2025 Summit Educational Sessions Schedule

Check out all the 2025 Educational Sessions HERE.

11:30am Educational Sessions

West Coast IPA is Alive and Well

Cascade 9/10

Speakers:

Jesse Brown – Formula Brewing

Andrew Schwartz – Human People

Brad Benson – Stoup Brewing

Jake Watt – Trapdoor Brewing

Robyn Schumacher – Stoup Brewing

Description:

Let’s talk about all things West Coast IPA – Cover old, modern, and postmodern West Coast IPA.

Marketing is Dead

Evergreen 2

Speaker:

Bryson Foster, Fosters Creative

Description:

Marketing as we know it is dead. End of conversation. So, what’s next? As technology makes content easier to create, everyone will soon look and sound the same. What sets you apart? What makes you different? Join Bryson as he shares lessons from the journey as a Marketing & Experience Agency Co-Founder, how we’re guiding clients into the next era, the shirst we’re making ourselves, and the impact we’re seeing. Don’t make the shift too late. Spoiler Alert: The good news is better than you think.

Winning in Distro

Evergreen 3

Speaker:

Derek Smith, Small Batch Standard

Description:

Most breweries face challenges when it comes to succeeding in distribution. From understanding how the numbers impact the business as a whole to managing distributor relationships, running a sales team, and coordinating logistics, distribution is no easy feat. In this rigged game, wins can happen, though they often feel fleeting. Some breweries distribute out of necessity, while others seek the validation of seeing their beer on store shelves. Whatever your motivation, there are a few essential concepts you must embrace to find success in distribution. In this session, we’ll share these key concepts along with benchmarks to help you unlock the path to distribution success.

Learning Objectives: 1. Common pitfalls we see in distribution. 2. Step 1: Which benchmarks matter in distribution. 3. Step 2: Understanding your margins in distribution. 4. Step 3: How to accurately evaluate your portfolio performance. 5. A Winning formula for distribution

ON TAP – Strategies to Work ON Rather Than IN Your Business

Evergreen 4

Speakers:

Stephanie Artino, CPA – Artino Business Advisors (CPA/Owner)

Description:

With continually rising costs, increasing demands, changing business models and government regulation, the constant juggle can be exhausting! This session is geared for any position to help offer new insights regardless of your role in the business. Why? Because it’s not always a numbers game, it’s so much more. The more people understand, the more people can work together collaboratively for a common goal.

This session will focus on:

· Case study of what owners, managers and employees typically focus on & what happens with a shift to manage more effectively

· Using your POS system as a critical finance component, not just a cash register

· Mindset & reasoning – Why do things REALLY happen in business? How are recent trends in fraud & expectations by generations affecting cash?

Learning Objectives: Help owners, managers and employees at all levels better understand some “whys”, not just for their role, but other roles and the business overall as well as what/how to shift focus to gain better results

Lunch and Trade Floor – 12:30pm

1:45pm Educational Sessions

Benefits of Legal Change in 2025

Evergreen 1

Speakers:

Jason Barker, Partner, Holland & Knight LLP

Description:

This presentation will examine leading changes impacting the beer marketplace, including changes to the Internal Revenue Code pursuant to the Big Beautiful Bill. These changes will be studied with potential positive applications to brewery business operations in mind. As a bonus, the rapidly evolving legalities of THC/hemp beverages will be explored as a possible product category alternatives.

Technology in a Brewery

Evergreen 2

Speaker:

Nicholas Berger, The Good Society, Owner

Description:

It’s hard to decide whether to invest in technology. And once you’ve decided to make that leap, it is even harder to make sure you get the technology that meets your needs. This seminar will walk through tech in your brewery and your taproom, how to decide if you need it, and how to select the best tech for you your needs.

Collaboration for All

Evergreen 3

Speaker:

Chris Danforth – Icicle Brewing Co

Emily Mallos – Kulshan Brewing

Bret Gordon – Lumberbeard Brewing Co

Taelore Rhoden – Métier Brewing

David Skiba – No Boat Brewing

Levi Wyatt – Yakima Chief Hops

Description:

Join this panel as they discuss all the ways breweries collaborate with their fellow breweries, local charities and businesses, artists, and more!

Craft Beer in 2025: Where do we go from here? Thoughts on drinkability, present-day beer styles and what’s next

Evergreen 4

Speakers:

Kevin Davey, Heater Allen/Gold Dot Beer

Description:

I want to revisit Michael Lewis’s talk at CBC 2008 titled “Drinkability” and see what came true, then outline the “millennial push (2008-2020) and reflect on what works and doesn’t, then make a case for what we should do in the future

3:00 pm Educational Sessions

Raw Materials Sensory and Improving Quality on the Supplier Side: A Case Study of Galaxy Hops

Cascade 9/10

Speakers:

Jeff Dailey – Sensory Manager, John I Haas
Steve Luke – Head Brewer/Owner, Cloudburst Brewing
Colin Lenfesty – Founder and Head Brewer, Holy Mountain Brewing Co

Description:

Hops are one of the most expensive raw materials a brewery can contract and, unfortunately, varietal quality can wax and wane significantly between crop years. Additionally, high value, exotic cultivars can experience long-term declines due to expanding to meet demand without instituting quality control mechanisms. This particular issue is the same for many breweries when when expanding flagship beers. The solutions for both instances: (a) instituting a modern raw materials sensory program to identify non-conforming product before used in the brewery and diagnosing root cause after the fact; and (b) forming strong, collaborative relationships with suppliers (Farmer <-> Broker, Broker <-> Brewer) in order to support incremental, year over year improvements in quality. To demonstrate the value of this process, Galaxy Hops from Hop Products Australia (HPA) will be used as a case study, tracking how feedback from brewers to John I Haas instigated a years-long sensory-based effort, working with HPA to restore quality and integrity to the brand.

