Can a cooperatively owned brewery inspire the same sort of customer loyalty as a food co-op?
A group of beer lovers thinks so.
Earlier this month some Burlington area home brewers approved a set of bylaws and elected a board of directors in the first step toward establishing the Full Barrel Cooperative Brewery and Taproom.
Next comes signing up member-owners at $100 each. Then it will be time to recruit bigger money investors.
Matt Cropp, the group’s treasurer, thinks home brewers and beer aficionados are interested in a place they can benefit from and manage.
“There’s this kind of tension right now around people who get really excited about particular breweries and identify with them, but they have no say if that brewery is going to be sold and all the things they liked about it sold out from under them,” says Cropp.
He says the brewery would make its own beer, but would also promote home brewing.
The bylaws of the new cooperative stress support for the community, environmental stewardship and responsible drinking.
