How hard is it to start a brewery?

[dinhhanh]

It seems everyone and their dog (and it's fleas) thinks they can start a brewery these days so I figured I'd toss the question out there to y'all for debate: How hard is it to start a brewery? I mean beer is just water, yeast, hops, and malt. Boil 'em together and let it sit around for weeks until it's beer. Bottle it, come up with some silly/cool name for it, put it on a truck and get it to market. Oh! And if you run a brewery from Quebec, don't forget to include some anti-religious sentiments when naming your beer (i.e. Genou de la face de Dieu Saison Epique)! Do I have the formula right yet? [url=http://gianphoihoaphatair.com/]gian phoi thong minh[/url]

Many of you likely find the above statement a huge pile of oversimplified ignorance from a forum (and brewing) noob. Good. It is!

Really I want to get us talking about the true talent of fusing brewing art and business. What considerations should be made before starting a brewery? What are the biggest hurdles to overcome in startup? Beyond startup? What are the legal considerations (i.e. do you need an inspected facility? Permits? Licenses? etc.?). Is NS close to market saturation for craft beer? Is Canada? Is there any money in it? Does success/failure strongly correlate with product quality or can any beer sell if it's well marketed?

Looking forward to having an interesting debate around this! Thanks in advance for your contributions!

[Innkeeper]

Welcome to the Wine Board. You did not post your location and this would help. If you live anywhere in the U.S.A. you almost certainly live close to a microbrewer. Ask them.