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11:30am
Foyer of Grand Ballroom – Check-in opens
12:00pm – 1:45pm – Workshops
Room 322- Inclusive Guide: Building Blocks of Incorporating Authentic Inclusion Practices
Room 324- Using Yeast To Your Advantage – Presentations by Berkeley Yeast and Inland Island Yeast Lab
Room 312- Brewery Business Bootcamp: Basics of Finance, Insurance, HR, and more
2:00pm – 4:00pm – Legal Update Seminar
Room 312- Check-In with the LED, Compliance Update & FAQs
4:00pm – 5:00pm
Room 312- Annual Brewery Member Meeting
5:30pm – 7:00pm
Odell Brewing CO.- Happy Hour Sponsored by the Brewers Insurance Co-Op of Colorado
7:45am Foyer of Ballroom – Check-in opens
7:45am- 9:15am
Ballroom – Breakfast Sponsored By On Tap Credit Union
8:30am – 9:45am
Theater- Keynote: The Current State of Colorado Craft Beer & A Look At the Current Bev Alc Environment
10:00am
Grand Ballroom – Trade Show opens
10:00am – 11:00am-Session 1
Room 308-310 – Attracting (and Keeping) Top Talent: Employee Ownership vs. Profit Sharing
Room 322 – Mug Clubs, Memberships, Merchandise
Room 324 –Till Death Do Us Pilsner – The Distribution Relationship
Room 304-306 – Breaking The Silence About A Safe Night Out
Theater – Detection and Ventilation: Standard Equipment Design and Operating Practices for Managing Co2
11:15am – 12:15pm -Session 2
Room 308-310 – Staff Compensation: We Have All Been Doing It Wrong
Room 322 –Social Media Marketing
Room 324 – The Top Three Legal Trends for Maintaining a Successful Brewery
Room 304-306 – Calculating Production Costs to Drive Financial Results
Theater- Fungi Farming: how to reuse yeast in your brewery
12:15pm – 1:45pm
Ballroom – Lunch Sponsored by Berlin Packaging
1:45pm – 2:45pm – Session 3
Room 308-310 – How to Maximize Your Taproom Profits
Room 322 – Recipe for a Successful Brand
Room 324 – Employment Law Basics: What Managers Need to Know
Room 304-306 – Proper Care and Feeding of Stainless Steel
Theater – Product Withdrawal Wisdom
3:00pm – 4:00pm – Session 4
Room 308-310 – The Journey from Bookkeeping to KPIs & How to get Started
Room 322 – The Art and Science of Media Relations
Room 324 – Key Compliance & Regulatory Concerns for Interstate Distribution
Room 304-306 – An Overview of Increasing Brewery Efficiency and Beer Quality with Production Data
Theater – Wood and Beer, A Practical Approach
4:00pm – 5:30pm
Grand Ballroom – Happy Hour sponsored by Berlin Packaging
Tuesday, Nov. 1
4:00 – 5:00 PM
Room 312
Speaker:
CBG staff and board
Join the CBG staff and board for a discussion on what we’ve been working on and where we’re heading in 2022. Come with questions, concerns, and comments. CBG brewery and brewery in planning members only!
Tuesday, Nov. 2
8:30-9:45 AM
Theater
Speaker:
Brian “BK” Krueger
Vice President, Business Development & Portfolio Strategy
Bump Williams Consulting
Track: Accounting/ Business Development
A year to date look at the State of Colorado Craft Beer, National Wine & Spirits Categories, and the Modern Bev Alc Consumer. We will break down the current trends of Colorado Craft Beer Sales (Brewer, Brand, Style, Package, Price, etc…), what’s going on with wine & spirits, RTD’s, and the modern consumer. We will also provide insight and intelligence into the challenges and successful strategies for Colorado Craft Brewers to continue to compete and lead in one of the most competitive craft beer, and overall Bev Alc, markets in the country.
