is you seemed to be a bit negative, and I was thinking to myself that if you are like this when you’re open to the public, it wouldn’t be a place I would want to visit regularly. I wish you the best and I will be thankful for the recipes you released to the public.

Sorry to hear that your closing, good luck with whatever you decide to do. I was wondering if you could recommend a substitute for the honey malt you use in the 12 degree pilsner? We don’t get honey malt in Europe and I used Munich previously but wanted to ask what you would use. Cheers

That is tough !! Sorry to hear !

Well done for having the spuds to pursue a dream

I'm curious as to sales directly to the attached family BBQ restaurant. Was there not heavy traffic there either to sell product?

I echo a couple of other comments in saying congrats on what you have accomplished. But it sounds like there were just too many hurdles to jump. Building a brewing business on your own is monumental. And that commute! You must have woken up every morning thinking that you had to be Superman. You’re young, and you’re strong, but eventually you can’t keep up. Give yourself a pat on the back. Dust yourself off, and do the next thing! I wish you the best moving forward.

Sorry to hear that Andy.

Here in California breweries do well , economically people are hurting , I used to have my fridge full of different beers , can’t do it anymore !! I buy less of everything . I need to eat .

Mate, don't be too hard on yourself, you had the guts to have a go and didn't quite get there. You have entered a business where there is now a lot of competition. I only watched a video of yours 3 days ago, regarding decoction mashing. I have been in business for 30 odd years. when you 'make it', they say your lucky, [BS], and when you fail, your this or that. Your young and good on you for fronting up on your channel. Best of luck. cheers John. NZ

Will you be selling your beer recipes from the brewery?

Good luck man. Sad to see a brewery that was focused on traditional lagers needing to close. I still think craft lagers have a huge potential in america that has only started to be realized within the last year or 2.

You are at the age I was with my first of four failed business ventures in 50 years of work. Just learn from your failures, and include that info in the new business of your liking. Things will work out, just stay positive. Cheers!

I always enjoyed your content, but never sampled the content of your beer. I live about 15 hours away. How much product do you have left? I am gonna need one of those yellow Tanglefoot hoodies.

I was looking for information and prices on Lukr faucets for my tiny brewpub startup and ended up watching a lot of your videos (BTW, lemme know if you have an extra pair of lukr faucets you don´t plan on using). Anyway, sorry to hear about your brewery and best of luck on all your future endeavours!

From the UK, my favourite local brewery Chapter Brewing is closing for similar reasons. Good brewery, bad business. Saturated market, high energy costs, making minimum wage, so many reasons. Not a decision anyone comes to easy, good luck to you on the next adventure 👍🏻

Andy, I am sad to hear the news about closing the brewery. As you know from our email exchanges, I am a BIG fan of Czech Lagers and I homebrew annually batches of Bohemian Pilsner (Czech Pale Lager) and Czech Dark Lager. As regards your business, I wonder how impactful it is to your revenue to only have Czech Lager products. Have you ever received feedback from customers that they would more frequently come to your taproom if you have a more diverse set of beers on tap? Best of luck to your future endeavors!

Are you selling mugs? Absolutely would get a mug and sticker ! I’m sorry you had to shut down , best of luck.

Heard Zilker and St. Elmo were looking for Brewers… Probably much more comfortable.

If someone wanted to open a brewery, let's say tomorrow, would you recommend that right now or is the market and economy in general too weird right now?

Liked your video, but not the message... Super sorry to hear about the closing. Tanglefoot is superb beer and you are right to be proud!

Hey bro, ik you’re not exactly enthused about brewing beer rn, but St. Elmo’s Brewing Co. is hiring for a brewer for their new location that’s opening up in N. Austin. It may be a good opportunity for you for you to put your skills to use and perhaps express your artistic skills in brewing. Austin needs more Czech lagers! I just had a dark Czech lager at Fast Friends and it was 🔥

We have a busy little brewery in my home. I'd never make it into a business and foresaw the reasons why long ago.

This sucks, but I completely understand. Good luck, hopefully you find your niche some time soon!

Good luck to you. What a learning experience this must have been. To your point, "has to be good beer".. no, absolutely not. There is a place local here that just happened to be one of the first "craft" breweries in this area, and has a good environment and business model, on top of having a great location, that has pretty meh beer. But since they built the brand when they did and hit the correct audience, they've been able to grow just on their brand name. Local home brew club members agree, the beer is mediocre at best, but these locals wouldn't know good beer if it hit them in their budweiser...

This sucks man I hate to see another brewery closing. The state of the beer industry is very weird right now and it may never get back to what it used to be. The younger generation isn’t drinking as much beer and the legalization of weed is hurting the industry too. You have to be a beverage company these days. Have everything from beer, wine, cider, seltzer, kombucha and hard liquor. You have to do it all or most of them to be successful these days. Cheers 🍻

You had some fun, you learned a lot. Now you move on. Good luck.

did you not wanna make hazies or thicc ass fruited sours?

You'd probably have to start diversifying your beer styles to be more successful. People want IPAs, Sours, Stouts, etc. Not many people appreciate the Czech lagers

You opened a brewery with zero ambience in Temple, Tx. It won't matter how good your beers are you were doomed my dude.

I stopped visiting Bars, Tavernes when they banned smoking. I started learning home brewing when good retail beers cost €3,50 per bottle. Companies keep rasing prices. But Private workers can't keep up with the raising retail prices. Not everybody has the funds to keep spending money they don't have. Inflation and such are created by companies. With all respect from the 4th reich EU

If your ambition was to talk about beer with your customers I think that might be the problem. The % of beer drinkers that like to analyze and talk about beer is very small, much smaller than the number of people that would like something tasty to eat with their beer.

It really just sucks !!!

I find it hilarious that this video has 2.3 THOUSAND views in 1 day, and you have $70-$100 sales days. I've never heard of your brewery, and I live in the area, as well as work in the brewing industry. The only thing I know about you, or the brewery, is this video - and it was apparent to me in the first few minutes- that you never should have opened this place. Brewing alone is extremely hard work, and yeah, it's texas, WERE ALL brewing in the same heat brother. It's hard, and it takes a lot out of you. Doesn't stop anybody else here, does it? That's just the brewing, but owning your own business? Even harder work. Sounds like you thought you had a golden opportunity to take the family business,brew some beer in it, then start raking in stacks of cash. As you now know, that's not how it works. I think those two things are really the crux of the issue, but following it up is the location and the business model. The days of people wanting to talk about the beer their drinking are long gone brother. They been gone. People want an "experience" for sure, but it's not a guy in a ponytail needing out to them about floor malted pilsner. That market was a flash in the pan. Yes , the industry HAS changed, but it's OUR responsibility as producers to keep ahead of those trends and curves. Unfortunately, having world class beer isn't enough anymore- and that's assuming that's what you have. All in all, this video sounds like you aren't willing to put in the real work,and you didn't really ever intend to. Your saying "yes, it's all my fault, but it's not my fault at all. It's everyone else's fault that they don't appreciate how wonderful I am."

Thanks for everything, i have been following you since the begining, i'am far north in Québec, Canada. I would have love to buy and taste your beer. Sorry to hear that your closing. I'am a professional brewer myself, if you like to promote a little bit the tanglefoot name maybe we could brew one of your beer at my brewery just for the sake of it, we are a british forward brewery but it would be fun to brew your 10 degree pivo, we do have a lukr tho. Contact me