Beyond the Beer: Creating Stellar Taproom Experiences

Evergreen 2

Speakers:

Pamela Brulotte – Founder, Icicle Brewing

Sarah Burrington – Taproom Operations Manager, Dru Bru

Kerri Petric – Taproom Manager, Fair Isle Brewing

Jess Keller Poole – Beer Education & Taproom Manager, Aslan Brewing Co

Description:

A panel on all the unique ways to make your taproom experience the best it can be for your customers. Learn what events, food options, trainings, and culture can you create to make sure your taprooms stay full and busy.

Barley 2025: Crop Insights and Critical COA Specifications for Brewers

Evergreen 3

Speakers:

Adam D Hieronymus; Territory Sales Manager, Country Malt Group

Description:

A summary of the 2025 barley crop, covering growing conditions and challenges faced by farmers in both the U.S. and Canada. The report will include relevant crop data to give an overview of how the season has developed. In addition to the crop summary, Adam will highlight key Certificate of Analysis (COA) specifications that malt companies focus on to support brewers in producing beer that meets quality and performance standards.

The Courage to Show: How opening your books creates a stronger business, a more interconnected team and higher individual awareness of impact.

Evergreen 4

Speakers:

Greg Parker, Iron Horse Brewery

Larry Chase, Brewer & Open Book Facilitator, Ray Johnson Group.

Description:

The Beliefs You Already Have About Open Book Management

Components of Open Book Management
The Iron Horse style of Open Book Management
First 3 steps to Showing

4:15pm Educational Sessions

A Look in the Mirror: An Inside and Out View of Your Brewery’s Customer Experience

Evergreen 1

Speakers:

Oce Eagan, Blind Tiger Design

Description:

You know your brewery best, but do you know how others experience your brand? Multifaceted, across countless touchpoints, your brand lives out in the world, and it is increasingly difficult to maintain clarity on how it is perceived, on shelves, on tap, in your taproom, online… customers, accounts – and yes, distributors, all have opinions. Critically looking at every brand touchpoint, we will walk you through our brand audit process and show you the steps to self-assess your brand experience out in the market and within your taproom walls. With opportunities and challenges identified, we will share practical tips and tricks for updating your brand’s experience before it needs a full rebrand overhaul.

Brewery Operations Move Fast. Your Insights & Actions Should Too!

Evergreen 2

Speakers:

Jeremy Carney, Central Coast Analytics

Dru Ernst, Founder & President of Dru Bru

Description:

Too often, brewing data sits unused because it’s not clear or actionable. Numbers pile up quickly (COGS, yield, QA checks, downtime, variances) but without the right framework, the insights often stay buried. The challenge isn’t collecting data… breweries already have plenty. The real issue is getting the right operational insights at the right time to make a difference. In a brewery, delays in understanding performance mean missed opportunities, rising costs, and avoidable mistakes.

In this session, Jeremy Carney, Founder of Central Coast Analytics, and Dru Ernst, Founder & President of Dru Bru, will show how leveraging operational data can transform how breweries solve problems and improve performance.

We’ll cover how breweries can effectively:

– Cut through the noise and focus on what actually drives brewery performance

– Create a ‘single source of truth’ for key metrics

– Align teams with real-time, easy-to-understand insights on the floor

– Drill into issues quickly to perform root cause analysis and take immediate action

Dru will share real examples from Dru Bru’s evolution – how they’ve used a modern data system to make better, faster decisions. If you want to see how data-driven decision-making leads to better results in the brewhouse, this session is for you.

HR Best Practices for the Craft Brewer-

Evergreen 3

Speakers:

Terry Smith, Founder and Principal, STS Design LLC

Description:

An overview of three key areas, attraction, retention, and quality of hire. The latter is a recent, cutting edge development in the field of HR.

Craft Malt Conversations: Connecting Grain, Flavor, and Community

Cascade 9/10

Speakers:

Brian Estes, LINC Malt

Matthew Hanson, Whistlepunk Brewing

John Marti, Douglas Lager

Leslie Shore, Cold Stream Malt and Grain

Rachel Verhey-Goicoechea, Cold Stream Malt and Grain

Description:

Every beer you brew tells a story; we discuss the evolving world of malt in order to help you create those stories with the same amount of passion that you put into making the actual beer.

*session times/descriptions/rooms subject to change

Washington Beer Awards Ceremony and Dinner Party

6-9pm in Northwest Ballroom. Join us for a fantastic night of dinner, drinks, and fun!

Buy tickets here.