Craft Beer Professionals

Breweries are finding inventive ways to grow—even in a tough market. From new beverage lines to taproom makeovers, this fast-paced session highlights real-world strategies breweries are using to boost revenue and stay relevant. You’ll also learn how creative financing can help bring these ideas to life without crushing your cash flow. Stick around for a Q&A to swap ideas and ask questions.Rick Wehner launched Brewery Finance in 2005 and has since supported over 1,500 breweries—from startups to established operations—with targeted equipment financing and working capital. Based in Colorado, Rick specializes in understanding how breweries operate and how to help them grow using quick and non-traditional finance options.Stay up to date with CBP: http://update.craftbeerprofessionals.org/

In today’s competitive craft beer market, saving money can boost your bottom line faster than chasing every new trend. This session will share five quick, practical strategies you can use right now to cut costs without cutting corners. You’ll learn how to tap into your network to find trusted vendor recommendations, leverage your state guild’s discounts and preferred partners, and re-negotiate with your current suppliers for better deals. We’ll explore how to contract strategically—locking in pricing where it makes sense without overextending yourself—and how to boost buying power through industry co-operatives, whether by joining one or creating your own. Attendees will walk away with cost-saving tactics they can implement immediately, even with a packed schedule.James Stutsman knows this industry and the headwinds brewers are facing. His experience includes nearly 15 years in the industry with stints as Director of Marketing and Sales for Kansas City Bier Company and Marketing Manager for Deschutes. Then he co-founded and served as head brewer for City Barrel Brewing Company where he helped build distribution, open two restaurants and win a GABF medal for Hazy/Juicy IPA in the process. Now he works for the Independent Brewers Alliance and helps brewers navigate the time-sucking maze of sourcing and negotiating with vendors.Stay up to date with CBP: http://update.craftbeerprofessionals.org/

Oxygen is both a friend and a foe in the beer-making process. Used wisely, it sets the stage for strong fermentation. Used incorrectly—or introduced at the wrong time—it can compromise the flavor, shelf life, and quality of your beer.This session examines the real-world impact of using pure oxygen versus compressed air in the fermentation process, offering insights brewers can apply to improve product consistency and efficiency.This conversation features:Darren Yates (Quality Beverage Concepts)Gary Fogg (Maintenance Manager, Four Peaks Brewing Company. Tempe, Arizona)John Longuil (President, Novair USA)Darren Yates is passionate about developing quality concepts and solutions for the hospitality industry.Stay up to date with CBP: http://update.craftbeerprofessionals.org/

The busy summer season often masks small inefficiencies that quietly drain time, money, and energy from your brewery. In this practical, no-fluff session, we’ll guide you through an essential “autumn reset” to identify and fix hidden inefficiencies before the holiday rush hits.Whether you’re managing your brewery with a whiteboard, spreadsheets, or brewery management software, this talk is for you. We’ll share actionable tips that anyone can use to improve access to key information so that your team can make smarter, faster decisions.Plus, we’ll introduce Brew Ninja’s 5-minute Brewery Health Check Survey to help you reflect on your current operations and pinpoint where small changes could deliver big results. No matter your current tools, these insights will help you reduce last-minute chaos, avoid costly mistakes, and boost your margins.If you’re ready to reclaim time and confidence ahead of the holiday rush, this talk is for you.” “Brew Ninja is the complete, affordable and easy to use brewery management software. With Brew Ninja your team gets time back to focus on what they do best.Brewers are on top of production schedules and inventory, ensuring you never run dry or overproduce. Sales teams have real time access to accurate inventory, meaning they can close deals faster without endless back and forth. Owners see margins and profitability with just a few clicks, and your whole team communicates seamlessly.Co-Founder and Sales Director, Matt Hon has worked with brewers across North America over the past 7 years to help them improve operational efficiency through better access to information, and simpler workflows.Join us in person for CBP Connects New OrleansDecember 8–10, 2025It’s never been more important to connect: https://cbpconnects.com/

