Cartel reaches its Kickstarter goal

Cartel reaches its Kickstarter goal

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By Brent Glasgow  of the Hendricks County Flyer

PLAINFIELD — Weeks before its Kickstarter campaign deadline, Cartel Brewing co-founder Adam Burk figured contributions would fly in at the last minute.

He was dead on.

Cartel had set a $35,000 goal on the crowd-funding website, which if not met, they got nothing. They were about $25,000 short going into the final 48 hours, but ended up surpassing the needed mark by $926, thanks to 115 backers.

“It was like sitting in the NFL Draft green room wondering what’s going to happen,” Burk said. “We pulled a few people in at the very end to make it happen. It’s a wonderful start and now we can look at what’s next.”

Cartel, which is scheduled to open in Plainfield in June, was helped by a free tasting at Claddagh Irish Pub on March 1, just over 24 hours before the deadline.

“It was a lot of people and probably bumped us up 10 or 15 percent,” Burk said. “The crowd grew even larger than we expected, and it was great to see all the support.”

With online donations starting at $10, Cartel’s Kickstarter supporters will receive perks based on their commitment. The most popular option was $25, while three anteed up $1,000 or more.

Burk said the next key step is permit finalization.

“We’re toward the end of the federal permit, and then we have to get the state one done,” he said. “We’ll be working on the building in conjunction with the state permit. We have to know exactly what they’ll require. If all goes well with the state, and with the site, we should be ready to go in June.”

Procedurally, Burk and fellow founder Ruari Crabbe have been able to lean on Hendricks County beer pioneer Cutters Brewing Co., which moved into Avon last year.

“Cutters has been willing to help us through whatever we need to do, because they did basically the same thing,” Burk said. “They helped blaze the trail.”

The Kickstarter funds will allow Cartel to expand tank capacity, purchase a cooler and put together its site on the 5700 block of East U.S. 40.

“It gets us in the building, keeps us online with what we wanted to do and gets us going,” Burk said.

— Follow Hendricks County Flyer writer Brent Glasgow on Twitter @BGlasgow37.

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