Craft Beer Entrepreneurs Reach Pledge Goal

Mike and Doreen Fitzgerald are trying to bring something new to Rockland County and the Hudson Valley: The Growler & Gill Craft Beer Shoppe. So far, their fundraising efforts for their craft beer business are proving successful.

Since starting up a business is a costly venture, so the Nanuet couple reached out to the community for help and support to raise funds through Kickstarter. 

"My wife and I are starting a craft beer business in Nanuet. We (worked) with a web site called Kickstarter to help fund our start up," said Mike Fitzgerald. "The way it works is: people watch a video about your business idea and if they like it they pledge to sponser you with donations of $10 and up.  They get prizes and gifts from the business when it opens."

The catch is, if they didn't get at least $10,000 for their startup, Kickstarter wouldn't let them keep any of the pledges. Fortunately, the community pledged $12,081 for Growler & Gill by the deadline last Friday. 

"We would like to thank all the people who supported us by pledging donations and spreading the word about Growler & Gill's Kickstarter project," said Fitzgerald. "The large majority of our sponsors were from Nanuet and the surrounding towns. Our neighbors really came through for us and we are humbled and extremely grateful."

They added that the next steps would be to arrange to get the rewards to their sponsors, which ranges from a certifcate of thanks to a personal tasting class offered in their home with five friends. 

"We plan to use the funds we raised to build a cool and comfortable bar in our tasting room," said Fitzgerald. "We can't wait to bring craft beer to Nanuet."

Mike is a high school biology teacher at  and a singer in a rock & roll band called Labyrinth at night. Mike wrote and performed the music that accompanies their Kickstarter video. Doreen is a director of marketing for an IT company by day and a Labyrinth groupie at night.

Read more about their new business in this