You are reading

Rockaway Brewing aims to sell beer by the can, but first needs funding

RockawayJuly 15, 2014 By Michael Florio

A local brewery is calling for community assistance to help it grow.

Rockaway Brewing Company, located at 46-01 5th Street, launched a 30-day Kickstarter campaign last month, in hopes of raising $30,000 to purchase a semi-automated canning line.

The brewery is looking to buy a machine where it can feed empty cans onto a conveyer belt, where they will be filled with beer and sealed. The cans would then come out ready for packaging.

“After that we would bring them to grocery stores and other places to sell,” said Marcus Burnett, a co-owner.

Currently, Rockaway Brewing’s beer is served on tap at John Brown Smokehouse, Alobar, Sweetleaf, as well as several bars in the Far Rockaways. It is also rotated in and out of the menu at several other bars in Western Queens.

Rockaway’s beer is primarily sold on tap–hence the need for cans.

Burnett said the company would be able to sell more beer if it could serve its product in a can. The beer is available in bottles, but only at the brewery, as a special.

While his goal is $30,000, that is only part of the cost of the machine and installation. The dream goal is $43,000, but Burnett did not want to ask for that much.

“If we get the $30,000, we will supply the rest,” he said.

The Kickstarter is 18-days in (with 12 remaining) and the company has raised $9,056 with 150 backers so far.

The donations are incentive based, starting at $5 for a free postcard all the way to $1,000, where the donor is declared an assistant brewer for the day. One backer has donated $1,000.

Other incentives include a tour for two for $500, as well as T-shirts, bottle openers, pint glasses and more.

All Kickstarter campaigns have a deadline, said Burnett, but they wanted theirs to be relatively short.

“It takes a lot of energy to keep a Kickstarter going and keep the momentum of the project going,” he said.

The brewery will host a closing party on July 26th, the day before the campaign ends. It will be open to the public, with all donations made that night going to the campaign. The party will feature a small tour of the brewery, a tasting of and a DJ.

Beer will be served until 10 p.m.

“Rockaway Brewing Company really appreciates the support we get from LIC and Queens,” Burnett said. “The community has been really supportive and we hope they will continue too.”

email the author: news@queenspost.com

Featured Events

Post an Event

View All Events…

5 Comments

Click for Comments 

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News
Amazon faces largest U.S. strike as Maspeth teamsters join nationwide picket lines Thursday

Hundreds of warehouse workers and drivers walked off the job and joined the picket line outside the massive DBK4 Amazon fulfillment center in Maspeth on Thursday morning as the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) launched the largest strike ever against the $2 trillion corporation in New York City, Atlanta, Southern California, San Francisco, and Illinois.

Amazon workers at other facilities across the country say they are prepared to join them to protest unfair labor practices after the IBT set a Dec. 15 deadline for Amazon to begin negotiations on a new agreement. The union was ignored.

Read More
0
Load More Articles