AND, you've got to convince a Coors, Bud, or Miller distributor to distribute your beer - and that ain't easy.

They're going to want you to show a certain (very large) volume of sales, and how can you develop volume without getting your beer distributed first? Then - the distributor and the stores have "planograms" of the beer displays, with every inch taken and careful consideration given to what brand goes next to what. Does your brew "compete" with an existing one? Uh-oh, not interested.

If you can pass those hurdles, the retailers and the distributors are gonna demand more profit than what the brewer makes - it's real easy to brew for nothing or at a loss.

I haven't even got into the alcohol tax structure yet - in which the ABC man often has keys to padlocks that lock the brewmaster out of his own fermenters. You want to see how your brew is doing and test it? Wait until Thursday when the tax guy is supposed to come by.

I know of one deal where a brewpub changed ownership, and the brewmaster (who continued working for the new owner) had 15 barrels of real good pale ale in holding tanks. The guv'ment made him pour it out, 'cause the new owner couldn't sell beer that had been made (and taxed) under the old owner's license. THEN the city slapped the new owner with a big fine for putting the brew down the sewer system. The delights are endless.

Just sayin'.