Keynote: State of the Indiana Craft Brewing Industry
The craft brewing industry is changing. What are the market and demographic trends shaping those shifts and how can you find growth in a more cluttered marketplace?
Bart Watson is chief economist at the Brewers Association. Prior to his position with the BA, he was a lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley, a visiting assistant professor at the University of Iowa, and an associate at The Barthwell Group, a management consulting firm. His academic research focused primarily on the political and economic effects of increasing market consolidation in distribution channels. He holds a B.A. from Stanford University and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.
Keynote: Quality: A Complete Picture
The talk is an examination of what quality means to today’s brewer, the brewery and the industry as a whole. Quality programs are explored through the lens of the vast array of resources available from the Brewers Association, while at the same time encouraging Brewers to expand their understanding of what constitutes a quality program.
Neil Witte is a 22 year veteran of the craft beer business. He began his career in the Kansas City brewpub industry, moving to Boulevard Brewing Co. in 1997 as a brewer. In 2001, he took over field quality responsibilities for the brewery, acting as a quality control liaison between the brewery and its distributor and retailer network. He continued that role with the Duvel USA family of beers, including Boulevard and Brewery Ommegang, through the end of 2016. In 2017 he founded Craft Quality Solutions, which draws on his extensive field quality experience, providing field quality services to breweries, distributors and retailers. He is certified through the Beer Judge Certification Program and is currently one of 18 Master Cicerones. He is co-author of the Brewers Association Draught Quality Manual, Draught Beer Quality for Retailers and a contributing author to the MBAA Beer Steward Handbook.
Business Track
Keep your brand fresh: Learn to recognize when to evolve, how far to push an evolution, and how to use recent packaging innovations to help the evolution
Leif Miltenberger, owner of Hired Guns Creative, will discuss industry standards and best practices for keeping your brewery brand from getting stale. Join us as we take a look at the history of craft brewery rebrands and the events that triggered them, examples of successful and unsuccessful brewery rebrands, and how you can utilize the latest innovations in digital can printing technology to achieve the goals of your rebrand.
Leif Miltenberger is a Managing Partner at Hired Guns Creative, a small but mighty design agency focused on providing branding and packaging design for craft breweries. He handles new business development for the agency and oversees business operations. Hired Guns Creative has provided award-winning design to the alcohol sector since 2008, for clients ranging in size from start-ups nanos all the way up to national brands.
Mental Health Awareness
Ashley Maynard, VA Mental Health
Hoosier Buddy
How to Call on A Retailer 101
Matt Colglazier is the Vice President of Merchandising and Marketing for Big Red Liquors. Matt has worked for Big Red for more than a decade, overseeing the 58 store chain, as well as creating over 50 private label and proprietary brands.
An HR Storm is Brewing: A look at what can happen when you’re busy running your business
As a brewery owner or operator, you are focused on your craft – brewing and serving your creations, innovating, collaborating and being part of the great culture of Indiana craft beer. As you build your business, adding talent to your team, you are also responsible for everything that is involved in being an employer. You can keep your focus on building and running your business, and avoid potential HR pitfalls and missteps, by being prepared. In this interactive session, Toni Richins and Beth Barich from ConsortHR will lead a discussion of what some typical and critical people issues can arise through targeted scenario exercises. They will highlight responsibilities, considerations and mitigation strategies to help keep you and your business out of hot water.
Toni is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer for ConsortHR. Toni offers 25+ years of experience facilitating profitability through the development and management of human resources operations. Her expertise in building and leading high-performing HR and operations teams ranges from organizational restructuring to startups to large-scale pre and post-merger integrations. Toni has led the HR charge for multiple M&A transactions. Her distinguished record of accomplishments includes leading global employee effectiveness campaigns, organizational development, and leadership strategies for over 7,000 global employees. She is a proactive leader, able to influence widespread cultural change and execute strategies in alignment with corporate goals. Toni is SPHR, SHRM-SCP certified as well as a certified Korn Ferry Leadership Architect. She earned a MS in Human Resources Development from Villanova University.
Beth is a creative, strategic human resources change management and organizational development consultant. She built her experience through roles at management consulting firms including A.T. Kearney and Andersen Business Consulting (formerly Arthur Andersen) as well as manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, and not-for-profit organizations across the U.S. and globally. As a former Manager, International Human Resources at Allison Transmission, Inc., she oversaw all human resources activity outside of the U.S. Beth has lived or worked abroad in Europe, Asia, and South America; speaks French and Spanish. In her community, Beth facilitates workshops using Gallup’s CliftonStrengths. Beth earned her Master’s degree in Learning and Organizational Change from Northwestern University.
Reichel Stohry Dean LLP: Brewery Trademarks
An overview of trademarks and branding and how they are relevant to brewers. What trademarks are, how they are important to breweries, steps to clear and protect a trademark, and information on interesting brewery trademark disputes.
Brad Stohry and Natalie Deans are partners from Reichel Stohry Dean LLP, which is an Indianapolis-based law firm. While the firm provides a variety of services, it has a particular focus of helping breweries establish, protect and enforce their brands.
The firm handles all aspects of the trademark practice, including clearing trademarks, filing and prosecuting trademark applications, and, when necessary, representing clients in enforcing their trademark rights against infringers. In addition to trademark services, the firm also regularly assists breweries with contracts and other legal issues that they encounter.