This session will walk you through the key legal steps to build a business that’s ready for investment and eventually for sale. We will dive into the legal side of raising capital. From friends and family to private investors or venture capital. We will demystify the capital raising process – covering commonly used private placement exemptions like Regulation D (Rules 506(b) and 506(c)), basic compliance responsibilities, and the kinds of disclosures and filings that may be required to stay on the right side of the law. Next, we’ll look ahead to your exit strategy. Whether you are planning to retire, sell to a competitor, or transition the business to current owner, we will discuss what makes the business sellable, what buyers expect, how deals are structured, how businesses are valued, and the professionals who can help you do it right. This session is ideal for business owners who want to grow with intention, raise money the right way, and make choices that keep their options open for a successful exit. Megan Farley is a partner at Allen Stahl & Kilbourne, PLLC where she focuses her practice on business, nonprofit, alcoholic beverage law, intellectual property (trademark) law, and creditor rights.She regularly advises business clients on a range of matters from formation, contracts, commercial lease review and negotiation, mergers and acquisitions, succession planning, applying for and maintaining trademark registration, and other business operational matters. Megan also assists craft beverage business clients with federal, state, and local ABC permitting, compliance, contracting, intellectual property licensing, and through the nuances of buying and selling ABC-permitted businesses.Megan has sat on the board of directors of the North Carolina Craft Beverage Museum and Invest Collegiate Imagine charter school. Her practical nonprofit experience helps her guide nonprofit clients through the unique challenges they face. In addition to advising nonprofit clients, Megan provides workshops for boards and facilitates strategic planning meetings to assist nonprofits in defining clear goals and strategies to further their missions.Alison Kinnear is a seasoned corporate and securities attorney with nearly 30 years of experience advising clients on complex business matters. Her practice focuses on business transactions, corporate governance, private placements, and compliance with state and federal securities laws.Alison’s work spans a wide range of legal areas, including corporate structuring and restructuring, governance, commercial contracts, and private placements under Regulation D, with deal sizes ranging from $500,000 to $50 million. She regularly handles partner buyouts, buy-sell agreements, and mergers and acquisitions involving transactions from $10,000 to $100 million. Her experience also includes business succession planning and overseeing legal due diligence for major transactions.In addition to her transactional work, Alison serves as outside counsel to startups and growing companies, providing both strategic input and practical legal guidance that supports their long-term success.Join us in person for CBP Connects New OrleansDecember 8–10, 2025It’s never been more important to connect: https://cbpconnects.com/

Making great beer doesn’t automatically mean you’re ready to lead people—but in most breweries, that’s exactly what happens. Talented brewers, servers, and production crew get promoted into leadership without ever being shown how to actually lead. The result? Frustration, burnout, and team dynamics that drag down quality, morale, and margins.In this session, you’ll learn three proven leadership tools that will help you coach, challenge, and develop your team—without losing the heart and vibe that make craft beer special. First, we’ll introduce the Support-Challenge Matrix, a simple framework for setting the right tone as a leader. You’ll learn how to be “high support, high challenge” and create a culture of empowerment instead of fear or entitlement.Then, we’ll walk through the 100X Leader Assessment to help you evaluate not just how well you’re performing, but how well you’re helping others perform. Finally, we’ll break down the Developing Others Square—a step-by-step model to train and grow your team with intention (and avoid the dreaded “Pit of Despair”).You’ll leave with practical tools you can use right away and an invitation to take the next step through the new Craft Leader Certification, a professional development path built specifically for leaders in the craft beer industry.Ryan Mayfield is a leadership coach who helps brewery professionals build healthy leaders, strong teams, and thriving cultures. Through Craft Leadership, he equips clients with practical tools to lead with confidence, improve communication, and reduce daily frustrations. Craft has supported top breweries like Other Half, Rhinegeist, and Creature Comforts in navigating leadership and team challenges. Based in Tulsa, Ryan lives with his wife, teenage son, and opinionated beagle, Rooster.Join us in person for CBP Connects New OrleansDecember 8–10, 2025It’s never been more important to connect: https://cbpconnects.com/

