Summit Seminar Schedule

Brewery members of the California Craft Brewers Association are invited to join association staff and board of directors at a closed-door meeting at the Summit. Hear directly from CCBA leadership on key industry challenges and your association's initiatives to address these challenges. The meeting will end with an open Q&A. Attendees must be a CCBA brewery member to attend.

Join the California Craft Brewers Association and the Brewers Association for a critical session addressing competition, market share, sales and volume growth, data and trends in California and nationwide to keep and eye on and where the industry is headed.

After decades working in marketing, retail sales and growing the industry from the ground-up, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company's Joe Whitney will talk about what the brewing company is doing to adapt to a changing retail environment and what trends in retail sales you should be addressing in your planning and go-to-market strategy meetings.

Creative Licensing: What Can I do With My License. The alcohol industry is highly regulated by the California Alcohol Beverage Control Act - a legal framework that impacts brewers, wine makers, spirits producers, retailers, distributors and even consumers. As competition increases across market categories, what can you do with your license to stay cutting edge and the go-to source for consumers' discretionary spending.

Making beer is a multi-step and technically complex process, but some actions are more consequential to smooth operation and beer quality than others. This talk explores those key points in the process that are most necessary for consistency and excellence, explains what happens at those points and lays out why that is important.

A focus on quality beer is an essential part of operating a successful brewery. In this session, Master Cicerone® Pat Fahey will guide you through a tasting of several common, production-related off flavors while covering formation, control, and prevention of these flavors. Walk away with more knowledge and experience in tasting and testing the beer you brew.

Title: Partnerships: Building Distributor Relationships and Increasing Sales. As a brewery or distributor working together for 1-3 years the honeymoon phase may be over for one or both of you. How do you come to the table and create goals and marketing strategies that benefit and incentivize both partners? This session is for distributors and brewers looking to get the most out of their relationships, partnerships and sales.

Data on what is selling and where can help you focus your marketing efforts, save money and effort and make effective, fact-based sales presentations . This presentation will cover a range of data sources from household purchases across multiple channels to Direct-to-Consumer sales to depletions/wholesale tracking software and analysis. Send your marketing and sales team to this high-level seminar on reading and using sales data for your brewery.

Some of the top sour and wild beer makers in California are coming together to discuss their programs, best practices, and answer your questions! Please join us and contribute to the ongoing discussion on how to make sour beer better.

How much does vision impact taste? Hoby Wedler, blind from birth, will walk you through a sensory tasting of craft beer without using any visuals. Put on a blindfold and smell, taste, and touch craft beer.

International markets offer a valuable opportunity to diversify sales and grow your business. However, determining whether exporting is a good fit for your brewery and how to get started can be a challenge. Steve Parr will discuss the international market for American craft beer, what resources are available, and common speed bumps encountered by brewers when selling their beer abroad.

Labeling, formulas, records, reports, excise tax reporting and brewers' notices. Come with all your TTB questions to this informative session walking through what you need to know to stay in compliance with TTB guidelines and requirements.

Richard Norgrove Jr. founded Bear Republic Brewing Company along with his family in 1995. With many stories to tell, jump through the haze as Norgrove reflects on his experiences in the craft brewing industry over the last 25 years and what it means to him to be a brewer today. As a brewery owner, what do you do at year 3, 5, 10, 15, or 20? What is the future of the industry becoming? Sponsored by Capital Corrugated & Carton

From Jupiter and Triple Rock to Drake’s, John Martin has been in the industry since the 1980s and has learned many lessons and collected many stories along the way. Take a walk in John Martin’s shoes as he talks about the past, present and future of craft beer in CA. Sponsored by Moss Adams.

Musings on the craft brewing industry with the co-owner/founder of Stone Brewing Company.

Chris White has been integral in the craft brewing industry for many years, from supplying the key ingredient in beer to evolving White Labs into a leading supplier and innovator in yeast strains and management. Learn from Chris the path he took to build his business and expand the world of yeast.

How robust is your sensory program today? Do you have the techniques to assure quality, conduct research, and support innovation? Regardless of size, sensory is one of the most important tools that a brewery can posses. This talk will be focused on techniques that any brewery can implement to improve upon quality assurance protocols with the people and processes they already have in place. Building upon that foundation, we will also cover sensory testing methodologies that can be used to conduct research and support innovation to take your sensory program to the next level.

Pairing food and beer is a beautiful adventure for all chefs, brewers and especially for enthusiasts. In this session learn how to talk about the pairing of beer and food, highlight flavors and taste some beers and bites together. This hands-on class is perfect for everyone who wants to improve their service at their restaurant or brewpub or learn how to pair better at home! SPONSORED BY: San Diego State University's Business of Craft Beer Program

How do you grow a beer brand from the ground up? How do you create a marketing plan that sticks and stands out in today's competitive marketplace? Learn from the CMO of Karl Strauss his checklist for launching new beer brands, adapting old beer brands and building sales.

Growth leads to better revenues, revenues come from more growth, but how do you plan to achieve growth and revenue without solid financial planning? Learn from the CFO of a California brewery that has quickly tripled in production and sales volume about the numbers they crunched to get from A to B and take hope key tips to build your own financial planning model.

Learn the history and process of making these ancient, undiscovered beer styles.

Taste your way through the history of European styles as they morphed into US styles. Walk through the history of the classic saison, take a look at the evolution of the kolsch through the California beer market, consider the resurgence of lagers and the continued creativity of the fruited sour beer. Use your taste buds to answer the age-old question: what will we be drinking next?

So you started homebrewing? Learn from esteemed homebrewer Jamil Zainasheff how to take your hobby to the next level and advance the quality of your homebrewed beer. From hobbyist to breweries-in-planning, this seminar will provide tips to help every brewer take their beer from good to great.

The legalization of recreational cannabis in California has opened up new opportunities – and risks. The conflicting federal and state regulations add confusion and complexity, even when brewing with non-THC ingredients such as CBD oils and hemp. This seminar will explore the latest regulations in licensing, brewing and marketing and advertising as it relates to brewing and cannabis.

Sit at a roundtable of brewers and efficiency experts as they discuss best practices, policy solutions, low-budget alternatives and cost-saving tricks for launching efficiency measures at your brewery today and ensuring sustainable water supplies.

Why should you invest in California craft malt? What distinguishing characteristics set craft malt apart? How will the use of craft malt impact your final product? Learn from two brewery owners that celebrate craft malts in their breweries how they partner with California farmers to source quality, local grain to produce freshly kilned, hand-crafted malt and why it matters in the innovative world of craft beer. Nile Zacherle founded Mad Fritz Brewery & Matlhouse and Ron Silberstein founded ThirstyBear Organic Brewery and Admiral Maltings.

Sip and soak in the San Diego craft beer movement with Chris Cramer, CEO & Co-Founder of Karl Strauss Brewing Co. as he talks about his pioneering journey from opening San Diego's first brewery in 1989 to today's Top 50 “Karlifornia" footprint.

Mikkeller is a brewery with a large range of businesses under the company umbrella - from beer to bars, shops, restaurants, beer festivals, music festivals, running clubs, chocolate, clothing brand, wine etc. With a presence all over the world, Mikkel and Jacob will share key insights on brand and business development for breweries looking to expand their reach. SPONSORED BY: Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP

The global brewing industry has long been one of convivial mutual support – at least at the technical level if not in the cut throat realm of sales and marketing. From his more than forty years in the business, The Pope of Foam recounts lessons learned from fun-filled days alongside remarkable characters throughout the world of beer.