Owner of Dry Dock Brewing Co. - SBA Success Story & e200 Graduate
What began as a home-brew hobby has turned into a thriving brewery business for Kevin DeLange and his wife Michelle. Kevin is the President of Dry Dock Brewing Co, an Aurora base craft brewery that began in 2005. Dry Dock Brewing began winning awards for its beer as early as 2006, winning the World Beer Cup Gold H.M.S Victory ESB in the Special or Best Bitter category. Since then, Dry Dock has won 3 additional World Beer Cup awards and 11 Great American Beer Festival medals including Small Brewing Company of the Year in 2009.
Kevin and Michelle began their relationship with the U.S. Small Business Administration by utilizing SBA’s 7(a) loan program. In 2009 and again in 2011 they used the 7(a) loan program to finance tenant improvements and to purchase an additional bottling machine, fermenters and kegs. They recently were approved for an SBA 504 loan to finance a 30,000 square foot building in Aurora Colorado. The new facility will house a 4-vessel, 40 barrel brew-house that will eventually be capable of producing more than 60,000 barrels of beer per year (one barrel is 31 U.S. gallons). Their goal is to brew 12,000 barrels in the first year. In addition to utilizing SBA’s loan guaranty programs, Kevin is a participant in the 2012 SBA Emerging 200 Initiative – a 7-month curriculum that enables participants to engage in focused development and expansion strategies for their business.
Since opening, Dry Dock Brewing has never been able to keep up with the demand for their award-winning beer. Kevin and Michelle’s approach to growth has been incremental and slow – all part of their plan to grow from a small brewery to a medium-sized brewery. Their production has grown from 300 barrels in 2006 to 3,200 barrels projected for 2012. On a typical Friday night, the brewery will pour 15 barrels or 4,200 glasses of beer. Pretty impressive for a guy from Iowa whose business started as a hobby!
Where will SBA be this month?
Mi Casa Resource Fair
November 1st, 5:30pm-7:30pm
360 Acoma St. Denver, CO 80223
Click here to register
8a & PTAC Event
November 8th, 8am-12pm
14305 E. Alameda Ave. Ste. 300 Aurora, CO 80012
This class covers the 8(a), HubZone, and Women Owned Small Business (WOSB) federal contracting certifications. Topics include the eligibility, requirements and benefits of each certification program.
Click here to register
8a Certification Workshop
November 13th, 9am-11:30am
721 19th St. Suite 426 Denver, Co 80202
This class covers the 8(a), HubZone, and Women Owned Small Business (WOSB) federal contracting certifications. Topics include the eligibility, requirements and benefits of each certification program.
Register now!
Veteran Start Up Event
November 14th, 10:30pm-1pm
South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce, 2154 E. Commons Avenue, #342 Centennial, CO 80122
In honor of Veterans day the Colorado District Office wants to help those that served our country with their new business venture. The event features a Veteran owned small business owner, SBA resource partners, Q&A, and networking.
Register now!
2nd Encore Entrepreneur Mentor Day
November 14th, 1:00pm-2:30pm
South Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce, 2154 E. Commons Avenue, #342 Centennial, CO 80122
Are you 50+ and interested in starting a business? Join the SBA and AARP for Encore Entrepreneur Mentor Day! The event features inspirational stories and Q&A from our guest speaker, business counseling and networking with us and our resource partners.
RSVP now!
2012 CGFOA/CMCA Annual Conference
November 13-16th, SBA will be doing a work shop on November 15th from 2:30-3:30pm
Estes Park, CO
Help for YOUR Community’s Small Business Owners: A healthy business community generates sales tax that supports the services provided by local government. This session will introduce participants to FREE business development educational offerings, the names of lending institutions that offer loans to qualifying small businesses, the locations of business centers offering business counseling, an overview of professional volunteers who mentor small businesses and how small business owners can find them, make appointments, and receive the benefit of their experience without even leaving their place of business, and much more.
Pueblo Resource Fair
November 29th, 9:00am-4:00pm
Pueblo Convention Center, 320 Central Main St. Pueblo, CO 81003
This one day conference will include a Business Resources Exhibit Hall featuring business federal, state, and local resource vendors that will be available to speak with business attendees, a series of seminars on some of the most popular business topics including a legislative roundtable, access to capital roundtable and a continental breakfast kick-off program that you won’t want to miss.
If you have comments, questions, or topics you are interested in hearing about in our newsletter please email suggestions to Taylor Marshall, taylor.marshall@sba.gov
