CBP Connects Chicago
June 15-17, 2026
Workshop at Revolution Brewing
Monday, June 15, 2026
Welcome Reception at Dovetail Brewery
Tuesday, June 16, 2026
Gather + Coffee + Trade Show
Welcome/Get to Know Your Fellow Craft Beer Professionals
Andrew Coplon (Founder, Craft Beer Professionals/Secret Hopper)
Panelists: Cody Lannom (Cedar City Brewing Company), Kevin ‘Swirv’ Irvin (Atlantucky), Sarah Purvis (Nurvis Purvis Brewing Company)
Moderator: Ross Stensrud (TapWyse)
What if you never had another new customer? How would you make your current audience even more valuable?
In this session, we’ll focus on actionable strategies to help you increase guest spending, build loyalty, and keep people coming back more often. From creative promotions to enhancing the guest experience, you’ll walk away with tools to drive higher revenue per visitor. Discover the power of focusing on your current audience and turning them into passionate super fans. It’s about making every guest count.
Learning Objectives:
Learn practical ways to increase guest check averages and drive repeat visits through loyalty programs, memorable events, front of house training, and continuous improvement in the guest experience
Explore creative strategies from brewery owners on how to strengthen loyalty and turn casual visitors into passionate super fans
Understand how to identify meaningful guest experience signals and use them to improve consistency, recognize strong performance, and make smarter decisions across the business
Walk away with a clear playbook of customer experience strategies you can put into action right away to boost spending and repeat visits from your current audience
Cody Lannom is one of three Operating Partners at Cedar City Brewing, a fast-casual hospitality and beverage production brand based in Lebanon, Tennessee, serving more than 65,000 guests annually and generating over $2.5M in gross revenue. He leads guest acquisition, brand development, and community-focused programming, with responsibilities spanning brand management, digital marketing, loyalty initiatives, live events, merchandising, packaging, and wholesale distribution.
He has built and operated a self-distributed wholesale program for packaged kegs and cans, produced ticketed events and large-scale festivals in partnership with the local municipality, and remains closely involved in brewing operations, compliance, and regulatory oversight. He also serves on the board of the Tennessee Brewers Guild.
Kevin “Swirv” Irvin is a nationally recognized advocate for equity in craft beer. A Pittsburgh native rooted in Atlanta by way of West Palm Beach, Florida, he serves as President of the Georgia Craft Brewers Guild—the first Black president of any state brewers guild in U.S. history. He is Co-Owner of Draught Season, a craft beer lifestyle brand, Operations Manager at Atlantucky Brewing, and Director of Strategy for the Crafted For Action Craft Beverage Conference. Kevin builds culture-driven campaigns that fuse beer with community, fashion, and music—expanding opportunity, visibility, and ownership across the industry nationwide.
Ross Stensrud accidentally graduated from UCSD while studying lacrosse and spending plenty of time at O’Brien’s. After a brief stint designing pool cleaners (yes, really) in an effort to justify the cost of his degree, he pivoted and began recruiting smart friends to help build app marketing tech for local businesses—starting with music, then golf, and now craft beer with TapWyse. He lives in Carlsbad with his wife Laurel and their two boys, Roscoe (11) and Mason (9). When he’s not working, you’ll likely find him biking down PCH or shuttling his kids to basketball, golf, music, and skateboarding.
Jessica Hart (Jessica Hart Consulting)
Managing people is hard. Managing people in a brewery — where alcohol is part of the product, teams interact directly with the public, and roles change throughout the day — adds another layer of complexity. In this environment, informal practices and “we’ve always done it this way” decisions can quietly create risk.
This 60-minute interactive session uses real, anonymized brewery stories to show how everyday people decisions can resurface later as audits, investigations, or costly mistakes. Attendees will hear how a misunderstanding — not misconduct — triggered a Department of Labor audit, and why a single undocumented workaround from years earlier resulted in a significant fine. They’ll also explore a story where untracked shift beers and after-hours cleanup led to an investigation, and how unclear boundaries and dishonesty — not alcohol itself — became the real issue.
