Legally producing and selling beer

Anton Suhy

New member
Apr 26, 2011
9
0
0
Hi all!

I am in the midst of trying to start a small nano brewery in Santiago and need some help. I have lived here a little over 6 years and am nearly done with my process to become a citizen as well.

I have been home brewing beer for a few years now and have had such a good response from both Dominicans and foreigners that I have started thinking about doing it commercially.

I am fully aware that to do this, I will have to register a business, trademark, Tax ID and so forth but, since the beer scene here is currently a monopoly in that AMBEV is the only beer producer, there isn't much written on what all needs to be gotten as far as licensing and such.

This document has been extremely helpful in explaining some of the tax law: http://www.dgii.gov.do/legislacion/leyesTributarias/Documents/243-68.pdf
Still would like some more help though.

I want to be clear that I am not looking to invest $40kUS into starting a "micro brewery" but instead produce beer out of my own home as a "producto casero" like many people do with mabi and jugo de avena and distribute to colmados or sell directly to the public. The key is that I want to do it legally and pay all applicable taxes as well. I am currently ready to produce 24 cases of Jumbos a month just with my home brew setup.

I know it is tempting to make a lot of cracks about Presidente killing me in my sleep or Dominicans never drinking anything that is a shade darker than yellow but come on, I need real help here and if it works out, there could finally be a place to get high quality craft beer in the country that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.

Just to give you all an idea, I am looking at around $150RD for a jumbo (liter) of beer... a fair bit cheaper than the few craft/European beers you can find in La Sirena these days.

Thanks in advance for any insights, this could be super exciting!

Anton
Bootleg Brewing CO.
 

SugarMorena

New member
Mar 24, 2013
127
0
0
Why not set up a store front and sell them yourself? ... Can you add flavors to your beer?

There is a place here in Fort Lauderdale called The World of Beer. They sell all different kinds of beers. With different flavors and whatnot. This could be a novelty in the DR since I do not know any place that does this. Good luck.
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
31,266
363
0
listen, how about a get together in santiago? you could organize a small thing, have dr1ers buy and taste your beer. share some ideas... all i can think of is to try to distribute your stuff in better, booze only shops. places that sell alcohol exclusively. or, if you get enough folks truly interested in your beer, you can do door t door sales, delivering a box or two every month. i know few dr1ers have their own bars, hotels and similar businesses. maybe during a meeting you could get them interested in your product as well.

bear in mind that most folks here praise that pi** streak presidente, so maybe their palates are not fully functioning ;) ;)
 

Anton Suhy

New member
Apr 26, 2011
9
0
0
Why not set up a store front and sell them yourself? ... Can you add flavors to your beer?

There is a place here in Fort Lauderdale called The World of Beer. They sell all different kinds of beers. With different flavors and whatnot. This could be a novelty in the DR since I do not know any place that does this. Good luck.

I'm not super interested in a store front at the moment. While I love the idea, I'm not looking to really blow up since my main purpose in living here is volunteer work so I don't want to pour 50 hours a week into getting essentially a bar setup though I would be more than happy to setup draft equipment and supply kegs to anyone elses bar. Yeah, I do flavors. Any style really. I am soon doing a Raspberry American Wheat, Oatmeal Stout, Belgian WitBeir, Pumpkin Ale and Breakfast Stout (chocolate/coffee).

Make a gluten free beer as well!!!

Funny you mention that, my wife is actually gluten free and I make beer for her so she always has a supply. Are you Gluten intolerant or do you have Celiacs? My wife is gluten intolerant so she can have things that were processed in the same area as gluten. I don't have 2 separate sets of equipment to brew on for keeping from cross contaminating but I would say the beers are most likely very low gluten since my wife is unaffected. I have done a millet beer with honey and also a corn beer made with home malted corn and almost all local ingredients. I will soon be making an all Oat malt beer akin to an English Amber. No promises on your reaction or lack there of to it though.

listen, how about a get together in santiago? you could organize a small thing, have dr1ers buy and taste your beer. share some ideas... all i can think of is to try to distribute your stuff in better, booze only shops. places that sell alcohol exclusively. or, if you get enough folks truly interested in your beer, you can do door t door sales, delivering a box or two every month. i know few dr1ers have their own bars, hotels and similar businesses. maybe during a meeting you could get them interested in your product as well.

bear in mind that most folks here praise that pi** streak presidente, so maybe their palates are not fully functioning ;) ;)

I would definitely be interested in a get together for networking and getting the word out on the product. Could even supply plenty of free samples ;-)
It has recently come to my attention (see above tax law document in original post, Art. 56, p. 13) that even home brewing is illegal here. I am a little weary of having an event open to the public unless I am fully covered legally. Hence the purpose of this post. Honestly, I am not concerned about distribution, I can see plenty of ways to accomplish distributing the limited amount of beer I plan to produce a month (about 160 gallons). The legality is where I am stalled.

So if you all are interested in the product, help a guy out. Any more thoughts regarding legality, preferably from lawyers?
 

Castle

Silver
Sep 1, 2012
2,982
1
0
You will probably need to get inspection and approval by the Ministerio de Salud, but that shouldn't be an issue.

