This article first appeared in Yankee Brew News
Never been to a brewing conference? Me neither.
So, when I received a press invitation to attend the 2025 Rhode Island Brewers Conference in Providence, Rhode Island, I had no idea what to expect. I’ve been to beer events and judged beer competitions – but what do people actually do all day at a beer conference? What kind of topics would be covered? Would there be a ton of tasting and hands-on demonstrations? Would the panels be so exclusive and specific they’d be impenetrable to someone who doesn’t actually work at a brewery, but loves the industry (aka me)? On Saturday, October 18th, I showed up to find out.
The day started with a heartening introduction from Nils Weldy, Executive Director of the Rhode Island Brewers Guild and conference organizer, who had a great soundbite that set the tone: “The great thing about Rhode Island is that you can go two miles down the road and find a totally different community and brewery that represents it. Our goal is to surround Rhode Island breweries like you with the most esteemed talent we can find to help you strengthen or even reimagine your business.”
He then introduced the keynote speaker, Sean Lawson of Lawson’s Finest Liquids, who talked at length about the journey of the brewery from its start in 2008, to partnering with Two Roads to scale production and expand distribution across the Northeast. He also shared his pride in community giving and being a certified B-corp business, though he was quick to add “You don’t need certification to do the right thing,” which I loved.
After the keynote, we broke into panels, located inside Providence Brewery taproom and the presentation space in Farm Fresh Rhode Island. I got a lot out of Profitable Taproom Tactics with Small Batch Standard, and documented some of the highlights:
- First impressions start at the front door and are made in under 15 seconds
- Don’t be shy about asking customers if they’d like to get a growler or 4-pack – it’s the second most profitable stream!
- Give people what they want for food (chicken fingers, pizza) even it bores you to death to sell it
- Actively advertise your space for private events and bookings
- Don’t be afraid to discount merchandise after 60-90 days to recoup expenses
- Your brewery vibe starts with your general manager, so owners: give them autonomy!
Next, I stopped into the tech panel area Lager Brewing: Theory and Practice with Justin Slotnick, Head Brewer of Schilling Beer Company, who talked about how lager is quickly becoming a crowded space, and it’s vital for brewers to determine ways to stand out. Among his many suggestions to the crowd, the ones that stood out to me were the following:
- Map out the key characteristics in your lager program: flavor profiles, drinkability, product diversity, new customer reach, and market differentiator
- Determine the must-haves, the would-like-to-have, and what’s not truly necessary when it comes to four areas: ingredient choices, mash techniques and decoction, fermentation schedule, and lagering/maturation
Interesting as all this was, it’s hard to hear extensive discussions about beer and not have one in hand. Thankfully, at lunch, boxes of 4-packs from breweries across the state were brought out, to the delight of the participants and this writer. It felt like such an incredible treat to sample so many wares from so many places in one place.
Eventually, it was time to return for the afternoon. Since I work in marketing outside of writing about beer, I was curious to check out the two marketing panel options and compare knowledge. First, The One-Person Marketing Team with Not Your Hobby Marketing Solutions, who had some good suggestions:
- Brand awareness in marketing is two things: recall, and recognition.
- When thinking about your branding, distill down to three things that make you different. But do it without using the words local, craft, and high-quality ingredients.
- Instead, highlight things ownership structure, production methods, style mastery, geographic location, etc.
- Conquer your backyard before you go outside of it. Do this by knowing your audience: Locals? Tourists? Distributors?
My final panel of the day was Building a Rhode Island Brand with Bump Williams Consulting, and my love for numbers was fully met as David Williams had all of them with regard to industry trends, concerns, and ways to pivot and move forward. I could cite a ton here, but here’s a couple of highlights from his presentation:
- New England brewers are still collectively outperforming out-of-state breweries (whoo!)
- Don’t discount the momentum for non-alcoholic options, seltzers, and spirits: evolve to align with momentum.
- Be aware of where consumers are spending their money when they aren’t on your premise.
Post-panels, I would have loved to hit the happy hour and afterparty at Buttonwoods, but I was spent, plus I had to get home to my son. But I’m so glad I went to the conference, not only for all the fascinating knowledge, but the encouragement I felt in seeing the ongoing passion for this industry, about which I’ll paraphrase what Sean Lawson said in his keynote: “It’s not all doom and gloom, folks. Craft beer is still fun, and craft beer is not going away, so don’t forget that when you’re grinding.”