The session then shifts from stories to action. Leaders will walk through a practical self-check of common people and pay risk areas, including tip credit use, tip and service charge documentation, salaried classification thresholds, and pay stub clarity. Participants will work in table groups to assess a realistic brewery scenario, identify red flags, and discuss how they would respond.
This session is designed to be practical, engaging, and immediately useful — helping brewery leaders leave with clearer instincts, better questions, and simple steps they can take back to their operation.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand how everyday shortcuts and missing documentation can create serious risk, and learn what to document, when, and why to protect your business and team.
- Learn why informal practices and inconsistent rules create the biggest risk during investigations, and how clearly defining, tracking, and setting boundaries protects both leaders and staff.
- Gain a practical checklist to identify common wage, tip, and classification risks and know which questions to ask to reduce exposure and stay compliant.
Jessica Hart, MBA is the founder of Jessica Hart Consulting, where she helps craft beverage and hospitality businesses build people systems that actually work in the real world. Her experience spans large, well-known brands like Heineken and Lagunitas, growing regional producers like CaliCraft, and small, single-brewer operations navigating growth for the first time.
Jessica specializes in the in-between space where good intentions, fast growth, and limited process often collide. She supports leaders with HR audits, role clarity, compensation strategy, and practical compliance — always with an eye toward protecting both the business and the people behind it.
Known for her relatable stories and straight-talk approach, Jessica brings a mix of humor, honesty, and real-world lessons to every room. She believes clear processes make it easier to lead, easier to scale, and easier to keep good people — especially in an industry built on community.
Trade Show + Lunch
Moderator: Dan Abel (Pilot Project)
Panelists: Andy Blackburn (Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field Events), Brendan Kelly (The Lawrence Arms),
“Creativity is the focused combination of unlikely things. Your mind locks onto a certain element and then searches widely for something unexpected that fits with it. What can scuba diving teach you about agriculture? What can trees teach you about public speaking? There is always some connective tissue between disciplines. If you wish to be more creative, look for the connections between two previously unconnected things.”
That quote, by James Clear from ‘Atomic Habits,’ nails it. If we continuously look to each other as our only source of inspiration, we risk becoming an echo chamber of sameness.
In this conversation, we will hear from guests who do not work in the beer industry. We will learn their stories, hear their challenges, discover similarities, gain outside-the-box ideas, and ask unique questions to inspire you to greater success.
Learning Objectives:
- Hear real-world stories and challenges from professionals outside the beer industry, providing practical examples of how overcoming obstacles and applying fresh perspectives can lead to success
- Recognize and apply innovative concepts from unrelated fields to the beverage industry.
- Break free from conventional thinking patterns by examining how unconventional practices and ideas from other sectors can inspire novel approaches in their work.
Brendan Kelly has been a driving force in Chicago punk rock since his teens. Best known as bassist and co-vocalist of The Lawrence Arms, he built his career on DIY ethos, sharp storytelling, and a healthy dose of irreverent humor. A Northwestern graduate, Kelly also created the viral Nihilist Arby’s persona, blending absurdism with cultural commentary. Whether on stage or online, he brings wit, heart, and an unapologetically independent perspective to every room he steps into.
Dan Abel is the Co-Founder and CEO of Pilot Project Brewing, a beverage incubator based in Chicago and Milwaukee. Described as a “recording studio for the beverage industry,” he has helped launch 23 brands, scaled Pilot to eight-figure revenue, and led its recognition as the #8 fastest-growing food and beverage company by Inc. 5000. Under his leadership, Pilot has expanded to 3 locations—with 2 more on the horizon—and partnered with comedian John Mulaney to create a non-alcoholic brand. Previously, Abel spent five years at Google/YouTube before serving as CMO at Reverb.com, where he helped drive its nine-figure acquisition by Etsy. He lives in Highland Park, Illinois, with his wife, two kids, dog, and an ever-growing guitar collection.
