Coos Brewing Company: Just-in-time Financing Helps Business Owner Compete
Our just-in-time financing helped Coös Brewing Company compete in a fast-moving marketplace and grow its North Country craft beer business.
A Gathering Place
At dinnertime on a mid-December Friday, folks stream into an industrial building close by downtown Colebrook, N.H. Teachers, hospital workers, loggers, and couples on date night settle into the picnic-style tables and couches lining Coös Brewing Company’s tap room and restaurant. The sweet smell of hops hovers over the lively chatter and laughter.
The eight beers on tap appeal to nearly every drinker’s taste—from a pilsner and tart wheat ale to a “very brown” ale and a porter—and the menu is several steps above the pub grub usually found at breweries. The line at the counter moves quickly but rarely stops.
It isn’t exactly what Colin Finn envisioned when he began brewing beer 15 years ago, but it’s where his quest for new tastes and his entrepreneurial spirit have brought him.
An internship at one of the nation’s best craft breweries, Hill Farmstead Brewery in Vermont, launched Colin’s brewing journey. After testing his recipes on very tolerant friends, he began Coös Brewing in 2015.
With three barrels and two fermenters jammed into a two-bay garage, he produced 75 gallons (the equivalent of 600 pints) per brew day. He sold growlers out the door and kegs to a couple local restaurants.
“I couldn't fathom that people would drink more than 600 pints of my beer a month. Over time, it became clear that there was a much larger capacity out there,” he says.
A COVID Course Correction
When COVID came to the North Country, Colin was working full-time as a registered nurse while brewing beer on the side. The realities of the pandemic quickly flipped that.
“Nursing became challenging. And I thought, you know what? (Brewing) is far less exposure to other people and I can just work alone and make beer. And so that's the path I took,” he says.
It wasn’t easy. Unable to keep their small tap room open because of pandemic restrictions, Colin and his two part-time employees quickly switched to retail sales. They filled 16-ounce cans by hand (“Which I do not recommend,” he says. “I think we could do four cases an hour.” By contrast, Coös’s mechanized canning line currently produces 30 cases an hour). The cans needed labels and bar codes. They needed to be delivered to stores’ beverage coolers. Rinse. Repeat.
But the beers’ wider distribution led to wider demand. When a warehouse in Colebrook was available, with space for the brewing operation, a tap room, and a restaurant, Coös Brewing moved in.
Just-In-Time Financing
The New Hampshire Community Loan Fund is a niche lender and one of our business finance specialties is what we’ve come to call “just-in-time” loans. When business owners need to respond rapidly to opportunities, we can help with swift decisions.
That was the case in early 2024. Coös’s production had plateaued, largely because its labor-intensive brewhouse limited its ability to respond to fluctuations in demand.
“We had to scale up our production volume just to remain viable, and the easiest way to scale up is with used equipment,” says Colin. His challenge was that used brewing equipment is in high demand and sells very quickly—more quickly than traditional lenders can turn around loan requests.
Colin’s wife, who operates a charter school, had good experiences with the Community Loan Fund’s Northern Community Investment Capital (NCIC) program, and suggested giving it a try.
“I was very impressed at how quickly the Community Loan Fund was able to share the financing I needed,” Colin says. “They were very responsive and got right back to me.”
As a result, Coös Brewing can now produce 15 barrels (465 gallons) per brewday. “Our new, larger, brewhouse provides efficiencies of scale and operation that ensure there's ample supply whenever the mood for a Coös beer strikes,” says Colin.
The loan also means the company will be able to add one full-time and one part-time job to its current staff of eight.
As for the future, Colin says he prioritizes quality over growth. “If you can continue to make a quality product and provide a quality of life to everybody involved in the organization, I think that's the right size,” he says.
“It's not measured by barrels of beer. It's measured by quality of life.”
Numbers that Tell the Story
We support local small businesses because of the greater impact they have on communities. They are the source of jobs and often are central gathering places that provide much more than goods and services.
Businesses like the Coös Brewing Company are the heart of their communities. Investing in them brings returns that go far beyond their economic impact.
428%
Increase in Coös Brewing Co.’s sales between 2020 and 2023
9
Full- and part-time workers this financing will support
11
Retail locations in Coös Country that sell Coös Brewing Co.'s beer
2.2%
Unemployment rate in Colebrook (Sept. 2024)