As a boardmember, I often get asked: Why a Co-op? 

What is it about a co-op that inspires many of us boardmembers and volunteers to work so long for this cause? We give up evenings folding mailers and licking stamps. We give up evenings for 2 hour conference calls once a week. We give up 4 hours once a month for mandatory open board meetings. We donate our time to volunteer at events, and give of our time and talents to put on our own. We arrange Member Meetups at exclusive openings, and manage finances and inventory and corporate bureaucratic ephemera (no, really, you would not believe the amount of mind-numbing time this takes…) Why not just Kickstart a brewery of our own?  I mean, get a couple guys with a few good recipes and start another brewery and taproom, like so many have done?  Why mess around with this unconventional model of a Co-operative?!?

Wouldn't it be great to see FlyingBike on this list?

Many reasons.  Many, many reasons.  And all of them good.

Co-ops generally start because of a desire that is needing to be filled.

• In 1938, Lloyd & Mary Anderson and their climbing friends wanted to purchase good quality Ice Axes, and REI was born.
• 3 years before, in 1935, BECU was created with initial assets of just $9, to serve it’s members after the long Great Recession that decimated so many people’s savings. The first loan limit was just $2.50.
• In 1953 PCC was formed in Renton with just 15 families, as a food buying club to purchase local and bulk foods to create an economy of scale for it’s members.
• In 1978, the Central Co-op was born out of the demise of the old Capitol Hill Co-op, as an alternate to corporate grocery stores that were abandoning the CD, as well as the idea of “natural food” for it’s patrons and members.
• In 2007, a half dozen folks formed the Dirty Hands Biodiesel Co-operative out of the Madrona neighborhood, to produce their own Biodiesel from locally sourced waste veggie oil - thus cutting the cord to corporate fuel.  They supply fuel to 20 families that is sustainable and green.
• And in 2010, Flying Bike Co-operative Brewery was launched to promote democratically controlled, community supported beer.

Over the past 4 years, we have held member only events, brewing competitions, educational events, and had our beer brewed by 4 different local breweries to get the word out.  We’ve tabled at numerous fairs, volunteered at many others and held open meetings to educate folks on what and who and why we are.  And in 2013, we launched a concerted effort to recruit new members, develop and launch an Investor Campaign to fund securing a location and purchasing the equipment we need to begin brewing Member-Owned beer!

What does this mean to our members?

It means that by early next year, you will be able to to drink your beer, in your taproom, brewed by your brewery.  The beer selection will be based on the democratic process, by a brewery that you can work at and contribute your sweat to, and have a say in what they (we) do.

What does this mean to our investors?

Besides the benefits of being a Member, after 4 years you will begin to get your loan paid back with a modest ROI, and the satisfaction of having help fund only the 2^nd Co-operative Brewery in the USA!  A brewery that puts members interests above corporate interests.  A brewery that is part of the community it serves, as well as is bound by the 7 Cooperative Principles.  A brewery where you can run for the Board of Directors and serve the members and help shape the direction and success of you brewery (try this at Redhook, Pyramid, or even smaller local breweries!).

A brewery where you can participate in the success and direction of a Real Working Brewery!

So I invite you personally, to Invest, Participate, and Own It Craft It, and Drink It!

Join us on July 22^nd, and see where YOUR BREWERY will be formed.  Sign up your friends, and invest in the future of YOUR BREWERY.

These are exciting times!  Cheers to us all!!!  

- David Wiegand, Flying Bike Board Member
Flying Bike Member #446