The time has come

[Brewtopian]

For the last year and half I have been working on a business plan and I am now turning to you, the beer professionals to tell me if you believe this concept would be both beneficial to you and to beer consumers here in the US.

Please check out my website and let me know what you think.

Thanks a bunch.
Rick

www.brewtopiastore.com

[pennbrew2]

Well I'll tell you the problem I had. Your webpage takes FOREVER to load, then once it's loaded, scrolling up and down the page causes my (admittedly creaky old) laptop to grind to a complete halt.

I'm no web expert, but what do you have running on that page that causes my system to bog down?

---Guy

[Brewtopian]

Well I'll tell you the problem I had. Your webpage takes FOREVER to load, then once it's loaded, scrolling up and down the page causes my (admittedly creaky old) laptop to grind to a complete halt.

I'm no web expert, but what do you have running on that page that causes my system to bog down?

---Guy

The site is a bit graphics heavy but this is the first that I've heard of this issue. Are you on an old 386?

Thanks for checking out the site. If you have the patience to check out the content please let me know your thoughts.

Thanks again.
Rick

[pennbrew2]

No, not a 386. I don't know the processor speed or how much RAM it has. It's running Windows XP and the hard drive is 20 gig.

Probably 1st generation XP, I don't know, about 5 years old? It zips around the internet pretty well, but it sure didn't like your site.

[Brewtopian]

No, not a 386. I don't know the processor speed or how much RAM it has. It's running Windows XP and the hard drive is 20 gig.

Probably 1st generation XP, I don't know, about 5 years old? It zips around the internet pretty well, but it sure didn't like your site.

Sorry I bogged down your machine. I hope you won't hold it against me

[beauxman]

You gotta fix that webpage, it is way too clunky regarding file size. All your page is images and graphics, they need to be optimized at best. Use HTML for your text, reduce graphics where you can.

Your page size is 885k! This takes 3.03 minutes to load for a 56k modem, and even a T1 data line would take 10.29 seconds to download. Most people will wait max 8 seconds for a page load (well researched and a standard industry accepted rule). Aim for a 30k page size max 50k. Give up "glitz" for content if you have to. Most people will have trouble loading your site and never see what you are offering...it brought my computer to a near death experience and my computer is robust and healthy.

Best of luck!
-Beaux

[monkeybrewer]

just to let you know my experience, I use a cable modem and I have no trouble quickly getting around your website(the pages and all graphics appeared instantly). As for the concept I think it's great. There are too few good beer stores in New England and Northern NY so this concept would be gladly welcomed here. Good luck and I hope to see your stores soon.
Cheers

[jl07960]

I too had no problem with your page and i'm on a cable modem. I think your presentation looked good, great selection of pictures, detailed and well worded descriptions of the plan. And beyond everyone's focus on the web page itself, it is a great idea and I hope someone takes a store like that into NJ one day - there are few liquor stores that have a good craft beer selection here, those that do without a doubt are the most popular liquor stores, becuase watered-down lager stores are every other block here, more and more are traveling to the nice slection stores which coincidently are usually higher-end wine stores as well, a lot of us here have been spending a lot of time educating the NJ people on good beer, and I can see that the market is starting to change, and it is nice to see these high-end wine selection stores also carry a nice selection of craft beers. But your plan is just straight-up craft beer which is great! I just don't think you're allowed regular tastings in an NJ liquor store.

-Jeremy
Flounder Brewing Co.

[pennbrew2]

Sorry I bogged down your machine. I hope you won't hold it against me

I tried this morning on my son's computer, bought less than a year ago--fast processor, tons of memory, DSL connection, etc.--and gave up after 60 seconds with the page not loading.

You really should consider doing something about it, if a large number of potentially interested people can't see your page then it's a real problem.

Just FYI.

---Guy

Edited to add: OK, using a different browser I was able to see your site. Looks like a great concept, it's the kind of place I'd like to go to buy some beer.

I assume you've looked into the different states' laws. If you do ever come east Pennsylvania will provide an interesting set of challenges to your business model!

Best of luck.

[Brewtopian]

Thanks for all the great feedback. I'm really glad you all think the idea is solid and it would be a benefit to you as producers.

The individual laws from state to state are something of a challenge and not all the services may be offered in some states. Here in Idaho for example you can't offer tastings of beer but you can wine. The solution to this dilemma was to get an on premise license. Its an inexpensive fix to the problem.

I'm in the funding stage for the prototype store right now and hope to have all the money together and started on construction this Spring.

You guys feel free to pass links to my site on to anyone that you think might be interested.

Thanks and keep it coming.

[beertje46]

After reading all the posts I decided my machine was bad-ass enough to handle anything, wrong. I opened the site in a new tab so I could continue reading ProBrewer. The machine ground to a halt, couldn't even scroll through PB. I am on commericial grade broadband and am connected straight into the modem. I couldn't even log-out.

I am using XP & IE 7 with all the current updates, 1/2 gig RAM, fast Celeron processor.

Once I got rebooted I opened the site with FireFox (3.something beta). Boom, site comes up fast, navigates easily even though it is a graphics hog. There is something about the site that doesn't like Internet Exploder.

Looks like a great concept, good luck in your venture.

[Brewtopian]

After reading all the posts I decided my machine was bad-ass enough to handle anything, wrong. I opened the site in a new tab so I could continue reading ProBrewer. The machine ground to a halt, couldn't even scroll through PB. I am on commericial grade broadband and am connected straight into the modem. I couldn't even log-out.

I am using XP & IE 7 with all the current updates, 1/2 gig RAM, fast Celeron processor.

Once I got rebooted I opened the site with FireFox (3.something beta). Boom, site comes up fast, navigates easily even though it is a graphics hog. There is something about the site that doesn't like Internet Exploder.

Looks like a great concept, good luck in your venture.

This is very odd. I run Mac and have opened it in Safari, Firefox and Explorer on my Mac with no issues. I have a IBM laptop at work that is about 2 years old and it runs fine there as well in Firefox and Explorer.

I'm not the most tech saavy person out there so I will have to employ the services of my neighbor to help me sort through this issue.

Thanks again

[Laughing Dog]

Brewtopia Is a trademarked Business name
first part of any business check for trademark/copyright infringments
good Idea rolling all the different stores into one

LDB

[GlacierBrewing]

Concept of specialty beer stores is a great idea! I do miss the variety I had living in Colorado and the superliquor stores. Here in Montana, our beer selection is much more limited at the retail store (although we have a new liquor store in town who seems to get it, regarding craft beers, unusual styles). I feel that in certain progressive markets, your beer-boutique concept can really take off and find success.
As far as your website goes, yea, pretty graphics-intensive. But I'm driving a three-year old Dell using Firefox, your site loaded just fine. Took about 10-15 seconds to load. I was interested, so I waited (AN ETERNITY!!!!! ). Maybe I'm just use to waiting as our website (glacierbrewing.com) seems to be a graphics pig as well. Try using this image reduction tool, http://tools.dynamicdrive.com/imageoptimizer/index.php. Other than that, I like it. Really look forward to see your stores in action!
Dave

[Brewtopian]

Brewtopia Is a trademarked Business name
first part of any business check for trademark/copyright infringments
good Idea rolling all the different stores into one

LDB

Yeah, I did catch that so we're going to modify the name to deal with this but we're also going to make an offer to the owner of the trademark since they're not using the name at this time.

Thanks for the catch.