N.E. Craft Brew Summit opens Friday, keynote to address diversity
Courtesy / Brewers' Association
Brewers' Association Diversity Ambassador J. Nikol Jackson-Beckham is the keynote speaker at the 2019 New England Craft Brew Summit, Friday. Her speech begins at 8:30 a.m.
More than 500 craft-brewing professionals from across New England are expected to attend Friday’s 2019 New England Craft Brew Summit in Portland.
Hosted by the Maine Brewers’ Guild, it will be the fourth such summit, and attracts brewers, brewery owners, professional services firms and companies that serve the craft beer industry, according to a guild news release.
The brewers’ guild said that it’s New England’s largest brewing conference and the region's only business-to-business event for the brewing industry, and noted that it’s a day of learning, collaboration and networking.
The all-day event, which kicks off at 7:30 a.m., will be at the Holiday Inn By the Bay in Portland.
Registration for attendees is open and individual tickets are available online.
Speakers in brewing, agriculture, hospitality, tourism, law, human resources and marketing will delve into issues that have an impact on craft brewing, and there will be interactive workshops and panel discussions. Attendees will have options for the business, technical and front-of-house tracks during each session, including a new track this year devoted to new and small breweries.
Keynote speaker will address diversity
Keynote speaker J. Nikol Jackson-Beckham, will discuss diversity in the industry, scheduled for 8:30 a.m.
A resident of Lynchburg, Va., Jackson-Beckham is a professor at Randolph College in that city. She was also named as the first “diversity ambassador” for the Brewers Association, a Boulder, Colo.-based trade association representing 4,000 brewers.
“Women and people of color are underrepresented among craft beer drinkers and producers,” she told Mainebiz. “There are a lot of opportunities to diversify.”
The Brewers Association formed its diversity committee in 2017, and Jackson-Beckham was brought on as diversity ambassador in the spring of 2018.
“My position was one of the committee’s first major initiatives,” she said. “For folks who are close to or in the industry, I think lack of diversity was pretty obvious.”
Jackson-Beckham speaks about the topic at state and national brew conferences.
“What we look to do is talk about challenges that people might run into when they’re first thinking about taking on this issue, and strategies that small or independent breweries can practice as part of their daily operations,” she said.
Jackson-Beckham spoke to the idea of diversity among “fans, hands and brands.” Breweries and their fans are embedded in local communities, and those communities are themselves diverse, she said.
One strategy for diversifying the fan base, she said, is to hold tastings at venues not traditionally associated with craft beer, such as heritage festivals.
The “hands” piece is about the industry’s workforce. Strategies for diverse recruitment might include looking at new outlets for advertising jobs and engaging in pipeline development at places like career fairs, she said.
The key to branding, she said, is whether people can see themselves in the brand.
“A lot of craft brewers have value-driven brands,” she said. “We challenge them to think about how their brand value might translates across communities.”
A green brand might translate differently depending on whether it’s in a rural community, where people might think of mountains and rivers, versus an urban community, where green might mean creating a green space, she said.
Diversity is not just about race, ethnicity and gender, she said.
“We look at different ways to think about diversity: people who might be differently abled and different age segments, for example,” she said. “We try to be open and flexible about thinking about diversity. There are no one-size-fits-all solutions.”
She added, “What we’re starting to see, not just in the brewing industry but more broadly, is that successful 21st century businesses are seeing diversity inclusion as a competitive advantage. “21st century businesses need a good mix of experiences and perspectives and ideas to be flexible and adaptable in today’s work environment.”
Craft beer is booming
A recent economic impact study showed that Maine’s craft beer industry contributed more than $260 million to the state’s economy in 2017 and the business of beer has been growing across the state and region, according to the release.
“Brewers are opening a diverse range of businesses across the state from small tap rooms to large-scale brewing facilities,” Sean Sullivan, executive director of the Maine Brewers’ Guild, said in the release. “The concerns of our brewers are as diverse as their business models, and with more than 50 presenters, this conference gives everyone a chance to come together and learn from industry leaders.”
Sullivan told Mainebiz there are now 140 breweries in Maine, up from 117 a year ago. Some of the additions over the past year include Birchwood Brewing Co. in Gray, Stars & Stripes Brewing Co. in Freeport and Black Pug Brewing in Brunswick.
The latest is Brewery Extrava, which announced this week that it will open this summer in Portland’s East Bayside neighborhood.
The summit has proven invaluable for the industry, Sullivan said.
“For the past four years, we’ve been in such an accelerated growth phase,” he said. “This is a chance for brewers to pause, think critically about their business, learn from other brewers and industry experts, and shop around for the best vendors and service providers.”
The summit attracts participants from New England and beyond. Last year’s attracted participants from 13 states, from as far as Colorado and Florida.
“Craft beer as a category is growing nationally because people are choosing to drink something made locally,” he said.
Presented by Bernstein Shur, this year’s conference will focus on how to continue the industry’s momentum and foster growth by strengthening brewery operations, exploring technical brewing topics and offer best in class customer experiences. The full-day conference will feature presentations and panel discussions from experts in the craft beer industry, with topic titles ranging from the “Do’s and Don’ts of Equipment Procurement,” to “The Tourism Economy and Your Brewery,” to “Current Trends and Opportunities in Malt.”
Here's the schedule of workshops
Here are the workshops that are scheduled for this year's summit in Portland:
Session 1: 9:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m.
- Oh, The Places You’ll Grow! – Real Estate 101½
- Food Safety Modernization Act
- “What do you have that’s light?”
- Best Practices in Social Media
Session 2: 10:45 a.m.-11:45 a.m.
- Tasting Room Management: HR and legal
- Balancing Supply and Demand
- Current Trends and Opportunities in Malt
- Beyond Beer: increasing average customer receipts, creating multi-channel revenue, diversifying business
Session 3: 1 p.m.-2 p.m.
- Partnering with Distributors
- Wood in Brewing: Unique flavor profiles and characteristics of wood species
- Do’s and Don’ts in Equipment Procurement
- Tourism Economy and Your Brewery
Session 4: 2:15 p.m.-3:15 p.m.
- International Distribution
- Hop Industry Update
- Standard Operating Procedures in the Brewhouse
- Don’t Go Viral: Social media and crisis communications
Session 5: 3:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m.
- Standing Out in a Crowded Marketplace
- Safe and Legal: responsibilities and liabilities related to serving alcohol in taprooms, brewpubs and beer festivals
- Scaling Up Small Batches
Most Recent
Most Recent
Comments