[00:00:00] Speaker 1: All right, let's talk about the California Craft Brewers Association's annual summit coming to Irvine in a few weeks, and it's gonna kick off with a beer festival on Saturday, November 7th at the Torrance Municipal Airport. Tastings from 80 California craft brewers. And here to talk all about it is Kelsey McQuaid Craig, the executive director of the CCBA. Good to chat with you again.
[00:00:27] Speaker 2: Yeah, great to be here. Thanks for having me again.
[00:00:30] Speaker 1: So let's dig into the summit and the festival, because the festival came back, what, a couple years ago, and now it's a major staple of the summit.
[00:00:40] Speaker 2: Yeah, so this actually is the first time we're having it since COVID lockdown. So it had been an annual tradition. It was held near the state capitol for years, and then in 2019 it was held in Long Beach, when our conference had to shift locations, and then, as we all know, everything changed in 2020. And the board of the California Craft Brewers Association decided that this year was the year to try and bring it back, and we've seen the success of some of the local guild beer festivals, and the person who runs the LA Independent Beer Festival has come on to help us with this festival. And so I'm really optimistic about it. It's a really cool venue. It's Zamperini Field, Torrance Municipal Airport. They're shutting down part of the tarmac for us. The Western Museum of Flight is putting historic planes out in the tasting area. You can also go check out the museum. Uh, you can't drink beer in the museum because they have exhibits and stuff, but, you know, you can still check out some really cool aircraft history. And drink beer from places like Monkish and Russian River, and Ism and Radiance, and even like Mountain Rambler, which a lot of people don't get out to Bishop, California. It's a really cool opportunity to try beer from across the state, and we have a ton of World Beer Cup and Great American Beer Fest winners pouring, so it should be really cool and really unique. I haven't had a chance to Drink beer on an airport tarmac, and the runway will be open, so you'll be able to watch like historic planes and Cessnas take off on the runway on the other side of the airport. So, oh, that's wild. Yeah, it should be a very unique beer festival for sure.
[00:02:45] Speaker 1: I can't think of another beer festival like this recently, and especially with the quality of beer brands that you have there.
[00:02:52] Speaker 2: We're excited.
[00:02:54] Speaker 1: This is pretty unique because I mean, it's a little mix of consumer facing as well as, you know, you get into the trade and the educational sessions and everything. And that's all gonna start on November 9th through the 11th in Irvine. You have the opening night party and then everything gets rolling on Tuesday, the 10th. So, I guess, you know, for those coming to this year's summit, what are you looking forward to, you know, what should they be looking forward to?
[00:03:21] Speaker 2: Yeah, so we have a lot of great talks picked out for this year, and a really great exhibit hall too, if you're looking to source new vendors. But really, the whole point of this conference, it goes to the theme, which is refining the craft. We all know that. The success of craft beer right now really lays in the details and how you work on perfecting and refining your hospitality skills, your beer quality. Beer's never been better. The quality of beer is so amazing right now. And it's all because we've worked so hard on refining those little details that go into the business of craft beer. And so that's really what we're looking at this year. is how do you refine your business model? How do you refine your beer? How do you make it so that you stand out amongst the crowd? And the talks that I'm really looking forward to, one of them is a technical talk, and I can't do it justice completely, but what they're calling it is an on flavor sensory. So typically we do off flavor sensory analysis of, you know, what kind of taste and smell. would show that a beer isn't gonna come out the way you want it to. So this would be an on-flavor sensory course. And looking at what flavors and profiles do you want to see present in order to elevate other flavors in the beer. So this is only the 2nd time Li Lehman's giving this talk. So it will be fresh. It will not be something that you have heard before. So for the brewers out there and the highly technical folks, this will be a really great course to sit in on. We'll also, if you're, you know, on the marketing side, we'll have talks about how to bring people into the tap room and keep them coming back. We'll also have talks on everyone's favorite topic, compliance, and how to not run afoul of ABC. We'll actually have Lee, who works on the compliance side at California ABC. There with a panel talking about ways to make sure you don't violate pay to play laws and the things that no one likes talking about, but can really devastate your business. We'll also have some discussion on if you are distributing or want to get into distribution, what are the pros and cons, what do you need to look for. And we'll also have some talks about, you know, building culture and building. Your brand and your organizational culture to really line up with who you are as a business and