Join MBAA, CCBA & White Labs for a two and a half-hour advanced class on proper yeast handling. Learn how to get the most from your culture by extending generations, all while monitoring your fermentation to ensure optimal performance. Topics covered include: ideal yeast collection and storage conditions, yeast condition and health, sample fermentation profiles, a look at common fermentation problems caused by poor yeast handling, and 30-minute hands-on cell counting and viability testing demonstration. Location: Stone Liberty Station - 2816 Historic Decatur Rd. #116, Liberty Station, San Diego, CA 92110

Join CCBA staff, conference attendees, speakers, and sponsors at the Monday Welcome Reception. Attendees must be 21 years old or older to register and participate. Shuttle buses will transport attendees from the San Diego Mission Bay Resort to the Modern Times Point Loma location beginning at 5:10pm. For fast check in please BRING YOUR CONFERENCE BADGE to the reception. Badges can be picked up at the hotel at registration from 11:30am-5:30pm on Monday.

As competition increases in the craft brewing and alcohol beverage industry, the dynamics also change at the State Capitol. Every year bills impacting the privileges to brew and sell beer are introduced and the CCBA is your advocate during the legislative process. Come learn from the CCBA Government Affairs team what bills from the 2019 legislative session became law in January, a recap of the major victories and battles from the past year, and current legislative issues in 2020 and how you can help.

Bartender Burnout and Beer Fatigue: How to keep good bartenders engaged. A good bartender is key to a successful guest experience. The very qualities that make a good bartender; friendliness, excited about beer and engagement, are a challenge to maintain daily. Ability to diagnose bartender burnout and beer fatigue is the first step. Finding creative solutions to keep good bartenders excited and engaged is next. In this workshop, we’ll examine ways to spot and prevent burnout and creative solutions to solve for it.

The most widely-used process for measuring bitterness in beer, the IBU, was conceived of more than 50 years ago, long before the advent of the modern American IPA. This presentation will explore how IBUs are measured and estimated, and how modern recipe design may be rendering the IBU obsolete.

Join CCBA's Government Affairs team for an in-depth update on current legislative & policy issues. This meeting is for brewery members only and will provide the opportunity for you to provide feedback on legislative priorities. Please join this meeting if you are interested in getting more involved with the CCBA's Government Affairs program.

Being a good "leader" for your company and your community is not always something you can easily describe. Pulling from past careers, mentors and lessons gleaned over the years, this lively panel discussion will help attendees learn how to define and refine "leadership" in the brewing industry.

Every business in the alcohol beverage industry needs to comply with the regulations in the ABC act. Come to this seminar to learn directly from the ABC what common compliance issues they see in the marketplace and how to avoid them.

Learn from a long-time industry veteran how his focus on brewhouse efficiencies contributes to the bottom line of the business.

With more than 1,000 breweries operating across the Golden State, how do you stand out? When selecting what styles to brew next, do you chase the trends or hunker down? Do you anticipate how the industry is changing next year and evolve your business to meet consumer demands? Join this panel for a thoughtful discussion on how to differentiate when change is top of mind for everyone.

How to manage multiple strains of yeast in your brewery to create diverse and authentic beer styles. Everyone knows how important yeast character is when you are producing beers of classic and innovative new styles, but how do you keep your yeast in top condition when you have not one, but four “house” strains? At Crooked Lane, we often have up to five yeast strains at a given time, and we will share some tips and tricks about making award winning beer by keeping yeast happy and ready to make great beer for you.

Join this discussion group to brainstorm the best ways to train, grow, support and encourage future generations of leaders in the beer industry. This roundtable will pose hypothetical scenarios and seek the best ways to encourage inclusion, build communication skills and cultivate stronger leaders.

This roundtable discussion will facilitate an interactive conversation on common HR and compliance concerns, conflict and resolution practices, staff training and management and more. This group is open to anyone providing HR at their brewery.

The cost of business in CA is getting increasingly difficult, especially when you pile on the labor and food costs associated with a restaurant component. How flexible is your business model? Are you ready to ask yourself some hard questions that will help your business stay viable? Join this panel discussion for a reflection on right choices, wrong choices and what to be thinking about if you operate a brewpub in California.

Join this roundtable if your brewery has been operating between 1-5 years to connect with your industry peers and share challenges, insights, resources and build your network. This facilitated mentoring group will provide valuable discussions topics to consider into the next five years of your business.

Join this roundtable if your brewery is more than 5 years old to connect with your industry peers, find mentors, share challenges and build your network. This facilitated mentoring group will provide valuable discussions topics to consider into the next era of this industry and your business.

New to the CCBA Members Conference, Brew Talks are an educational tasting opportunity on the tradeshow floor. In this talk, learn from White Labs Head Brewer, Joe Kurowski, about their experience brewing with Kviek yeast and the benefits in doing so.

