A letter to the Community

I feel fortunate to be writing this letter. Ten years ago, Olivier and I couldn’t find a good American IPA or vanilla maple leaf stout in the Netherlands — so we decided to create one. That simple frustration of making great beer consistently led to the idea for MiniBrew, and we sent our first prototype to a few people to try. Most said it would never work — there are plenty of cheaper, manual ways to brew beer, they said.

A decade later, people around the world have brewed nearly one million beers with MiniBrew. That still blows my mind.

Defining the next steps

Recently, I received a call from a close advisor and long-time MiniBrew user that I’ll never forget. He told me, “This is the time to shape your foundation with intention — so that growth adds depth to your vision, not distance.” 

That struck me deeply. It made me realize we needed to define what scale really means for MiniBrew.

So I asked the current team — one question:

“If we were gone tomorrow, what would we want the world to know about MiniBrew’s intentions?”

MiniBrew is still young, and our foundation is still evolving. Where others didn't make it, we are still here. We’re rebels at heart — against boring big corporate beer, against sameness, and against losing the joy of creation. And today, the world needs that spirit more than ever. People are more connected yet more isolated; more digital, yet craving something real. Brewing brings that balance back.

Our Responsibility

Our responsibility extends beyond our community, employees, and shareholders. It includes the next generation of creators — people who believe brewing can be more sustainable, connected, and personal.

Technology has changed drastically in my lifetime, but the way companies behave hasn’t kept up. The world is under economic pressure; people have more choices but less purchasing power. If MiniBrew is to thrive in this century, we need a new way of thinking — one built on two principles:

1. An Infinite Horizon
2. Serving All Stakeholders

An Infinite Horizon

I first learned about the “infinite company” idea from Simon Sinek. He says a company’s purpose is to advance its vision— something you never fully reach, but keep moving toward. It’s like climbing a mountain top. 

Most companies are finite — they compete, chase short-term wins, and serve quarterly goals. But business, like brewing, is not finite. It’s a craft.  Just like a great beer, MiniBrew is a work in progress — always fermenting. You can’t rush good flavor, and you can’t rush building something meaningful. Our rush trust.  Our job is to keep the creation alive — to nurture creativity, community, and craft so MiniBrew keeps evolving long after the first pour.

In March 2025, we took an important step by introducing a new subscription model. It wasn’t perfect, and onboarding everyone wasn’t easy, but it’s working. 95% of subscribers have transitioned successfully. We still have a long way to go — only 25% of our total users have an active subscription — but it’s a good start. 

I also want to personally share a few highlights from our latest Q3 2025 shareholder letter. We’re still a hands-on, ambitious team — which means some things move more slowly than we’d like. Without a full-time software development team, specific updates take longer or don’t happen at all. But our goal is to build for the long run.

To bridge that gap, we’re now onboarding a few skilled developers who actually use MiniBrew themselves — people who understand the product from the inside and want to help shape its future.

For the second year in a row, we’ve remained EBITDA-positive, which is a massive milestone for a company our size. Revenue grew 13% year over year in Q3, proving that even in a tough market and slow summer, MiniBrew’s foundation is strong — new creators keep joining, and we’re brewing stronger every quarter.

This progress is only possible because of you — not just through your subscriptions, but because you keep brewing, experimenting, and believing in what we’re building together. I’m incredibly grateful to see you continue shaping MiniBrew’s story. 

Serving All Stakeholders

The purpose of MiniBrew isn’t just to sell machines. It’s to inspire creation—and to make brewing fun, accessible, and more sustainable. We serve three groups:

• MiniBrew the Company — our team and shareholders
• MiniBrew the Community — creators, brewers, and partners
• The World Beyond MiniBrew — local communities and future makers

True success means harmony between these groups. MiniBrew must treat breweries as partners, help creators feel like they belong, and keep expanding our story and recipe library to serve local communities everywhere. Everyone who touches a MiniBrew adds their own flavor to the story. 

One community member recently said, “MiniBrew isn’t just a machine — it’s a reason to gather.” That line stuck with me. It’s what we’re building toward. I realized we have not spent enough time nurturing your story and helping you advance. We’re not perfect, and we’ll keep learning. But we’re committed to giving people better tools to create and being more transparent about how we operate.

A New Advisory Model

To build a modern company, we also need modern guidance.

That’s why I’m proud to share that we’re adding our lifetime users to a new Community Advisory Board — a group that will help guide MiniBrew’s next chapter. These are people who’ve been with us from the start — creators, testers, and friends who share our values. This group will get an invite in November.

When it turns out to be a success, we are open to adding more groups, like our legend, pro, or even starter group. I hope our founding lifetime users will grow into a role that keeps us honest, human, and grounded in what matters most: you.

A New Support Model

Over the years, I’ve noticed that the community has created an incredible amount of content — guides, how-to pages, and answers spread over their own roster of Facebook groups and Discord channels — and that even today, you’re still helping each other brew better beer. That’s amazing, and I’m incredibly grateful for it.

At the same time, I’ve realized that all this knowledge is scattered across different platforms, which MiniBrew doesn't own.  First-time brewers and even experienced users sometimes struggle to find what they need, use user-hosted groups to ask for official MiniBrew support, or have ours or their posts/comments stay pending. 

That’s why we’re updating our support into a forum/community page on our website. I realize this will take time and require your input as well. Our goal is to have a space that complements the existing user-hosted groups. It will be a central hub for guides, events, and workshop recordings, making it easier for everyone to learn, connect, and share their brewing journey.

Going forward, when you need support from the MiniBrew Team, we request that you use the official MiniBrew Channels, such as email at hello@minibrew.io or chat via our website or the MiniBrew Facebook/Instagram channel. There is a business WhatsApp group for legend members. In those channels, we are active and ready to help.

The Next 10 Years (and Beyond)

Ten years after we started, I still ask myself: How did this idea — bringing thousands of brewers together to create their own styles — actually work?

The truth is: we didn’t do it alone.
Our creators and community made it happen.

You’ve taught me two things:

1. People are fundamentally good and eager to help others.
2. We are far more alike than we are different.

We imagine a world where anyone can create anything. A world where you can walk into any country and someone says, “That’s an amazing style you brewed, can I use it and sell it in my city?” Where brewing brings people together — across cities, neighborhoods, and kitchen tables.

That’s the world MiniBrew stands for. We may never fully reach that mountaintop — but we’ll keep climbing.

Here’s to the next brew, the next idea, and the next decade of creation. 🍻

Cheers,
Bart, Co-Founder, MiniBrew