Panelists: Doug Veliky (BeerCrunchers/Bright Bev), Matt Steinke (Go Brewing), Tracey Ireland (Rhinegeist)
The beer industry is entering uncharted territory. New constraints, emerging technologies, and changing consumer expectations mean breweries can no longer rely on the playbook of the past. This panel will dig into how to plan ahead, innovate with purpose, and recognize the next drivers of success. You’ll hear honest perspectives on doing more with less, building awareness without big budgets, and resourcing for growth. The conversation will also explore innovation beyond beer, why it can be healthy to get smaller, and how to strengthen your community while balancing business expectations in an unpredictable market.
Learning Objectives:
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Identify the key shifts reshaping the beer industry and why old growth playbooks no longer apply
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Learn how to plan, prioritize, and innovate when resources are limited and uncertainty is high
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Understand practical ways breweries can build awareness and momentum without large marketing budgets
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Explore when getting smaller, more focused, or more local can be a strategic move that strengthens both the business and the community
Doug Veliky is a CPA who led Internal Audit at Reyes Holdings from 2009-2016. His love of craft beer led him to create his social media presence under the handle @beeraficionado, as well as his industry Substack Beer Crunchers. Content helped open the opportunity to join Revolution Brewing as their CFO in 2016, then eventually evolve into their CMO in 2021. This past year, Doug joined BrightBev as a Partner, where he and his partner Jeff work with early stage start-up beverage founders on their route to market strategies and execution. Doug continues to actively create content and in late 2025, Beer Crunchers won Best Blog / Newsletter from the NA Guild of Beer Writers.
Tracey Ireland is the Vice President of Marketing at Rhinegeist Brewery, Ohio’s largest craft brewery and one of the Top 20 independent craft breweries in the U.S. She joined Rhinegeist in 2015 as the company’s first marketing leader, working directly with the founder to build and scale the brand across new categories, brands, and channels.
Today, Tracey leads brand, creative, content, digital, and eCommerce, partnering with sales, production, and executive leadership to drive portfolio strategy, new brand development, and go-to-market execution. She is known for strong judgment and collaborative leadership, with a deep belief that strong brands are built by strong teams.
Panelists: Cesar Marron (Sketchbook Brewing), Chris Farmand (Small Batch Standard), Mike Corneille (Pryes Brewing), Tim Wilson (Caboose Brewing)
Moderator: Adam Howe (GoTab)
Every dollar matters right now. From getting your team more confident selling to-go beer to tightening up production and operating costs, small decisions can have a real impact on the bottom line. In this panel conversation, financial experts from across the industry will share where breweries can grow revenue, reduce costs, and protect margins through smarter, more intentional choices. The focus is not theory. You’ll hear practical, real-world examples of how breweries are tightening operations, improving efficiency, and making clearer financial decisions across all areas of your business. Attendees will leave with ideas you can actually test, measure, and apply in your own brewery.
Learning Objectives:
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Identify practical ways to increase revenue and control costs across different areas of your brewery.
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Learn how to spot inefficiencies and make small operational changes that improve profitability.
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Understand which financial metrics matter most and how to use them to make clearer, more confident day-to-day decisions.
Adam Howe is a hospitality and brewery operations leader with more than 20 years in the service industry and over a decade dedicated to craft beer. He has held leadership roles with Pyramid Brewing and North American Breweries, Drake’s Brewing, Upland Brewing, and Taxman Brewing — overseeing multi-location operations, flagship management, and expansion into new markets.
In his current role as Director of Product Enablement at GoTab, Adam partners with craft breweries, taprooms, and hospitality venues to modernize operations, elevate guest experiences, and unlock new revenue through flexible point-of-sale and engagement technology.
