09 Nov Tarnished Hollow Brewing Takes a Big Step Forward
by Mark E. Lasbury for Indiana On Tap
Important information up front – Tarnished Hollow Brewing IndieGoGo page: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/tarnished-hollow-brewing-co-part-deux#/
If you’ve attended any Indiana beer festivals in the past couple of years, it’s likely you’ve had beers from Tarnished Hollow Brewing – the brewery poured at no fewer than 17 festivals in 2022. What’s also likely is that you stood in a long line to try Tarnished Hollow beer – it’s the rare festival that owner Branden Holder has beer to take home.
As you probably know, it’s illegal to pay homebrewers for their beer at these events, so Branden has taken a smart approach to getting his brand out in the public and build a following, while spending a lot of his own money to make enough beer for all those festivals. It’s a significant investment on his part to have tens of gallons of beer ready to serve roughly every two weeks for a couple of years – where does that money come from? He sells great merchandise!
Tarnished Hollow shirts, hats, glasses, etc. can be seen everywhere because 1) people like the beer and want people to know it, and 2) Tarnished Hollow has cool designs. Branden designs and produces these items himself, he’s a great graphic artist as well as a great brewer. That’s how he has been able to finance GIVING AWAY his beer most weekends of the year.
These are the festivals at which Tarnished Hollow poured in 2022. image credit: Tarnished Hollow Brewing
Tarnished Hollow has great beer, great merchandise, and thousands of fans, but what it doesn’t have is a home in which it can brew beer commercially and make some money rather than just tread water (not even). It’s time now to draw upon all the loyalty and relationships that Tarnished Hollow has developed through Branden’s hard work in order to raise enough capital to establish a home for the brewery and to move from home brewing to commercial brewing.
If you’ve enjoyed Tarnished Hollow beer, if you like how Branden approaches the craft of brewing, or if you just want to support for a small business in development, then please take a look at the IndieGoGo site for Tarnished Hollow Brewing (here). After several possible locations didn’t work out, Branden has now found a small building in Elwood that will be a great starting point for the professional version of Tarnished Hollow.
At the IndieGoGo page, you can choose from many levels of support, each with its own perks (hats, shirts, glasses, etc). That’s nice, but the major point is that by raising this money, Branden will have the capital to acquire this humble site, rehab it through sweat equity as a taproom, and put in a brewhouse. Elwood is not far from where Branden lives, is a town in need of a brewery, has good enthusiasm from the city administration, offers Tarnished Hollow the opportunity to be the beginning of a downtown renaissance, and is close enough to several larger communities (Anderson, Muncie, Indy, Tipton, Fishers, Noblesville) in order to create a large cohort of regulars.
Branden with the merchandise that has let him keep serving beer at festivals. image credit: Franklin County Indiana Welcome Center
Your investment in Branden and Tarnished Hollow will be well used and will pay dividends for the Indiana brewing community for years to come. Branden is one of the hardest working people you’ll ever meet, and he won’t let his dream die through inaction. He has fought too hard for too long to let things get away from him now. He’s been brewing non-stop for three years while also working other jobs. He’s taken the time to learn what to do in and around the brewhouse so that he can stay on top of all trends and issues – even while raising a family and taking on new skills.
By contributing to the Tarnished Hollow IndieGoGo, you accomplish several things, 1) aid a small business, 2) allow Branden to maintain control of his venture and minimize input of “partners,” 3) contribute to the rejuvenation of a small town, and 4) reduce overhead, debt, and risk for a small businessman. Plus, you’ll have Tarnished Hollow beer to enjoy for years to come. It sounds like a sound investment to me. Branden told me, “I hope this small, grassroots approach will allow me to preserve the integrity that the Tarnished Hollow Brewing has created and represented thus far.”
Specifically, Branden is seeking $10,000+ to fund the rehab of the building and to help pay for state and federal permitting fees, as well to purchase a commercial brewhouse, and pay all those bills that businesses accrue (insurance, upkeep, and minimal staff). He’s done the math and looked at many different paths that people have taken, and his strategy here is a winner, both in terms of accomplishing his goals, and in being fiscally responsible.
The line is always long at the Tarnished Hollow booth. image credit: Munich to Muncie Oktoberfest
If you happen to have a bit more money to invest and you want to help Branden fulfill all of our beer dreams, you can become a silent investor as well. As Branden has written, “We are also seeking debt investors interested in micro-investing starting at the $5,000 level. We’re offering a fixed return on the initial investment of 15-20% depending upon the vested amount with an anticipated 3 to 5 year repayment window (ideally sooner). Payments will be divided into 60 months with the understanding that even if the initial investment is paid in full ahead of schedule, the investor will receive the full percentage of their return (e.g. a $5,000 investment at a fixed return of 20% will receive $6,000–$5,000 initial + $1,000 return–whether the loan is paid back early in 2 years or the full 5 years).” He added to me, “Our goal is to provide a small return on these micro-investments that, although minor in the grand scheme of things, is better than what many people would receive from 3-5 years sitting in a savings account somewhere.”
Please take some time to look at the many offers on the IndieGoGo page for Tarnished Hollow Brewing and think long and hard as to whether you have some extra cash to use to help Branden bring his beer to all the people of Indiana. If you are a craft beer fan, but don’t go to craft beer festivals, ask someone who does – they’ll tell you about Tarnished Hollow. The more you hear, the more you’ll want to help out. Again, that link is: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/tarnished-hollow-brewing-co-part-deux#/
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