I don't know anything about beer production, but I must say that it's really satisfying to see someone betting on local business. I wish you the best of lucks.
 

dv8

Gold
Sep 27, 2006
31,266
363
0
i was always my understanding that you can produce alcohol legally as long as it is for your own use. when you start selling... another story. bear in mind your costs will go up if you decide to go legal. all alcohol is taxed by the government. the tax is linked to the volume of alcohol, the more the higher the amount.
 

Anton Suhy

New member
Apr 26, 2011
9
0
0
i was always my understanding that you can produce alcohol legally as long as it is for your own use. when you start selling... another story. bear in mind your costs will go up if you decide to go legal. all alcohol is taxed by the government. the tax is linked to the volume of alcohol, the more the higher the amount.

Yeah, I noticed that the tax (as far as I can tell) on beer is really minimal compared to spirits. The big ones are 25% income tax and the 16% ITBIS. Can any other business owners on here comment on those? For instance, is the 25% income tax only on gross profits (minus operating costs) or on all income? Would I have to pay ITBIS if I am selling at wholesale to resellers or do you have to pay it no matter what?

Thanks all for your help, lots of research but every day things are coming more into focus.
 

Pilarimar

New member
Jul 27, 2013
2
0
1
I am wondering if you have learned any more in the past couple of weeks... We are home brewers and have been trying to figure out if you can obtain the grains, hops and yeast needed in the DR. And does that document say that it is legal to home brew (not necessarily to sell, but even just to brew for yourself) in the DR if you pay for the correct permits?? I am wishing you the very best of luck in this... it is an important product missing (to some of us) in a special country. We are not currently living in the DR, but gathering info... ;)
 
Feb 7, 2007
8,005
625
113
You will need to pay excise tax on alcohol, ITBIS (VAT) tax on sales, and income tax on profits (operating income - operating expenses).
 

suarezn

Gold
Feb 3, 2002
5,823
290
0
55
I would say just do it without getting any legal papers. Pretty soon if you start getting some recognition and start getting big enough the government will come calling trying to collect taxes. Then and only then start the process of making everything legal. In the meantime you will have saved lots of money in taxes and headaches in paperwork.
 

Merlin U Ward

New member
Jul 23, 2014
1
0
0
Hi Anton, it has been nearly a year since this respons, but I am very interested in speaking with you about what you've learned. I am a German citizen, and recently married a Dominican woman. She moved to NYC with me to start our life together, but we're thinking more and more about moving back to DR to be with her family and raise a child.

The long story short, I am also a homebrewer, and have been looking for more homebrewers in DR to talk with. I have aspirations of starting a microbrewery in the country as well, and have many of the same questions as you in regards to regulations and supply chain.

I recently heard that there was a radio show that interviewed people who wanted to start a craft beer movement, but ran into regulatory problems. I can't find the information online, but perhaps you heard it?

If you're interested in talking more, please private massage me. I would love to connect!
 

chic

Silver
Nov 20, 2013
4,305
1
0
i looked into it in atlanta and decided ahh...not worth it... hope u do well actually would like to try some send me a pm with name phone ill call and come over for a pint...aye
 

chic

Silver
Nov 20, 2013
4,305
1
0
thanks sweetie,,,they might have a beer named for you...wood that be nice???:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:
 

Rokete

New member
Jan 5, 2013
13
0
0
Hope to be helpful !

Kudos to your brewery plans. Santiago is the perfect spot to start one !

However don't take chances, beer is an alcoholic beverage, and it is penalized in the Dominican Republic with prison term to produce without permits. Get a patent, for you product. It doesn't cost much and it might save you some troubles. You don't even need a lawyer, so don't get swindled by them, unless you want to avoid the hassles.

I will inform you that Presidente beer, was started by a US emigrant to The Dominican Republic,

in the year 1929.

Good luck in your endeavors !


"In 1929, U.S. industrialist Charles H. Wanzer with other business partners founded the brewery and started brewing the iconic Dominican beer, Presidente, in 1935. The beer was named in honor of then Dominican president Rafael Leonidas Trujillo."

Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidente_%28beer%29
 

MikeFisher

The Fisherman/Weather Mod
Feb 28, 2006
13,766
2,195
113
Punta Cana/DR
www.mikefisher.fun
Hope to be helpful

Kudos to your brewery plans. Santiago is the perfect spot to start one !

However don't take chances, beer is an alcoholic beverage, and it is penalized in the Dominican Republic with prison term to produce without permits. Get a patent, for you product. It doesn't cost much and it might save you some troubles. You don't even need a lawyer, so don't get swindled by them, unless you want to avoid the hassles.

I will inform you that Presidente beer, was started by a US emigrant to The Dominican Republic,

in the year 1929.

Good luck in your endeavors !


"In 1929, U.S. industrialist Charles H. Wanzer with other business partners founded the brewery and started brewing the iconic Dominican beer, Presidente, in 1935. The beer was named in honor of then Dominican president Rafael Leonidas Trujillo."

Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidente_%28beer%29

the recipe was a stolen european recipe.
americans would til today need to show a real Good Beer recipe or brewery method, lol.

Mike