PROJECT OVERVIEW

Steel Brewery | Craft Beer

5/31/19 A Steel Brewery Is Born

Construction is underway at Bolero Snort’s brand-new steel brewery in Carlstadt, New Jersey! Team Verdi recently completed the steel pipe piles and structural concrete foundation for this 17,000 square foot, state-of-the-art facility. Erection of the structural steel building begins next week!

In The Midst of an Economic Crisis, an Endearing Brewery Was Born

Robert Olson Jr., Bob, founder of Bolero Snort (New Jersey) wasn’t always a beer connoisseur. He confesses that during his time in college, his favorite type of beer was whatever was on sale, that he could afford. He went to school in South Carolina at Clemson University, and studied engineering for a full 3 years, only to change his major to Financial Management later. After graduating in 2006, he moved to Atlanta, GA where his entrepreneurial spirit led him to start up an Electronic Medical Records company with his friend. In hindsight, he realized they were probably still too inexperienced and the product was way ahead of their time for the company to soar; however, the experience rendered them valuable business lessons. Much to his luck, 2007 was officially the start of a recession in the USA – clearly not a great time to be graduating and looking for his first professional job. He bravely and unpresumingly decided to move back with his parents in New Jersey and to try to put some of that engineering knowledge from school to good use. He started working as a consultant for the construction industry. However, he knew that job wasn’t his calling and it felt like something was missing.

Bob’s luck started to turn when he found a place of his own and a friend gifted him his first brewing kit. He found brewing to be quite intriguing and he joyfully started experimenting more and more with it. After spending time learning about brewing on his own, reading books, searching the net and simply having fun with it – trial and error at its best – he began to fall in love with the process. Obviously, someone had to taste test and evaluate all the output, as a result of all the quality checks, a deep appreciation and love for great tasting beer was born.

Bob was so fascinated by brewing that in 2008 he sought an internship with a promising craft brewery in the area, the craft beer movement was becoming increasingly popular at the time. Since 2008 the number of brewers in the tri state area has practically grown by fourfold. Today, there are well over 100 establishments in the region. According to a publication by the Brewers Association Organization, “Between 2004 and 2008, beer drinkers increasingly connected with small and independent breweries and local breweries. Craft Brewers have succeeded in establishing high levels of quality, consistency and innovation, expanding the minds of the beer consumers and creating the most diverse brewing culture in the world.

While craft brewers only had four percent of the U.S. beer sales in 2008, there is a tremendous upside for beer drinkers and craft brewers.” During his time with this local brewery, Bob learned quite a bit about the business – from building boxes to cleaning kegs and running their bottling line.

As he learned more about the brewery industry and business operations, Bob saw an opportunity and began to recognize that great tasting and quality beer demand was not just a fad, but a booming industry with tremendous growth potential.

After the internship and his own research, he decided he wanted to go into business for himself. He also learned that the brewery business is highly regulated, something that most people don’t know. Often times the general public thinks it is a fun and easy business to run, but there are endless limitations and rules that one needs to abide by. His Financial Management degree and engineering knowledge certainly helped him navigate through the numerous challenges that he was about to face in order to succeed in this up-and-coming industry. For example, it took a whole year – from 2012 to 2013 – for him to obtain his license to start what he calls “gypsy brewing” – utilizing other people’s facilities to make his beer. “Sort of like a chef using someone else’s kitchen”, he describes. The state does not allow gypsy brewers to sell directly to consumers, so he had to find a way to reach wholesalers. While using other facilities, he started to brew 30 BBL batches, the equivalent of 60 kegs at a time, once per month, just starting out. Something that certainly seems small in a world of Anheuser-Busch InBev and MillerCoors, but for him, who started brewing as a hobby, it was very significant.

For the past 6 years Bolero’s delicious and unique beers have been available in the market. They have used about 15 different facilities with one primary host site and 2 to 3 others at any given time, keeping a healthy production rate of 90 BBL batches multiple times per month. In 2018 he brewed 3,000 barrels of beer, a milestone that tastes as sweet as his Juicy Pebbulls beer.

Today, Bolero Snort beers can be found in most independently owned bars in the tri-state area as well as boutique liquor stores, and his brand is well recognized amongst beer lovers in the region. He also partners with distributors that reach Philadelphia, New York City and Boston. Most of the beers are found either in cans or draft. Fun fact, he explains: “Cans are much better to preserve the quality / taste of the beer, as sunlight can be detrimental to the taste, as well as oxygen, making cans a much better choice than bottles. Not to mention the fact that cans have a lighter environmental footprint.”

After 6 years of gypsy brewing, Bob was ready to open the doors to his own facility in The Meadowlands. A cozy venue that will enable him to brew 7,000 BBLs annually, with a vision to increase it to 30,000! He bought a property and decided on a steel building to transform his much awaited vision into a reality. He chose a steel building based on cost and efficiency. He also felt that a steel building would give him the rustic-chic look that he had in mind for his space. After connecting with about 10 building suppliers, the choices were narrowed down to merely 3 contenders – Allied was one of the finalists. He also flirted with the idea of renovating the original building, but after closing on the property and doing all the inspections, he quickly realized it wasn’t feasible, a steel building was definitely the way to go. The decision to partner with Allied for his endearing brewery was reached somewhat naturally. At the end of the day, he says, “I prefer to do business with people that I like. And the folks at Allied have been extremely knowledgeable, transparent and friendly.”

His 100 x 140 x 27 pre-engineered production brewery will feature an additional 45 X 50 mezzanine on the 2nd floor for storage and office space. The 16,500 sq ft structure will include a tasting room and a nice and relaxing patio providing an outside space conducive for beer lovers to just come, hang out, and strike up conversations with one another. His vision for the space revolves around an atmosphere free of gimmicks and distractions, for Bob, it is ALL ABOUT THE BEER. His beers are flavorful and easy to drink, from the regular IPAs and stouts to more bold and enhanced infusions – a wide selection of over 20 taps. He wants people to come and explore new tastes, expanding their palates while being open to new, unique and fresh creations. Today he is glad that the bad economy of the late 2000’s pushed him outside of his comfort zone. Who would have known that the light/cheap beer drinker from his early 20’s would become the founder and owner of his own microbrewery, with his brand reaching thousands of customers, and soon a spanking new welcoming and fun facility to host everyone that wishes to share their love for beers with him!

Bob has been married for almost a decade and they have 2 boys (5 and 3 years old). Him and his family hope to welcome patrons as early as Thanksgiving this year, with a grand opening filled with great tasting beers and an inviting space for people to enjoy themselves having a relaxing and fun time.

For more information about Bolero Snort, visit their website at www.bolero.beer.

Another Satisfied Steel Building Client | Client Testimonial

“Hi, I’m Bob Olson, and this is Bolero Snort Brewery. Our entire business is very family oriented. The culture that we promote is, we take care of each other and we don’t exist without our customers. We put a high emphasis on customer service, and I think that’s what you’re getting when you get an Allied building. We had a lot of contractors that were friends and kind of called around the industry and said, who makes buildings and has a good reputation? And Allied made it to the shortlist. They knew that we were trying to make beer as quick as possible and were instrumental in helping us get there. It was really remarkable. I think we poured the slab right before Memorial Day. They started to do the, I call it the skeleton, the EXO structure right in the beginning of June, and it was like six weeks later, we were almost completely dried in. So, that allowed us to start bringing our equipment in and getting really a jump on the interior fit out because of how quick the building went up, nine months from groundbreaking to in the door, making beer. They were who I had the gut feeling that were the right people, and now that we’re sitting here at the end of the road, I would say it was a good decision.”