"Community-supported beer" doesn't just mean buying a pint at your local watering hole. For a growing number of upstart breweries, it's how they're getting their operations off the ground.

Queens' Big Alice Brewing - located in an old Bible warehouse near the water - opened its doors in June and is selling beer shares as a way to finance the brewery. Inspired by the concept of community-supported agriculture, in which people buy directly from farmers, CSB subscribers pay $200 and receive two large bottles of beer each month for six months.

Other breweries use different price points, time frames and methods of delivery, but the concept is the same: Buyers commit to a certain amount of beer for a certain amount of time, and the brewery gets guaranteed cash up front. Combined with more traditional methods of financing, it's an attractive way to solicit investment - and get locals involved with the brewery.

Read - Buy a beer share, invest in a local brewery