Tuesday, Nov. 1
12:00-1:45 PM
Room 322
Speakers:
Crystal Egli and
Parker McMullen Bushman,
Inclusive Journeys
Track: Accounting/ Business Development
Tuesday, Nov. 1
12:00-1:45 PM
Room 312
Speakers:
On Tap Credit Union:
Tony Nieto, VP of Lending, On Tap Credit Union
&
Michael Shepherd
Director of Business Development
Brewers Insurance Cooperative of Colorado LLC
Myles Potter
Select Account Sales Specialist
&
Matt Olson, CIC, CRIS
Vice President
Fisher & Phillips LLP:
Todd Fredrickson
Attorney at Law
Track: Accounting/ Business Development
Just starting out, or working on getting your brewery to the next level? This three-part business bootcamp is for you.
On Tap Credit Union presents “Beer Money: Business and Commercial Lending Bootcamp. Brewery Financing 101”. Whether you run an established craft brewery or are just starting out, there are times when you might need “beer money” – outside funding to pursue new opportunities or endure a period of uncertainty. On Tap Credit Union is here to help you understand the ins and outs of your financial options when it comes to financing that perfect brew.
The Brewers Insurance CoOp will explore what insurance coverages are required to be carried as a brewery. Thinking about your benefits plan too? Health insurance is complex and can sometimes be scary. In this workshop they will cover a brief overview of options available for new and established businesses.
Fisher Phillips will cover a variety of basic labor & employment law topics, such as wage & hour obligations under COMPS Order No. 38, as well as other recent developments and challenges under Colorado law.
Wednesday, Nov. 2 11:15am – 12:15pm
Room 304-306
Speaker:
Mark Boelman, Triple Bottomline Brewery Consulting
Track: Accounting, Business Development
The impact inflation has had upon raw material costs amid an ever-changing supply chain, in addition to the very tight Colorado labor market, breweries small and large are feeling pinched. Gaining a grasp on the cost of beer production will be key to steering through these market conditions and beyond. We will walk through manufacturing beer math, look at some simple models for calculating costs, and provide direction for reaching profitability outcomes. This is a class for brewers and brewery owners, no Excel wizardry or CPA certification required.
Wednesday, Nov. 2
1:45pm – 2:45pm
Room 308-310
Speakers:
Mel Smith,
Perkins Accounting
Maria Pearman,
GHJ Advisors
Rachel Kesley,
Arryved
Track: Accounting, Business Development
The industry is facing historic challenges emerging from the pandemic with rising inflation, raw materials shortages and significant increases in fuel cost. Breweries need to make sure they are taking full advantage of their taproom profit. Beer sold out of the taproom has the highest margin and there are a number of considerations to ensure you are getting the most profit from every sale. Here’s what we’ll be talking through to help maximize your taproom efforts:
Wednesday, Nov. 2 3:00pm – 4:00pm
Room 308-310
Speaker:
Drew Kearns
Fractional Controller & Founder
That’s Delicious Financials
Track: Accounting, Business Development
This session will dive into the steps you can take to start your journey from bookkeeping to defining and tracking your key performance indicators (KPIs). Bookkeeping is the base of financial analysis and no useful financial analysis can be done without it. But there’s little decision-making value that comes from it.
Establishing and frequently reviewing key performance indicators (KPIs) are the results of analyzing the financial statements that your accountant hands over. They are specific to your business and setting targets and tracking them is the end goal of accounting.
If you don’t know your KPIs and spend time on bookkeeping, then you need to find more time in your week to stop bookkeeping and define and review your KPIs. I’ll show you how.
Wednesday, Nov. 2
10:00am – 11:00am
Room 308-310
Speaker:
Brandon Selinsky,
Beer Law HQ
Track: Human Resources
Good employees can be difficult to keep around. Never has this been more true than in the Great Resignation. So how do you stay competitive as a workplace? We all know that, in the short-term, you can increase paychecks, bump up benefits, etc. But the smartest workers are looking long-term. They want to invest in their own futures and participate in the success of the business. The advantage, obviously, is that an employee with an ownership interest has an incentive to work harder and better. How do you know if employee ownership is an advantage for your brewery? In this introduction to employee stock ownership, we will address the following:
Wednesday, Nov. 2
10:00am – 11:00am
Room 304-306
Speakers:
Alli Meyerhardt
Executive Director Breaking Silence
Akilah Iyare
Marketing Director
SAFE Bar Network
Track: Human Resources
SAFE Bar Network and Breaking Silence will share details on the vital programming and training that each organization provides to alcohol serving venues. Both organization’s focal point is to help staff and leaders learn how to create safe and thriving environments for staff and patrons while building a sense of community. In this session you will get an understanding of the work they provide, be immersed in an engaging dialogue and leave with an understanding of how to facilitate conversations and use empathy as a tool for creating safe environments.
