PicoBrew wants to make machines for on-premise licensees now, not just home hobbyists. It announced plans to move into “commercial brewing appliances for bars and restaurants” shortly after we broke story that AB-InBev’s global Zx Ventures has stake in the homebrew appliance maker last week (see last issue). Note that at same time, CBN also referenced rumblings that bars and restaurants could look to use homebrew tech to offer house-made beer, moving ever closer to the notion that any bar could be a tiny brewery. And now, ABI-backed PicoBrew will look to make it so. The new “Indy” line of products will fit under counters, some hooking up directly to water supplies, making beer in batches of 5-15 gals. “Our early prototypes of commercial-scale craft brewing equipment have garnered considerable interest in the industry,” CEO Dr. Bill Mitchell said in release. The announcement came soon after PicoBrew also shared launch of more flexible recipe-creation for its existing machines, allowing more skilled brewers to develop customized ingredient packs for the appliances.
Obviously, licensing and other regulatory issues could hinder fast expansion of the appliance into retail locations. On the other hand, states like Calif have already dealt with issues related to bars/restaurants picking up cheaper brewpub licenses to more cheaply and quickly sell all alc bev types in markets like San Francisco and Napa. Indeed, many states offer low license costs for small-scale brewers, clearing hurdles for budding brewers while offering them the ability to sell their own products (and others) on site. So will opportunistic retailers, some of which have already felt pressure of growing taproom biz, seek to use PicoBrew’s Indy appliances to both take advantage of such license structures and appeal to increasing consumer demand for “local”? Then too, these appliances represent dramatic changes to the equipment, costs and processes needed to brew. If successful, could they add pressure to further change existing regulatory structures? That is, will a restaurant using an Indy machine need a manufacturing license, even if it’s making beer in an appliance not unlike those it uses to make food items?