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Posted on Sunday, May 06, 2012 5:38 PM
 It's been WAY too long since my last post! Well we are busy brewing our new batches at the kitchen. My son Aaron (age10) has been serving second in command for the last several weeks and is turning into an expert bottler. Plus he's making some good money to support his X-Box cravings. In the meantime we are working to connect with investors to bring our product to the next level. Please reach out if you have any ideas! We are still making small batches and building the MN market base. |
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Bryan Deane Bertsch: Posted on Thursday, December 22, 2011 9:38 AM
 We are excited to be participating in Kombucha Kamp's 30 Day Kombucha Challenge to kick off 2012! Check it out HERE. You in?? |
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Bryan Deane Bertsch: Posted on Friday, October 14, 2011 8:22 AM
 Deane’s Kombucha is looking for an investor and/or business partner to continue our growth. After being re-licensed as an alcoholic beverage in early 2011, we have grown our business into two states; Minnesota and Wisconsin. We are looking to continue to expand into new markets, move into a larger production facility and hire a few team members to facilitate the growth.Kombucha is a growth industry (see trade article link from Beverage Spectrum below) that has great potential. It was a $200 million dollar industry in 2010 and trade projections anticipate Kombucha will be a $500 million dollar industry by 2015. |
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Bryan Deane Bertsch: Posted on Saturday, July 16, 2011 5:46 PM
It's been almost a year since the great "Kombucha Recall of 2010." Many changes have happened since then. For one, a lot of the big commerical kombucha brewers decided to "reformulate" their recipe to stay on grocery store shelves. I don't blame them; heck we tried doing that ourselves. But in the end, we decided to get licensed to legally sell our product just as it is: traditional kombucha that is uncompromised. I have tried some of the reformulated kombuchas that started showing up on our Minnesota shelves, and while I think they are close, I am not completely satisfied. |
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Bryan Deane Bertsch: Posted on Wednesday, June 15, 2011 9:36 PM
 My wife and I began drinking kombucha about 8 years ago. I am a Taoist meditation instructor and energy healer, so what we do for our bodies is very important. At the time we were dabbling with a raw food diet, and one day my wife brought home this very interesting, tasty beverage called Kombucha. Neither of us had heard of it at the time. I took an immediate interest in kombucha. I was especially fascinated that it was a living, raw beverage. In 2005, I was at a Spring Healer’s Retreat at Crow Wing Lodge in northern Minnesota. |
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Bryan Deane Bertsch: Posted on Wednesday, June 08, 2011 9:54 PM
 (Dedicated to Catherine of West Virginia) There are many nuisances to becoming a commercial food/beverage/beer manufacturer. It can be very intimidating at first, and it takes quite an effort to get all your ducks in a row. Below are some of the agencies you'll need to get in touch with. First and foremost, you need to find a certified commercial kitchen space. This took me years to find...if you don't build one out yourself (which will cost a ton) it's hard to find one that is available for your use. |
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Bryan Deane Bertsch: Posted on Sunday, May 15, 2011 9:30 PM
 I've been trying to figure out a way to incorportate my yoga practice with this 'building a business blog,' and thus far have not. So here goes... Building a business takes a lot of FIRE energy. Go, go, go. And there is a place for that. But in order to succeed, long term, you need balance. Yoga can be very intense. Especially hot yoga. In the Bikram Series, which is the most intense (and fulfilling) yoga I have practiced, the biggest gift I have received is learning how to balance "go time" with "rest. |
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Bryan Deane Bertsch: Posted on Saturday, May 07, 2011 8:17 PM
 Last night Monica and I expanded to 5 new barrels. We were out of bottles, out of kegs, and have future orders lining up. So we took advantage of the situation and took our 3 current barrels to use as starters for 5 more. This is an exciting moment...when we were running full capacity last summer we were running 8 barrels. When we got word from the TTB that our kombucha tea had alcohol in September, all of a sudden we were done...we needed further licensing, and more importantly in Minnesota, we needed help from the grocers to be able to stay on their shelves. |
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Bryan Deane Bertsch: Posted on Thursday, April 28, 2011 9:51 AM
 Yesterday I went out with Brad “The Beer Guy” to visit possible locales for Deane’s Kombucha. Our first stop wasThe Cellar’s Wines and Spiritsin Roseville. We had a great visit with Rod and staff. When we got to theAle Jailin Minneapolis, we were greeted by Adam and his staff. They treated Brad and me to some awesome beer samples before we tried some Deane’s Kombucha. |
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Bryan Deane Bertsch: Posted on Friday, April 22, 2011 12:18 PM
 It’s taken me awhile to figure this out, but don’t be afraid to ask for help in your endeavors. This has especially been the case for me as I have transitioned from a beverage manufacturer to a beer manufacturer. The rules of the game have changed significantly – from licensing, to tax preparations and mostly Distribution. |
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