Adam regularly speaks on experiential marketing, brewery-forward tech adoption, and guest-centric service models that help breweries thrive in evolving markets. His work champions the idea that great beer and great hospitality go hand in hand — creating memorable moments that keep guests coming back.
Cesar Marron co-founded Sketchbook Brewing Company in Evanston and Skokie, Illinois, with partners. With a passion for brewing ignited by a gift from his wife Amy, Marron delved into the science and process behind beer-making with an emphasis on processes and quality. Marron’s roots in entrepreneurship trace back to Brazil, where he managed his family’s butcher shop as a teenager. Committed to sustainability, Marron integrates eco-conscious practices into Sketchbook Brewing’s operations, aiming to minimize environmental impact while celebrating the global nature of beer and its culture. Marron aims to create a welcoming space for all generations to enjoy at Sketchbook Brewing, where sustainability and craftsmanship intersect.
Reception at Pilot Project - Logan Square
Wednesday, June 17, 2026
Trade Show + Coffee
Brewery owners are constantly surrounded by reports, opinions, benchmarks, and instincts, all competing for attention. This session explores how leaders separate signal from noise when making real business decisions. Grounded in real world experience, the conversation will highlight practical strategies owners can use to prioritize initiatives, pressure test ideas, and decide where to focus limited time and resources. Rather than tracking more metrics, attendees will leave with clearer ways to interpret information, ask better questions, and make more confident decisions in a resource constrained environment.
Learning Objectives:
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Better separate useful signal from the noise that comes from reports, benchmarks, opinions, and instincts
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Pressure test ideas and initiatives to decide what’s actually worth their limited time and resources
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Ask better questions and feel more confident about where to focus, even when the data is messy or incomplete
Jake Keyes graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a degree in journalism and spent ten years working in tribal gaming before founding Skydance Brewing in 2018. The brewery began in a co-op space and opened its own location in October 2021. In 2023, Keyes was elected Chairman of the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma for a three-year term. His recent honors include being named one of Native Business Magazine’s Top 50 Native Entrepreneurs, recognized among the OKC Metro’s Most Influential by 405 Business Magazine, and Skydance being selected as one of Hop Culture Magazine’s Top 12 New Breweries in America in 2021.
Growth does not come from doing more of the same. It comes from reaching people who are not already walking through your doors.
In this panel, we’ll hear from leaders bringing different perspectives to the table, including a Gen Z voice, a Black-owned brewery owner, and an operator running multiple taprooms across diverse markets. Together, they’ll share how they are building relevance, earning trust, and creating experiences that resonate beyond the traditional craft beer audience.
This conversation will focus on what it actually takes to expand your audience today. From programming and product decisions to representation, partnerships, and community engagement, you’ll hear real examples of what is working, what is not, and how breweries are intentionally broadening who feels welcome in their spaces.
Learning Objectives
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Identify practical ways to make your brewery more welcoming and relevant to audiences who may not currently see themselves in your space
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Learn how to align product mix, programming, and messaging with the values and expectations of emerging consumers without alienating your core audience
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Understand how operators in different markets approach growth across multiple locations and diverse communities
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Walk away with specific strategies you can test to expand reach, increase visit frequency, and build long term loyalty with new audiences
Evan Blum is a Gen Z entrepreneur and the Founder of BrewedAt, a media & marketing agency redefining how craft brands connect with younger consumers. With over six years of experience in the beverage industry, Evan began his career in Supply Chain at Nestlé in 2020, gaining firsthand insight into how large-scale operations drive consumer products to market. Fueled by a passion for local business, marketing, and craft beer, he founded BrewedAt in 2023 to help brands authentically engage Gen Z audiences through strategic digital media. Evan brings a uniquely generational perspective to every campaign, meeting today’s consumers where they are.