Say goodbye to boring spreadsheets and hello to a budgeting process that actually works. In this workshop, we’ll show you how to create a practical, profit-driven brewery budget using real numbers, easy tools, and a dash of fun. You’ll leave with a clear plan, the right templates, and the confidence to take control of your finances. Without falling asleep at the keyboard.Kary Shumway is the founder of Craft Brewery Financial Training.com and the Beer Business Finance Association which offer online resources for beer industry professionals. He has worked in the beer industry for more than 20 years as a certified public accountant and a chief financial officer for a beer distributor and a brewery.Craft Brewery Financial Training publishes a free weekly beer industry finance newsletter, offers online training courses on topics such as cash flow planning, financial forecasting, and brewery metrics.For more information visit www.CraftBreweryFinancialTraining.com.Join us in person for CBP Connects New OrleansDecember 8–10, 2025It’s never been more important to connect: https://cbpconnects.com/

2024 saw more brewery closings than openings. Uncertainty is growing around rising costs and tariffs. Production is down. Consumers are looking for more diverse offerings, including non-alcoholic. Industry associations are promising bright days ahead, while member breweries are not so sure.Tired promotions and liquid social posts aren’t going to save craft. Throwing more resources and budget at the problem doesn’t make it go away. Festivals and retail demos are drying up. It’s time to start thinking more strategically about sales growth, starting with your marketing plan. Owners and industry experts alike are placing their bets on one simple blueprint:Design your website to help drive organic searchCreate content to build community on social mediaSchedule email campaigns for broad calls-to-actionDevelop a branded mobile app for activating individual drinkersLeverage AI for operational efficiencyThe data is available to help brewery owners and managers take a more thoughtful, deliberate approach to business growth. We’ll discuss how to track marketing efforts using tools like Google Looker Studio and weekly dashboard reporting, as well as best practices for success in each channel. Presentation attendees have access to 10+ Guides with techniques to keep fans engaged and proven tools to fuel excitement around your unique story.We started Market Your Craft to help small-to-mid-sized producers quickly adapt to the changing Marketing landscape with storytelling. Because we believe every craft brand has an exciting story to share. Led by Scott Kolbe, we’re a team of dreamers and doers, passionate about all things beverage with the creds to match. We’ve created a series of Workshops and Guides to help define your brand story and inform your Marketing efforts. To learn more or to schedule a session with one of our storytelling experts, visit marketyourcraft.com.Join us in person for CBP Connects New OrleansDecember 8–10, 2025It’s never been more important to connect: https://cbpconnects.com/

We know that you know beer! But what if you’re adding additional product categories? This presentation aims to give you a solid understanding of the rules and regulations around the advertising and marketing of all your brands, alcoholic beer as well as non-alc, spirits and hemp-derived beverage products.Key Objectives:Know what is considered an advertisement and the “Golden Rule” to avoid most TTB/FTC concerns.Advertising alcoholic beverage brands and what rules/regulations you are required to follow, including social media and printUnderstand how the rules/regulations may or may not change if you are advertising a spirit, non-alc or hemp derived product?Understand where some companies selling only non-alc beer and/or hemp-derived products have more flexibility than you do as a producer of alcoholic beverages.How to get the influencers that you work with to understand all of this, or at least what they need to know to keep you from getting into troubleShana Metzger, Senior Counsel at Barnes Beverage Group, provides strategic counsel on the full spectrum of commercial operations, from crafting distribution, sales, and expansion strategies to negotiating complex agreements.Shana excels in drafting and managing distribution contracts, alternating proprietorships, and other key commercial arrangements, in both traditional and emerging beverage sectors. Beyond commercial work, she advises clients on labor and employment issues as well as intellectual property matters, ensuring comprehensive support for client businesses.Join us in person for CBP Connects New OrleansDecember 8–10, 2025It’s never been more important to connect: https://cbpconnects.com/

CBP Connects New Orleans is almost here, happening December 8–10. Join us for a conversation with some of our event speakers and partners to hear what you can expect, why you should attend, and how it can help you reach your goals.14 interactive sessions, 3 nightly receptions (Urban South, Parleaux, and Abita), a trade show, and countless opportunities to connect with industry decision makers.This conversations features:Dawn Kirchner (Full Circle Brewgarden)Derek Smith (Small Batch Standard)Hailey Thrash-Nelson (Brewery Branding)Jake Keyes (Skydance Brewing)Join us in person for CBP Connects New OrleansDecember 8–10, 2025It’s never been more important to connect: https://cbpconnects.com/