Win 2 Tickets & 1 Parking Pass to the Astros-White Sox game at Minute Maid Park on May 30th, 2015 by Entering our Giveaway below. Limit 1 entry per individual. 1 Winner will be drawn at random & announced by Tuesday, May 25th. Winner will be contacted via E-mail and/or phone & tickets will be mailed out shortly after. This giveaway is in no way sponsored by the Houston Astros.
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Hiring a new employee and getting them up to speed with proper procedures and policies can be demanding on your time. That's why we've developed a New Employee Orientation Checklist to use as a starting point for your own training of new workers at your winery or brewery. Download it for FREE below.
Risk is inevitable when operating a Winery or Brewery. However, knowing how to limit and manage that risk is key. Which is why we made Winery/Brewery Risk Reduction Checklists, which you can download for FREE. Just click the link(s) below.
Winery Risk Reduction Checklist Brewery Risk Reduction Checklist Cheers, REGNIER INSURANCE Original Source: Craft Brewing Business (Written By Chris Crowell)
The fight for quality beer marches on. Craft Brewing Business recently reached out to a couple established craft breweries, including Texas's own Real Ale Brewing (as well as Colorado's Left Hand Brewing) to hear about the composition of their quality assurance (QA) programs. Maybe there is a task or two you’ve been overlooking in your own operation. Real Ale Brewing Located in Texas, Real Ale Brewing is in its 19th year and produces around 65,000 to 70,000 barrels (bbls) per year, with all of its distribution contained inside the state of Texas. Thomas Erwin is the brewery’s lab specialist. Here is everything he identified under Real Ale’s QA program: Hourly
When Erwin says they perform a “full micro” on all batches, he is looking for anaerobic and aerobic plate counts, sacchromyces wild yeast plate counts and non-sacchromyces wild yeast plate counts. These tests can really save the day. “We once had the booster heater for the filler go out and therefore the pasteurization of the filler was not at the correct temperature,” Erwin said. “We had already run 600 cases or more by the time we noticed it. The micro revealed a small level of anaerobic contamination so the entire run pre re-pasteurization was held and dumped.” What should you be doing? Erwin believes a small brewery should be able to handle everything in that list. The only processes that carry a real price tag are the IBU, SRM and ATP equipment. If he had to boil that list down to the musts: Package headspace air is really important. Erwin said the constant and intensive monitoring of headspace air and total package oxygen has been maybe their biggest lifesaver. Real Ale checks it with a headspace air tester, which run around $2,000 and are inexpensive to maintain and use. Micro sampling on fermenters, brite tanks and packaged product are also fairly cheap to perform, but good aseptic technique and sterile containers are a must. Sensory panels will require some work up front in terms of training, but after that they cost very little, and they can provide some extremely important data. Breweries cannot just go by taste off the line as the taste could possibly fall apart once the beer is out in the world. “Quality assurance is a brewery’s best ‘insurance policy,’” Erwin said. “A lot of QA tasks are very cheap and just require a clean space and someone with some time. Of course, a small brewery shouldn’t run out and jump into gas chromatography and total package analyzers, but they should spend enough so that they can really trust the data they get from a QA program.” CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL CRAFT BREWING BUSINESS ARTICLE The Craft Brewer's Guild Annual Meeting is THIS weekend @ 8th Wonder Brewing & Saint Arnold Brewery in Houston. As Guild Allied Trade Members as well as sponsors of the event, we just wanted to let you know that we look forward to meeting all of you & are excited about the event! If you have any brewery insurance related questions, or if you just wanna chat, feel free to stop on by our booth. We will be giving away the above framed Texas Brewery 24" x 36" print (See if you can find your brewery!), so stop by our booth, leave a business card, and enter to win! See y'all this weekend!
CHEERS! by Abby Quillen (originally found on www.custommade.com) Accidents Happen. Here's How You Report Them.
Accidents happen. They are unavoidable. When they do occur, it is important to document the facts, circumstances and get contact information from witnesses whenever an employee or customer is injured at your brewery. It is also important to establish reporting procedures and notification guidelines to alert the manager or owner. The procedures should include follow up contact with the injured person. We've created an Accident Reporting Form for Wineries & Breweries to utilize, which you can download for FREE below. Interested in potential savings? How about new coverages? Request a FREE insurance quote, simply by completing our Quote Application Forms located below (Shouldn't take more than 15 min to complete) and e-mailing it to [email protected]. We look forward to working with you. Winery Insurance Quote Application Form Brewery Insurance Quote Application Form Workers' Compensation Agreement for Independent Contractors & Interns
During the holidays, many wineries & breweries utilize independent contractors (Form 1099) and interns to help with special events. If these individuals are paid or compensated in any way (i.e. financial, food or product), the owner has responsibilities to these individuals. One of the most misunderstood coverage is workers’ compensation. What if they have an accident? Can you as an owner be held liable for injuries to these individuals? The answer is “YES!” Here are some examples to consider:
It is important to establish the terms of all relationships up front. Having independent contractors and interns sign an agreement stating you will not provide them with Workers' Comp coverage will mitigate potential problems for you and the business. We've developed an Agreement Form for Independent Contractors and one for Interns, which you can download below. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact us at [email protected] or at 512-448-9928. ![]() During brewery tours, harvest, bottling days, and special events/festivals, many breweries & wineries utilize volunteers to help. While this can be a cost efficient form of adding extra labor, it also presents your brewery/winery with additional liability. By allowing volunteers to help with your brewery/winery operations, you become liable for any bodily injury or property damage that occurs to or on conjunction with the volunteers. In order to protect yourself, we suggest having each volunteer sign a volunteer waiver form or "Prospective Release, Indemnity, & Hold Harmless Agreement." We've drafted up a form you can download below and encourage you to use it the next time your brewery/winery utilizes volunteers. Click Here: VOLUNTEER WAIVER FORM FOR BREWERIES Click Here: VOLUNTEER WAIVER FORM FOR WINERIES |
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