Rich Bloomfield is the co-founder and CEO of Funkytown Brewery, a leading Black-owned craft beer brand based in Chicago. Since its 2021 launch, Funkytown has earned national recognition, including the Sam Adams Brewing the American Dream Award, VinePair Brewery of the Year, and a spot on Crain’s Chicago Business 40 Under 40. Under Rich’s leadership, the brewery has expanded across Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin, ranking among the top 25% of Illinois breweries by volume and the 5th largest Black-owned brewery in the U.S. He also serves on the boards of the National Black Brewer’s Association (NB2A), the FAME Center, and the Beer Culture Center, where he continues to champion the intersection of craft beer, culture, and community.
Rob Day is a marketing leader with two decades of experience, currently serving as the VP of Marketing for Barrel One Collective, the 13th largest craft brewing group in the U.S. In addition to his work outside of beer, Rob has held marketing leadership roles at Lord Hobo, Jack’s Abby, and now at Barrel One. Beyond his role at Barrel One, Rob is an active member of the BA PRM Committee and contributed to mentorships with the BA and Kraft Kulture. Rob is a proud dad to a cool, brewery-going toddler and always down to talk food, drink and business.
Victoria Howell is a brewery owner and Director of Operations with extensive experience in the craft beverage and hospitality industry. She is known for building high-performing teams, fostering inclusive workplace cultures, and driving community-focused business growth. Wearing many hats daily, Victoria oversees operations, mentors staff, and tackles challenges with a practical, people-first leadership style. Outside of work, she’s passionate about supporting her local community and believes the best conversations—and ideas—often happen around a shared table and a good beer.
Tremaine Atkinson, Anna Sokratov, Zach Jarosz (CH Distillery, home of Jeppson’s Malört)
Malört is a cultural phenomenon built on wormwood, Chicago grit, and the kind of brutal honesty you can taste. In this session, Malört’s marketing and leadership team will unpack how a once-niche shot grew into a nationally recognized brand without changing the recipe or compromising its identity. We’ll share the origin story behind one of America’s most infamously polarizing beverages and dig into why embracing the hate can be a powerful tool rather than a liability.
Attendees will learn how Malört continues to find growth in a market where consumers are drinking less overall – yet not drinking less Malört – by leaning into curiosity, self-deprecating humor, and genuine storytelling. We’ll discuss how packaging innovations, unique collaborations, national distribution expansion, and a cult-like social following have led to success.
Most of all, this session is about empowering brands to be authentically themselves. When you start owning your voice, you cut through the noise. Attendees will walk away entertained, educated and armed with tangible examples for building brand loyalty, one shot at a time.
Learning Objectives:
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Attendees will learn how brand authenticity, even when it’s polarizing, can be a strategic advantage that drives cultural relevance, loyalty, and growth.
CH Distillery is the home of Jeppson’s Malört, the famously bitter Chicago spirit turned national phenomenon. Leading the charge is CEO and Founder Tremaine Atkinson, whose passion for craft beverages and Chicago’s hospitality culture helped revive Malört and expand CH into a multifaceted, innovation-driven distillery. Head of Marketing Anna Sokratov has been instrumental in transforming Malört’s polarizing reputation into a strategic advantage, using sharp, irreverent storytelling to turn skeptics into loyalists. Director of Operations Zach Jarosz, a lifelong Chicagoan and Malört superfan-turned-maker, brings deep experience in food manufacturing and supply chain, plus an unshakable love for the Bears, to the operation. Together, the team champions authenticity and the belief that great brands stand boldly, unapologetically apart from the pack.
Trade Show + Lunch
Tap Talks
Three 18-minute sessions on critical topics
Panelists: Andrew Burman (Other Half Brewing), Katie McNulty (Revolution Brewing), Nic Bortolin (Amoretti)
Moderator: Jason Pratt (Cicerone)
Consumer expectations are shifting faster than ever. Preferences around flavor, style, experience, and even the role a brewery plays in a community evolve with every new trend on tap. In this conversation, a mix of sensory experts, market analysts, and brewery leaders will break down the flavors and drinking occasions winning today, what is starting to fade, and what signals point to the next wave of demand. From nostalgia to premiumization, from beyond-beer beverages to zero proof options, we will explore the choices guests are making and why. Attendees will leave with a clearer view of where the market is heading and practical ideas to keep their taplist and taproom aligned with consumer behavior.
