The years 2015-2016 ushered in a sea change in U.S. craft beer, and marked the beginning of many of the contemporary tensions that shape the industry.

They were the first years in the recent era that craft brewery volume growth began to slow. They were the years that saw hazy IPAs graduate from regional niche to mainstream juggernaut. They were the years that gave us White Claw and Truly, and saw Not Your Father’s Root Beer skyrocket in national sales. They also saw a changing of the guard among craft’s titans: Ballast Point sold to Constellation for that still-eye-popping $1 billion sum in 2015. Greg Koch stepped down as Stone’s CEO the same year. Dogfish Head sold a minority stake to private equity partners, and Sam Calagione handed over the reins as CEO.

These two years—though few could see it at the time—marked craft beer’s turning point from unstoppable underdog to mainstream product, ushering in all the hand-wringing and soul searching that entails.

In this panel discussion, brewers, journalists, and industry observers will analyze the pivotal moments from 2015 and 2016, with an eye toward what they mean for beer drinkers today. Finally, we’ll grapple with the narratives craft beer has long told itself, and what happened when reality began to butt up against them.

Kate Bernot is a journalist covering the beverage alcohol industry for both consumer and trade publications. She reports news and analysis for Good Beer Hunting and is a contributing editor at Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine and the Brewing Industry Guide; she was previously the beer editor at DRAFT Magazine. She is on the leadership team of the North American Guild of Beer Writers and is a BJCP-certified beer judge. Kate lives in Missoula, Montana.

Zach Fowle is the head of marketing at Arizona Wilderness Brewing Co. During his 15 years in the beer industry, he's logged time as a bartender, an editor at Draft Magazine, and a communications manager at Anheuser-Busch-owned Four Peaks Brewing Co. He's also an Advanced Cicerone and is 6'6", thanks for asking.

Emily Hutto is a Colorado-based beer journalist-turned-craft beverage publicist. After years of freelance writing and authoring the book Colorado’s Top Brewers, she founded RadCraft in 2012 to serve the communications needs of maltsters, brewers, and distillers.

Garrett Oliver is the brewmaster of The Brooklyn Brewery, the author of The Brewmaster's Table, and the editor-in-chief of The Oxford Companion to Beer. A professional brewer since 1989, he has pioneered a number of cultural waves in brewing, including the "invention" of collaborations. In 2020, he founded the Michael James Jackson Foundation for Brewing and Distilling, which funds scholarships for technical education in the brewing and distilling fields for American people of color.

THIS SESSION IS SUPPORTED BY:

ERIC JOHNSON + ANISSA LISTAK