12-Pack Grab and Go: Social Media Market Tips & Tricks
Athena Scholl, Director of Marketing and Communications, Brewers of Indiana Guild
Elizabeth Belange, Promotions Director, Sun King Brewery & Spirits
Elise Anderson, Creative Marketing Specialist, Indiana City Brewing Company
Kate Rocheford, Marketing Director, Upland Brewing Company
Brooke Killey, Marketing & Events Director, Four Day Ray Brewing
Restaurant COGS
Adding a food component to your brewery can be beneficial for keeping patrons in their seats longer, and for adding revenue to your bottom line. Understanding Cost of Goods Sold (COGS), and the challenges of running a kitchen in your brewery are essential to meet the aforementioned objectives. This discussion will delve into how to properly price your food menu, and will focus on lessons learned on a kitchen start up in order to help you avoid the same pitfalls.
Technical Brewing Track
Quality Q&A with Neil Witte
Neil Witte is a 22 year veteran of the craft beer business. He began his career in the Kansas City brewpub industry, moving to Boulevard Brewing Co. in 1997 as a brewer. In 2001, he took over field quality responsibilities for the brewery, acting as a quality control liaison between the brewery and its distributor and retailer network. He continued that role with the Duvel USA family of beers, including Boulevard and Brewery Ommegang, through the end of 2016. In 2017 he founded Craft Quality Solutions, which draws on his extensive field quality experience, providing field quality services to breweries, distributors and retailers. He is certified through the Beer Judge Certification Program and is currently one of 18 Master Cicerones. He is co-author of the Brewers Association Draught Quality Manual, Draught Beer Quality for Retailers and a contributing author to the MBAA Beer Steward Handbook.
Practical Yeast Management from the Brewer and Supplier Perspective
Lance Shaner, Founder/Owner, Omega Yeast
Lance received a Ph.D. in microbiology and molecular genetics from the University of Texas – Houston. He has nine years of laboratory experience, including five years of original research on the stress response of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Megan Pelsor, Sun King Brewery
Malt Flavor Creation and Sensory Evaluation
Greg Burke, Illinois & Indiana Territory Manager, Country Malt Group
Tyler Schoales, Country Malt Group
- BSc Applied Molecular Sciences, MAGB Malting Diploma
- 13 years Malting Experience (Canada Malting, Bairds, Great Western, CMG)
- Avid Homebrewer
Compressed Air & its Impact on Beer Quality
This presentation takes a look on air compressors and compressed air use in the brewing industry and what impact it can have on beer quality. It will pay particular attention to cleaning up air and the air quality needed for use in a food and beverage application. Case studies and examples are included.
Micheal Ferris works for Delta Brewing Systems. DBS is a sister company of an air compressor and compressed air distributor in Illinois and Iowa specializing in the brewing industry. Micheal has worked with a number of breweries, both in the Midwest and across the country, on their air compressors and compressed air treatment over the past 7 years. His focus is on improving compressed air quality in breweries and educating people on how air quality can impact their end product.
Sensory Analysis for Your Brewery
Kaitlyn Hendricks, Three Floyds Brewing Company
Improved Functional Assays and Risk Assessment for diastatic (STA+) Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Diastatic yeasts are a major contamination risk to packaged beer. Brewery quality control programs rely on microbial selective methods and PCR detection of the STA1 gene, however there is a wide functional range of diastatic activity that remains unresolved by these current methods. Herein, we provide a comprehensive analysis of diastatic yeast selection media using our collection of STA1+ strains. We highlight several factors to control including plate age, autoclave cycling conditions, cupric sulfate and dipotassium phosphate concentrations. We further present several functional assays that confirm the variation in diastatic activity across STA1+ strains and show a clear correlation with earlier onset and increasing strength in strains that contain an intact STA1 promoter. Furthermore, we have developed robust and simple plate-based assay to confirm diastatic activity of potential contaminants. Collectively, these functional assays provide improved risk assessment of re-fermentation in packaged product with the potential for determining contaminant thresholds for different STA1+ strains and weighing in on the decision to dump beer or issue a product recall.
Lance Shaner, Founder/Owner, Omega Yeast
Lance received a Ph.D. in microbiology and molecular genetics from the University of Texas – Houston. He has nine years of laboratory experience, including five years of original research on the stress response of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Certificate of Analysis – A Bucket Analysis Approach
Tyler Schoales, Country Malt Group
- BSc Applied Molecular Sciences, MAGB Malting Diploma
- 13 years Malting Experience (Canada Malting, Bairds, Great Western, CMG)
- Avid Homebrewer
Hazy IPAS: Production Techniques
Matt Wisley, Upland Brewing Company
Regulatory Track
Bose Legislative Update and Permitting Q&A
Scott Bedwell is an alcohol and tobacco industry consultant for Bose McKinney & Evans LLP and a senior policy advisor for Bose Public Affairs Group LLC. Previously, Scott was a member of the Indiana State Excise Police from 1991 through 2016, serving in the roles of industry liaison/trade relations and local alcohol board coordinator. He has extensive experience in working with industry members, including manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers and dealers, on compliance and licensing related issues. Scott also has vast knowledge of 7.1 and 905 IAC alcohol laws and rules. As local board coordinator, he assisted officers and permittees on the alcohol board process and any problems that may arise during hearings. He has worked closely with top officials within the Tax and Trade Bureau of the federal government on compliance and licensing issues. Drawing upon his experience, Scott provides compliance consultation and audit services for clients to understand, address and correct potential violations of Indiana’s alcoholic beverage rules and regulations.
ATC Roundtable
OSHA Compliance in the Brewery
Gregory and Appel: OSHA requires all employers to provide a safe and healthy work- place. Breweries are considered a high-hazard industry and pres- ent many risky conditions such as hot liquids, confined spaces, caustic chemicals, pressurized tanks, frequently wet floors, noise, and fire concerns. In this session, we will focus on the safety of your brewery, the types of common injury and illness prevention programs, and we’ll review common OSHA violations associated with breweries.