EDUCATIONAL SESSIONS

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If you own or operate an established brewery, and want to increase profit this year, this session shows exactly how. Drawing from 15 years of financial insight across 285+ U.S. craft breweries, we’ll break down three common paths to increase profit by $100k/year or more using adapted examples from real-world scenarios.

No matter where your business is today, there's always a path to more profit. Our goal is to help you find it.

Most breweries don't need a six-figure tech stack to unlock serious operational gains — they need eight well-designed workflows and a willingness to experiment. In this session, I'll unveil eight low-cost AI workflows I've built and deployed using Claude across real craft beverage operations. 

Attendees will leave with the exact prompts, decision framework for where AI belongs in a brewery's back office, and a clear-eyed view of what's actually working in the field right now. This isn't theory.

Ivanhoe Park Brewing Co. didn’t just raise money, they built ownership within their community. In this session, Glenn Closson and Joe Bowling share how crowdfunding became a tool for engagement, loyalty, and long-term growth. Attendees will walk away with insights on structuring a campaign, managing investor expectations, and avoiding pitfalls in today’s evolving crowdfunding landscape.

The low and no-alcohol beer market has grown worldwide as consumers show increasing interest in wellness and healthier options. Creating palatable low-alcohol beers can be challenging and involve techniques outside the norm. What are the key areas to focus on when creating low-alcohol beer? The importance of a holistic approach to NABLAB beer creation The high-temperature mashing technique and its influence on fermentable sugars Strain selection for NAB and LAB.

Your water source is always changing. We discuss why it changes, how it can affect your brewing, and how you can easily monitor it in order to ensure your best product is being brewed. 

Join Khris Johnson, Douglas Clark, and Eric Trinosky, moderated by Anthony Stone  in a discussion about lager recipe and process. They'll share from their experience about why they choose specific malts, hops and yeasts. They will detail why they do or do not: decoct, step mash, spunding, etc. Drawing from a wide range of brewhouse size, style and technique, the focus is to give you knowledge that you can put to use in your brewery. Come prepared to pick their brains. 

An analysis of the differences in Thiol release potential of different Lager strains, and some practical ideas on how these unique characteristics could be harnessed by the creative Brewer.

This presentation explores the critical role protein plays throughout the brewing process, from raw barley and malt modification to finished beer quality. Topics include the fundamentals of protein in beer, factors influencing protein levels in barley, protein’s contribution to foam stability, mouthfeel, haze, and flavor stability, as well as the challenges excessive protein can create during brewing and filtration. 

Most brewery marketing problems aren’t content—they’re communication, planning, and organization. If sales, taproom, and marketing aren’t aligned on what’s next, teams react instead of plan. This session shares practical systems (avatars, skill mapping, creative requests, brand voice, shared calendars, accountability, more lead time) and ideas to help breweries create reasons to gather—turning marketing into meaningful experiences that bring people in.

This presentation is to show examples of ways AI can help and hurt a business. I know a lot of breweries handle their marketing in-house and sometimes even it’s the owners (with little to no knowledge about marketing) who handle their social media and all digital aspects of their business. I’d love to share a 101 quick talk on tools that are helpful and how to properly utilize AI to have a successful business.

Your taproom is the heart of the neighborhood—but landing placements with Publix, Total Wine, or Whole Foods can feel overwhelming. National accounts care about depletions, margins, and logistics, not your vibe.

This seminar teaches breweries to pitch “buyer” language, navigate the Publix process, build real distribution strategies (not Tacoma math), use data to earn shelf space, and stand out in “shelf wars.” Great for owners and sales teams who want placements that move the needle.