Beer recipe worth?

[GlacierBrewing]

Okay, okay...
I have searched the ProBrewer archive on this to no solid result.
Has anyone sold a beer recipe? Either to a start-up or your existing or former employer? A beer recipe that has real-world, proven consumer draw?
Basically, how does one determine the value of a commercially-viable beer recipe that was developed on one's own time? Is this a matter of a percentage of annual sales? A flat fee? Whatever you can get for it? Other?
Thanks for the insights.

Prost!
Dave

[einhorn]

The old "give 5 bakers one recipe for bread and get 5 different loaves" comes to mind. IMO a recipe is only as good as the guy who brews it.

[Captain Mullet]

I have sold my recipes, but only once, the buyers knew nothing of the industry. It is the old story of a failed brewpub bought up by five local businessmen whom all had successful businesses in town. All had the same idea; “anyone can brew beer as long as they had a recipe, because it’s just like baking a cake, right?”

[LuskusDelph]

The old "give 5 bakers one recipe for bread and get 5 different loaves" comes to mind. IMO a recipe is only as good as the guy who brews it.

Exactly. I mean, beer is so ridiculously easy to make ...why else would the store shelves be so cluttered these days with new players reaching for the brass ring (and why else do so many homebrewers give up buying commercial beer altogether once they've mastered the process and realize that they were paying far too much for a lot of the overpriced stuff out there these days).

But yes... It really is all about technique more than it is about recipe. Once mastery of technique (along with the physical system on which the product is brewed), the "recipe" part of it becomes a smaller part of the equation.

Besides...the best and most repeatable recipes stress simplicity anyway.

[Natrat]

I don't sell recipes.

But I DO sell my expertise in designing recipes. It's up to them to brew it properly.

And I've seen two different breweries (in the same town) brew one of my recipes verbatim, and end up with two completely different results. Consistently, too.

I hope they aren't reading this

[ParishBrewingCo]

Okay, okay...
Has anyone sold a beer recipe? Either to a start-up or your existing or former employer? Dave

Dave,
Most american craft beer recipes are not valuable IMO. They are all so similar and the quality of the final beer depends more on the brewing process and skill of the people brewing it than the % of ingredients.

If there is a special bit of info, say that 100 ppm chloride is key to a certain recipe, then that may have some value. But that to me is more brewery theory and operational skill than a recipe. Kind of like brewery consulting.

That being said, shoot, if you can sell a recipe, go for it brother.

$0.02.

By the way, Will is kicking ass over here on our new 30 bbl brewhouse. Thanks for whatever skills you passed on to him! He does have a strong aversion to meheens... I wonder where that came from?

[GlacierBrewing]

I was recently presented with the question of what my recipes are worth. Having developed and nurtured these babies over the years, I have a very skewed idea of what their worth is!
Totally agree with the value is in the equipment, brewer, water, etc. It struck me as funny and interesting how the focus has been on "selling a recipe" and not "selling the entire beer production experience". Anyway, thanks for your seasoned responses.

By the way, Will is kicking ass over here on our new 30 bbl brewhouse. Thanks for whatever skills you passed on to him! He does have a strong aversion to meheens... I wonder where that came from?

Way to go Will!!! Very proud of him. I instilled a deep respect and love of Meheens in Will. I don't know what your talking about.
Give him a shout from Big Tim and I at Glacier!
Prost!
Dave

[Bainbridge]

I always follow the maxim "everything is worth only so much as someone will pay for it." Pair that with "a fool and his money are soon parted" and maybe you've got some recipe money coming!

[bmason1623]

Like anything else in life whether it's mechanical repairs, artistry, talents, etc or a recipes, they are only as good as one's ability to execute/perform the task at hand. $0.02

[LuskusDelph]

I always follow the maxim "everything is worth only so much as someone will pay for it." Pair that with "a fool and his money are soon parted" and maybe you've got some recipe money coming!

Best answer yet.

[wlg]

It is my understanding that you can never really protect a recipe under US intellectual property law. That said, I don't see why you couldn't sell one, but I pity anybody trying to "own" one.

Price? - Take a look at how nice the buyer's shoes are and guess accordingly. To someone about to start a business who lacks this crucial knowledge it could be worth a lot.

As for all this talk about technique I generally agree but there do seem to be some of those "magic formulas" out there. I just came from a small group of brewpubs that has one beer that repeatedly wins medals across several locations despite turning over brewers. The most recent was brewed by a guy I trained in 12 days who had never even home brewed before. He was about 3 months in when he won the a gold at World Beer Cup.

If you think you have something special you might want to guard it but I wouldn't develop a Colonel Sanders complex. I'd gladly sell a recipe. Just like beer, I know how to make more.

[Ken_H]

In my opinion, a recipe is rather easy to replicate or replace.

A brand, with established market and cash flows, can be valued. You can use a simple discounted cash flow calculation to see what it would be worth to an owner in the future fairly easily, and if you can include a growth rate from current experience, all the better.

I can elaborate further if this sounds like garbedly-gook.

Thanks

Ken

[Westy1717]

5 bakers following a recipe baking the same bread with everything being equal will always get the same results. Otherwise the recipe isn't a recipe.

[einhorn]

Why don't you give that a try Westy. Or stay in the beer world and give a recipe to 5 homebrewers and compare the results.

And you obviously have never tried my ex-girlfriend's bread, followed exactly to recipe but missing some knowledge about yeast. And wheat. And baking.

[Che']

I would think that the water going into the bread would make some difference? It does in the beer.