Learning Objectives:
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Identify the flavor profiles and drinking occasions gaining momentum in 2026 and understand the consumer motivations driving those choices.
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Recognize early signals of shifting demand, including what styles, ingredients, and experiences may be plateauing or declining.
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Evaluate how trends like nostalgia, premiumization, beyond beer beverages, and zero proof options are influencing purchasing behavior across different guest segments.
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Develop actionable strategies to align taplists, product development, and taproom programming with evolving flavor expectations to increase relevance, repeat visits, and spend.
Andrew Burman, co-founded Other Half Brewing Company in Brooklyn, New York, in 2014. Serving as the Chief Operating Officer, Burman oversees the brewery’s daily operations. His journey into the culinary and brewing world began after earning a degree in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland, where he also played lacrosse. Pursuing his passion for food, he went to L’Academie de Cuisine in Gaithersburg, MD. To deepen his understanding of food systems, Burman obtained a Master’s degree in Food Culture and Food Systems from New York University. Since Other Half’s establishment, the brewery has expanded beyond Brooklyn, opening locations in New York City, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, the Finger Lakes, and Buffalo. Burman’s commitment to quality and innovation has been instrumental in Other Half’s growth and its reputation for pushing the boundaries of beer and brewing culture.
Jason Pratt is a Master Cicerone®, and the President/Owner of the Cicerone® Certification Program. He is a recognized business leader and innovator whose career in beer spans more than 17 years, with roles in both the technical and commercial sides of the industry. After passing the Master Cicerone® exam in 2015, he transitioned from leading beer education efforts for Molson Coors to the marketing team, where he was Director of Beverage Innovation for North America. In that role, he developed several successful brands that launched both domestically and internationally.
Katie McNulty is the Director of Marketing at Revolution Brewing, where she leads marketing strategy across the brewery’s craft beer and THC-infused beverage portfolios. Katie began her career in advertising, spending eight years at global agencies developing campaigns for leading brands such as Anheuser-Busch, High Noon, UnitedHealthcare and Kellogg’s. The majority of her career was spent working across the Anheuser-Busch craft and import portfolio, as well as iconic lager brand families — Michelob Ultra, Bud Light, Budweiser, and Stella Artois. Her passion for craft beer and deep love for the city of Chicago brought her to Revolution Brewing in April 2023.
Nic Bortolin has enjoyed a 15-year career as a Head Brewer throughout Southern California, two decades of homebrewing experience, and is a graduate of the American Brewers Guild Brewing Science and Engineering program. His dedication to quality and innovation has earned him a total of 8 GABF and World Beer Cup awards, recognition as California Craft Brewery of the Year, and numerous local and international awards. Nic’s decade-long history as an Amoretti customer highlights his strong trust in the brand. He now guides brewers on how to optimize the use of Amoretti’s extensive industry-leading catalogue of premium brewing ingredients. He plays a crucial role in the research and development of new products and is a free resource for brewers looking to develop new award-winning recipes.
CBP Connects attendees continually list the ability to connect and learn from others as a highlight from our workshops. We are excited to host a session dedicated to learning from your peers. In this session, we will field questions from you and then develop the best solutions together. Plan to walk away with strategies to problems many of us are facing and best practices to improve brewery operations. Together, we can grow stronger.
Learning Objectives:
- Collaborate with your peers to solve problems faced by other Craft Beer Professionals
- Discover new strategies and solutions to help you see greater success at your brewery
- Build new relationships that you can reach out to with future questions
Closing Reception at Hop Butcher for the World
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