Wednesday, Nov. 2
11:15am – 12:15pm
Room 308-310
Speakers:
Chris Rippee
Co-Owner
Bierstadt Lagerhaus
Todd Fredrickson
Attorney at Law
Fisher & Phillips LLP
Track: Human Resources
Learn about the benefits of shifting from a traditional tip model to a service charge model and how it can be used to rethink service, kitchen and production staff compensation, provide benefits and hopefully decrease turnover. Chris will be going over the management challenges, tax repercussions, HR and PR impacts and Todd will discuss the legal ins and outs of both tip pool and service charge models from a labor & employment law perspective.
Wednesday, Nov. 2
1:45pm – 2:45pm
Room 324
Speaker:
George Russo,
Director,
Employers Council
Track: Human Resources
An overview of important employment law topics including harassment prevention, performance documentation, and medical issues. Specifically, what is harassment and how to deal with it in the workplace; how to create effective performance documentation; and what managers need to know when their employee is dealing with a medical issue. The goal is to make managers aware of difficult issues and how to prevent or mitigate risk in these areas. Managers should walk away knowing how to spot issues and practical guidance for dealing with these issues.
Tuesday, Nov. 1
2:00-3:00 PM
Room 312
Speakers:
Michelle Stone-Principato, Liquor Enforcement Division Director
Andrea Jones, Liquor Enforcement Division Deputy Director
Track: Legal
Tuesday, Nov. 1
3:00 – 4:00 PM
Room 312
Speaker:
Chas Runco, Runco & Proffitt, P.C.
Track: Legal
Wednesday, Nov. 2
10:00am – 11:00am
Room 324
Speakers:
Mike Drumm, BeerAttorney.com
Chas Runco,
Runco & Proffitt, P.C.
Track: Legal
This presentation will cover the ins and outs of working with a distributor. From self-distribution to selecting the right distributor, the distribution agreement, working with the distributor, and terminating the distributor. This presentation answers the following questions:
Wednesday, Nov. 2
11:15am – 12:15pm
Room 324
Speaker:
Garrett Graff,
Partner,
Moye White
Track: Legal
As an owner or manager of a brewery, you often wear many hats spending your days being one part entrepreneur, one part HR, one part brewer, and one part marketer. But that’s what makes you successful; you thrive on the day-to-day challenges of running a brewery.
Throughout the day, you are likely faced with many requests and compelled to make decisions on the fly. However, laws and regulations are constantly changing and there are a number of legal pain points that entrepreneurs often battle that you should be aware of and should seek advice on before finalizing a decision. In this session, we’ll discuss:
– Data Privacy: We’ll discuss the Colorado Privacy Act and other similar laws in other states and the important policy changes you should implement to stay ahead of this wave of data privacy legislation.
– Marketing Trends: Being an owner/manager often allows you to be creative; however, we’ll discuss how to protect your business while still maintaining your creative touch. We’ll talk about unique marketing trends like NFTs, marketing compliance in a digital age, truth-in-advertising, website ADA compliance, and intellectual property management.
– Keeping your House in Order: There are many agreements and financial decisions that need to be managed in order to avoid litigation or disputes. We’ll discuss maintaining your cap table, negotiating leases, and managing distribution agreements.
Wednesday, Nov. 2
3:00pm – 4:00pm
Room 324
Speaker:
Alex Koral,
Sovos ShipCompliant
Track: Legal
Any craft brewer who wants to have their products sold and consumed across state lines must understand and comply with the many regulatory requirements of the three-tier system. There is a long list of complicated and evolving requirements to meet before beer can be distributed and sold in any state. Licensing, state and federal brand registrations, price postings, and required follow-up reports make compliance a time-consuming and expensive process.
This presentation will spotlight the most pressing regulatory issues facing today’s craft brewers involved in interstate distribution. Attendees will learn how to effectively, and cost-effectively, navigate regulatory and compliance risks.
Craft brewers of all sizes who are distributing beyond the taproom can benefit from this overview of the key compliance and regulatory challenges facing craft brewers and how to effectively manage them.