New to the CCBA Members Conference, Brew Talks are an educational tasting opportunity on the tradeshow floor. In this talk, take a deep dive into the world of craft brewed hard seltzers. Discuss challenges, opportunities and what distribution looks like in the segment. As the first craft brewed hard sparkling water available on the West Coast, we have had the opportunity to learn things the hard way and want to share our journey.

Separately Ticketed event. Free shuttles will transport attendees to and from the hotel and Coronado Brewing Co.'s San Diego Tasting Room

New to the CCBA Members Conference, Brew Talks are an educational tasting opportunity on the tradeshow floor. In this talk, discuss the data around the rise of low and non-alcoholic adult beverages, the pivot from “regular” beer to non-alcoholic beer, and the process behind the product.

New to the CCBA Members Conference, Brew Talks are an educational tasting opportunity on the tradeshow floor. We are all familiar with brewing collaborations, but what is the true impact of these partnerships? In this talk we will discuss the potential magnitude of collaborations in both brewery production and marketing, and how these beers aided in Burgeon Beer Company’s early success.

Come ready to take some notes! ABC consultant Roger Hanney will cover dos, don'ts and best practices to help your team stay in line with ABC regulations and avoid fines. Topics will include everything from event partnerships to marketing 101.

Rebranding your brewery is no small thing and should not be entered into lightly. Join us for a discussion of industry standards and best practices for keeping your brewery brand from getting stale. Understand the reasons behind brewery rebranding projects by looking back at the history of brewery rebrands and the events that triggered them. Learn about how far you can safely push a rebranding project by looking at case studies of successful and unsuccessful brewery rebrands. And prepare to shift your packaging design mindset to take advantage of powerful new innovations in packaging technology.

Opening or expanding your taproom? Trying to attract and retain guest? What trends in food and alcohol service, consumer behavior, and employee training have made other breweries, bars and restaurants successful? How can you create those experiences at your facility? As a designer, developer and operator of two of Northern California’s most successful bars and taprooms, Marvin Maldonado will dig into the principles of storytelling, architectural design, service style and guest interaction that will increase the hospitality experience for your guests.

Regardless of whether your team is large or small, all managers working in the beer industry face a myriad of obstacles. From being taken seriously in a notoriously laid-back community to recognizing potential problems surrounding alcohol consumption, this panel will discuss real-world scenarios and offer first-hand techniques on how to efficiently manage both consumers and employees at bars and breweries.

Boochcraft Lead Scientist and R&D Innovation Brewer Kyle Oliver breaks down the ins and outs of brewing hard kombucha. From botanical infusions to SCOBY handling, the craft of kombucha isn't as far of a departure from craft beer as one might think.

The Craft Gold Rush is over. Today we find ourselves in an unforgiving, competitive craft market. The demands on owners and operators have escalated. The barriers to success continue to stack up. The business model has evolved. The game has changed. The good news? Craft is still an underdog, and there is a clear path forward to profitable growth for those who are willing to walk it. More than a few breweries have decided to act and Turn Pro. Will you?

New to the CCBA Members Conference, Brew Talks are an educational tasting opportunity on the tradeshow floor. In this talk, learn how to produce good beer with no concerns about your brand ending up on the Gluten Free Shelf at your local retailer.

Craft brewers go through great lengths to make the best product, but in the end, success comes down to only one thing: does the consumer like your beer? In this seminar, various consumer testing methods will be presented, and real data will be used to display how consumer testing can inform product development decisions. Participants will walk away knowing how to use their taprooms to engage consumers in a meaningful way while capturing useful consumer feedback.

Governor Newsom recently signed numerous significant pieces of legislation that impact employers across California. The new legislation ranges from a ban on mandatory arbitration agreements to a complete rewrite of the rules for the use of independent contractors, to a general prohibition on “no-rehire” clauses in settlement agreements, to expanding lactation accommodation requirements, and more. We will cover these and other relevant topics as well as the impact of recent significant court decisions impacting California workplaces that you need to know about to protect your brewery.

Come join us for a lively discussion of the current state of experiential marketing across beer, kombucha, and cider! During this engaging, educational, and entertaining panel discussion moderated by Dr. Hoby Wedler of Senspoint, we will explore the current state of marketing by experience in the above three industries. We will discuss how the power of creating excellent, engaging, and inclusive experiences is game changing when it comes to selling product.

The presentation will focus on the legal issues/devices that can help a business survive a downturn and limit liability. Brewers will 1) learn how their corporate structure informs/limits how they can act in the future and 2) identify their contractual liability (from both supply and production contracts) and methods/best practices for negotiating future contracts in an uncertain beer market.