Episode 60: The 2024 Nano Brewery Year in Review

This is always a good time to reflect and get excited about a new calendar year. To help put the industry into perspective and to think about how to strengthen beer in the year to come, I’ve asked three smart and plugged in folks to share their insights, knowledge, and even offer some homework. If you’re a small brewer navigating these tough craft beer waters, there’s a lot you can learn and hopefully take to heart. 

Guests:

Steve Parkes. He is the owner and lead instructor at the American Brewers Guild Brewing school in Vermont. He graduated from Heriot-Watt University, with a degree in Brewing Science in 1982 and has spent the last 42 years working in small and medium sized breweries on both sides of the Atlantic. He has built breweries from scratch using both used and new equipment, and has years of experience in practical problem solving. He has been a regular speaker at the annual Craft Brewers Conference, is a veteran GABF and World Beer Cup judge, held office at the regional level with MBAA, and at a national level with the AOB board of advisors. In 2009 he was the recipient of the Association of Brewers Russell Scherer award. He is also the owner of Drop In Brewing in Middlebury Vermont.

Laura Lodge began her craft beer journey in the distribution tier in the late 1990s working with a small, independent distribution company in the mountains of Colorado. As anyone in small business knows, “everything” is your job description. She shares her experience to benefit the artisanal/craft business owner in Distribution Insight for the Craft Brewer. Today, Laura is the owner of Customized Craft Beer Programs, a consulting business offering insight and assistance with all things craft beer. With experience over all 3 tiers, she has consulted for breweries and distributors, created retail programs for destination resorts, is the Executive Director for the well-known Big Beers, Belgians & Barleywines Festival held in the Colorado Rocky Mountains each year (pre-pandemic), and has participated with the creation and production of educational & experiential craft beer events throughout the country. During the pandemic, Laura became the Co-Founder of Start A Brewery, LLC, a business created to help dreamers, breweries in planning, and growing breweries by pulling together a community of savvy industry professionals and resources across the brewing industry. Free to the public, StartABrewery.com divides the daunting process into phases and breaks it down by category, further augmented by a library of information. Start A Brewery has turned out to also be a resource and connection hub for her participation the Brewers Association Mentorship Program. Laura grew up in the Cleveland, Ohio area, and now splits her time there with home in Vail, Colorado, where she lives and enjoys the outdoor lifestyle.

For the last 29 years Ashton Lewis has worked for Brew Your Own Magazine as technical editor and “Help Me, Mr. Wizard” columnist. His day job since December 2016 has been with RahrBSG where he is currently Manager of Training and Technical Support. Prior to working in the world of ingredients, Ashton was the Staff Master Brewer and Brewing Group Sales Manager for the Paul Mueller Company

living in the world of custom stainless steel. He was also a partner in the Springfield Brewing Company (SBC) in Springfield, Missouri, and SBC’s master brewer from 1997 to 2019. Ashton holds a B.S. in Food Science from Virginia Tech (1991) and a M.S. in Food/Brewing Science from UC Davis (1994), and is currently the MBAA District Great Plains Technical Chair. In his spare time, he enjoys music, cooking,

homebrewing, talking about beer, and playing with Excel.

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