Wednesday, Nov. 2
10:00am – 11:00am
Room 322
Panel:
Chris Bell,
Owner/Co-Founder
Call to Arms Brewing Co.
Eric Larkin,
Co-Founder/Brewer,
Cohesion Brewing
Nick Nunns,
Founder and CEO,
TRVE Brewing Co.
Track: Marketing
Looking for more ways to market your brand and engage your customers? Promotions like mug clubs, memberships, and creative merchandise sales can be an effective way to create regulars and entice new patrons. Cohesion Brewing, TRVE Brewing, and Call to Arms Brewing will discuss what has made their campaigns successful.
Wednesday, Nov. 2
11:15am – 12:15pm
Room 322
Panel:
Tristan Chan,
Founder
The Porch Collective PR & Marketing
Chris Bell,
Owner/Co-Founder
Call to Arms Brewing Co.
Lauren Kayl
Digital Brand Manager Weldwerks Brewing Co
Michelle Baldwin
Events and Marketing Manager
Colorado Brewers Guild
Track: Marketing
Wednesday, Nov. 2
1:45pm – 2:45pm
Room 322
Speakers:
Karyn Savory,
Creative Director
Sweet & Savory Designs
Track: Marketing
Brand positioning creates clarity and guidance around what you do and for who you serve. It also defines to your target consumer why you are the best brewery for them and gives them reasons to believe in you and your products. Creating a consistent brand personality will help you connect with your customers and this connection builds engagement, conversion, loyalty, and ultimately advocacy. This workshop will help you learn how to connect the vision of your business with smart messaging and key visual cues that will help your brand stand out, cut through the clutter, amplify your brand promise and establish brand recall.
Seminar Highlights
Wednesday, Nov. 2
3:00pm – 4:00pm
Room 322
Speaker:
Chad Melis,
Soul Founder & CEO,
Turn it Up Media
Track: Marketing
Led by experienced brewery brand builder Chad Melis, who spent over a decade elevating the Oskar Blues Brewery brand and now runs the marketing collective Turn It Up Media, this presentation will provide a roadmap for breweries to execute an effective media relations strategy.
Over the course of the presentation, marketers and brewery owners will learn about the fundamentals of media relations and explore the proactive media relations process. Chad will share the most important takeaways that have helped him secure placements for breweries in local press, industry leading publications, and national news outlets like Forbes, Men’s Journal, and the Wall Street Journal. Mentions in these trusted publications drive brand awareness, build credibility, and will help position your brewery alongside narratives that support your business goals.
Chad’s presentation will be the jumpstart your brewery needs to strengthen your media relations processes. He will outline everything you need to know, from the structure for building meaningful relationships with reporters to how to leverage earned placements to create ongoing value, and share personal and proven tactics to gain share of mind with your target audiences through media relations. And with Chad’s experience in beer, these tactics are designed for breweries with teams of all sizes. Whether you have a background in media relations and marketing, or you’re coming in with no experience and an open mind, you’ll find this knowledge useful and insightful and leave with a refreshed approach to PR.
Tuesday, Nov. 1
12:00-1:45 PM
Room 324
Speakers:
Nick Harris,
Co-founder,
Berkeley Yeast
John Giarratano,
Founder / Lead Engineer, Inland Island Yeast Labs
Track: Technical
All About Thiols: Practical Ways to Maximize Tropical Thiol Potential
Nick Harris, Berkeley Yeast
This presentation will provide background information on what thiols are, where they come from, and how brewers can control and maximize their production during the brewing process. Easy to interpret data will be presented to cover thiol precursor content in common brewing ingredients, biotransformation by yeast, and process variables that influence the final concentration of thiols. Brewers will walk away with a solid understanding of how to control and push more tropical thiol character in their beer.Know Your Nutrients!
Know Your Nutrients!
John Giarratano, Inland Island Yeast Labs
Most craft brewers rely on malted barley to provide yeast with all the essential nutrients needed for yeast health and fermentation performance. Additionally, most brewers have an idea of some of the nutrients provided by malt, and required by yeast, but don’t know how much is needed and what to do if their Malt COA is telling them something might be missing. In this presentation, John Giarratano of Inland Island Yeast Laboratories will dive into the essential nutrients necessary for multi-generational yeast health and what brewers can do to ensure their beer is not only consistent from batch to batch, but brand to brand and across crop years.
