Business Opportunities Weblog

November 13, 2008 by Rich Whittle | 2 Comments

Kalamazoo Gazette:

Tom Raich’s dream about beer has turned into a nice little side business.

Raich, a 53-year-old pharmacist and longtime homebrewer, had a dream one night in 1996 that led to an invention, called the Brew Hauler, which is taking off thanks to the recent resurgence in homebrewing.

Raich had struggled hauling his five-gallon carboy, a large glass container used to ferment beer, around his home. The contents of the cumbersome carboy would get jostled — a bad idea for a batch of brew — when he’d try to transfer it from one location to another.

In his dream, he saw a device that would ease the move. He woke up the next morning, went to a sporting goods store and bought webbing and buckles — items he used with his other hobby, rock climbing.

“I’m kind of practiced at using a sewing machine,” he said.

He made a carrier that wraps underneath and around the carboy and has two all-important handles. He started making them as a hobby and, in late 1997 or early 1998, Bell’s Brewery Inc. became his first retailer.

Around the same time Bell’s picked up Raich’s invention, the homebrewer/beer lover magazine, Zymurgy, featured the Brew Hauler as a “new gadget” in the late ’90s. In 1999, he patented it.

“It’s really difficult for me to conceive that no one came up with the idea earlier,” he said.

Photo by KalamaBrew.

In Invention, Microbusiness, Niche | 2 Comments