Dan Pangburn said his brewery is tapped out. He talked about the past year at Footbridge Brewery in Boothbay Harbor and a string of events that put the business in a bad spot. A slow start to the tourist season, unrealized investments and broken promises have all led to a last-ditch effort to keep the brewery open: investment bonds. It's an unusual tactic for a small business, but is a familiar idea.  

“It's kind of like the old war bonds,” Pangburn said. “But instead of trying to find someone with $200,000 or $100,000 and ask them for money or a loan, we decided to do a little bit of community outreach and say, ‘Hey, we're looking for a little bit of help, but we need a hand up, not a handout.’” 

The brewery is selling the bonds, ranging from $20 to $10,000, as an investment. According to Pangburn, they have a five-year, 25% return and, like any investment, there is a risk of loss. In this case, the loss could also mean the whole brewery. “Unfortunately, if things don't turn around pretty quick, it probably will be a permanent close,” Pangburn said.  

From the outside, the looming closure may seem surprising. According to Pangburn, the brewery has regular customers, a loyal mug club, holds well-attended events and makes money. One of three co-owners, Pangburn said he opened the brewery partly because he wanted to create such a community center. 

"I love the sense of community,” he said. "I love the tap room. ... There's energy, there's life, there's happiness, there's cheer. And I love that feeling. And, you know, (I) just kind of always wanted to have a brewery.” 

However, according to Pangburn and business partner Laura Murphy, a series of unfortunate events drained their finances. Over the past year, the business expanded and purchased a food trailer for an outdoor space behind the brewery, formerly Shannon’s Unshelled. Pangburn said the brewery converted their kitchen to brew more beer and sold their food equipment in anticipation of the May 1 trailer arrival. But the trailer did not arrive then.  

Pangburn said the brewery quickly pivoted and converted a chicken coop into a temporary kitchen with taps, buying back some of the equipment they had sold. But this year’s early summer rains hurt tourism and “having this nice beautiful garden area really didn't pan out the way we wanted it to in June,” Pangburn said.  

Murphy, a server turned partner, said they were still hopeful for the trailer and kept on much of their around 25 summer staff members in anticipation. After several delivery delays, it finally arrived Nov. 13, damaged and unusable, according to Pangburn. He said the southern Maine trailer company had been working with them to get it fixed but “it's just still sitting here. It's a Christmas decoration.”

“Having that much outreach in the beginning and getting no return has kind of put us in dire straits now,” Pangburn said. “And we're hoping on a Christmas miracle so we don't have to think about closing in January.” 

Pangburn said legal action against the trailer company is not an option because he learned in mid-December they went out of business.

Now, the brewery is reaching out for community support. According to the brewery’s website, the company set a stabilization and payroll protection goal of $150,000 “to prevent the closure of the brewery, allowing us to operate throughout the winter season successfully.” The site lists a breakdown of how beer bond funds will be used, including rent, debt consolidation, remediation of trailer issues and securing payroll. 

So far, Pangburn said they had reached about 10% of the goal after starting the campaign in mid-December. He said most of the investors have been local, many are visitors who have been to the brewery and some are other brewers curious about the strategy. Ultimately, he wants to raise another $100,000 for a three-phase expansion that includes renovating the tap room, moving the kitchen and completing a bottling line. However, he has to stay open first.  

“(I am) very hopeful, I don't know how to describe it,” he said. “We're not that far gone, but we're not in the best place. But if it keeps going down the road, it's just not going to work out. The last thing we want to do is actually close. I mean, what we want to do: We want to make beer. We want people to drink beer.”