Wednesday, Nov. 2
10:00am – 11:00am
Theater
Speaker:
Tony McCrimmon, OHST, Brewery Safety Consulting
Track: Technical
Elevated CO2 and other gas and vapors found in brewery buildings, rooms and equipment have effects on the health and safety of the people who use and occupy them. MBAA President Andy Tveekrem stated that we know carbon dioxide is a bigger health hazard for the brewing industry than we accept.
This seminar will be split into two parts.
The first will consider CO2 health hazard effects and provide ways to eliminate them. Participants will discuss fresh clean air and how it can be supplied into buildings. Guidance from ASHRAE, NFPA, AIHA and OSHA will support planning to create a healthy environment in brewery enclosed and confined spaces. It will include the taproom and effects on patrons and front of house staff, and the rest of the brewery.
Content:
The second part is a hands-on workshop that explains how detectors function, their capabilities and limitations, and how an operator can introduce error and cause malfunction of the equipment. Improper operation may prevent detection of gas that is actually present.
To do this, we will locate a CO2 gas leak. Participants should bring their own detectors and probes. The instructor will have two detectors; a typical “4 gas confined space monitor” and a brewery specific version of a carbon dioxide and an oxygen sensor.
Content:
Wednesday, Nov. 2
11:15am – 12:15pm
Theater
Speaker:
Matthew Peetz, CEO, Founder
&
Brittany Portman, Lab Manager,
Propagate Lab
Track: Technical
The cost of grains, hops, yeast and labor continually increase for brewers, but what if you could reuse one of those ingredients? Yeast can be easily and successfully reused in brewing, drastically diminishing its cost per barrel of beer produced. Matthew Peetz with Propagate Lab will present how to harvest, test, store, and reuse yeast in your brewery. We will cover methods that can be used with minimal equipment and how to perfect those methods if you are working at a larger brewery with more resources. This presentation is targeted at anyone who would like to reuse yeast in their brewery or who has questions about how to take those practices to the next level.
Wednesday, Nov. 2
1:45pm – 2:45pm
Room 304-306
Speaker:
Dana Johnson,
Technical Director, Craft Brewing,
Birko-A Diversey Company
Track: Technical
Stainless steel used in the brewing industry needs to be properly cared for in order to make the best and most consistent beer, batch after batch. What are the best ways to passivate new equipment prior to being put into service and then keep it in good condition once the brewery is operating? This presentation will discuss the different approaches and chemicals used to passivate stainless steel and keep it in pristine condition, now and for years to come.
Wednesday, Nov. 2
1:45pm – 2:45pm
Theater
Speakers:
Emily Wang, Founder/Lead Scientist , Fermly
Tom Jasko,
Owner/CEO,
Colorado Craft Distributors
Christopher Hill,
President,
Odyssey Beerwerks
Track: Technical
As breweries transitioned to packaging for better market penetration, we have seen instances of products being recalled due to quality issues that have varied from off-flavors to explosions. Navigating the world of addressing the situation internally and externally, confirmation of issue, distributor, and insurance is no easy feat and involves consideration on multiple fronts. Situations like this have become more common due to a push in packaging practices from the recent pandemic and can seem an uncomfortable conversation, but this panel will answer many questions so drinking away fears is not longer a necessity, just optional.
Wednesday, Nov. 2
3:00pm – 4:00pm
Theater
Speaker:
Peter Bouckaert
Brewmaster and Co-owner
Purpose Brewing and Cellars
Track: Technical
Everything you need to know when working with wood, barrels and foeders. Peter will address wood structure and how it impacts your job, cleaning, filling, flavor extraction, refurbishment etc.
Wednesday, Nov. 2
3:00pm – 4:00pm
Room 304-306
Speaker:
Brynn Keenan
Founder,
Grist Analytics
Track: Technical
Production data is one of the most under-utilized assets in craft brewing. With a relatively minor amount of work, this data can be used to increase throughput, efficiency, raw material extraction, and beer quality. Learn how to utilize your production data through statistical process control, and turn it into something valuable.
Social Media Marketing