Kickstarter works because nobody funds a Kickstarter with the expectation that they'll be able to return to those funds later to fund college, a house purchase, or a retirement. That's not the case with equity crowdfunding.
My thought is that crowdfunding could be a good financing option for someone like this[2]. They have already established themselves, but are trying to get to the next stage. If I was local beer fan, I might support them on kickstarter, but if they offered a crowdfunding option, perhaps with some perks like an annual tasting, than I would probably be a lot more enthused. Also keep in mind, that a lot of specialty microbreweries already have 'fan clubs' that cost a few hundred dollars a year. In return, you get access to limited releases. It seems like a creating a 'lifetime fan club' for a few thousand dollars would be doable, with the added bonus that the supporter gets some equity.
[1]http://www.sfgate.com/food/article/San-Francisco-s-popular-M... [2]https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/findlaybrewing/findlay-...
Pretty sure no one expected -- given their very loud anti-'sell-out' rhetoric -- that they would sell a 22% stake for £100M to a private equity firm (TSG Consumer Partners) and actually deliver a serious return to said 'punks.'
Edit - 'Serious Return' per BrewDog's own reporting at anywhere between 2,765% and 177% depending on the 'fund' you invested in (https://www.brewdog.com/lowdown/press-hub/tsg-deal)
Also, looks like they are offering another round of equity in the US[1]. I was under the impression that crowdfunding was limited to $1M, but looks like they are raising $50M under 'Regulation A+'. Not sure what that is.
The advantage of crowdfunding would be that you can offer some upside to your supporters (M&A[1] or maybe dividends?). Assuming you are already established and are trying to take it to the next level, you can generate support for your crowdfunding campaign by advertising to your existing clientele. They already have a connection to the business and that can also result in creating a small army of brand ambassadors.
There are probably a few other niche businesses out there that could follow this playbook. Use existing local support/community to help fund expansion. One possible hang up is that there would need to be a path to an exit or some type of return. With the microbrewery market, as mentioned below, M&A is happening, but for other markets that don't have that, I would be interested to know if dividends are a possibility.
[1] There is a decent amount of M&A activity going on as the major beer companies try to maintain market share as the micros take over.