making sure that it's not just your team that feels it, but it's the customers and that everyone understands that. That's the culture of that brewery. That's what they're about. That's where I want to keep spending my money. So that'll actually be the keynote address that's going to be focused on that, on how do we build a culture within an organization, within a business that reflects the mission and the vision of that company and spread that beyond just our internal team culture, but into the entire tap room and the customer base and really becoming That community and building that family that keeps coming back to the brewery. So those are some of the big ones that I'm excited to hear. You know, we're bringing back the consultation corner this year. So, if people wanna get direct one on one advice on retirement plans for their employees or health benefits, I know healthcare costs keep going up. I know as an employer, And the CCBA sponsored health plan will be there to talk to people about what rates are out there, what they can maybe get and stuff. And then we'll also have the craft beer attorney there. To do some consultations on ABC compliance. We'll also have the former chief counsel of ABC Matt Bodding there to give a talk in Q&A. It should be a very good program, and I think basically anyone on a brewery's payroll can find something they will take away and be able to implement the next day when they go back. I have to give a shout out to my event manager, Daniella, and our fundraising and events committee, which Laurie Porteritz Mog City chairs and has deemed the fun committee because they really do have a lot of fun putting this conference together and the beer festival. So, shout out to the volunteers who have reviewed all the proposals and put together a, a really good program.
[00:08:19] Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a great program, and it's something that I, I've got a few things that I've like, checked, like, oh, I'd like to check that out, you know, like the distribution management talk with Smog City and El Segundo and Sierra Nevada. You mentioned the keynote speech, which is definitely of interest, and you pack so much into really a day and a half of educational sessions. I mean, it's gonna go by real fast.
[00:08:47] Speaker 2: Yes, and that's again, shout out to Daniella, she is the mastermind behind this conference, and she makes it so that everyone gets a really good bang for their buck.
[00:08:58] Speaker 1: I want to talk to you a little bit about the state of the industry right now. So, if we were to pulse check it, how would you describe the state of the industry in California at this moment?
[00:09:08] Speaker 2: I would say from a beer perspective, just the quality of beer is fantastic. We're seeing amazing beer pop up all over. I think in California, we faced the downturn a little earlier than other states did. And so we're also leveling before other states, and you're still going to hear about closures. Everyone likes to talk about that. No one talks about all the openings. We've seen a lot of openings as well. In the last couple of quarters, we've seen about equal openings and closures of licenses, and we've even seen some places open in locations that had previously closed.
[00:09:50] Speaker 1: Our favorite thing, the hermit crab.
[00:09:53] Speaker 2: Yes, there's at least, you know, 1 or 2 in Sacramento that have done that, and it's nice to see those places get revitalized. Right now in California, the issue is not the beer, it's not the beer consumption. It is the death by 1000 cuts for small businesses. I love California. I lived in California most of my life. I don't plan on moving from California, but We really like to over-regulate things. And so right now, one of the biggest problems I'm hearing from members is I got hit with a payroll lawsuit or an ADA disability lawsuit. And there's no right to remedy. There's no way to show that I was trying to act in good faith, and I have to pay lawyers to try and clear my name or to have to settle and act like I was doing something wrong when really I just want to do the right thing, but the cheaper option is to settle. And so a lot of what we have been doing at CCVA. is engaging in the legislative and regulatory arena on what would be called like traditional business type legislation. It's not even beer as much or alcohol as much, which we still do plenty of that. Don't get me wrong, but a lot of the heavy lifts have been on the business side, and how do we try and make business more affordable in California, and the one that's really drained a lot of our time. Is the extended Producer responsibility EPR Bill, SB 54, which was passed a few years ago and is finally starting to get implemented, and that has been probably since August, July or August, just consumed most of my and our lobbyists' time is trying to get a fix for craft brewers. That's really where the industry is. When I hear that someone is struggling or tightening their belt, it's because they had to pay a lawyer. For XYZ issue or the cost of rent went up or liability insurance went up. So really, The beer is good, the beer is fine, people love beer, but the business side is, is really where people are getting pinched.
[00:12:11] Speaker 1: You can sort of understand where that comes from too, because California is one of the most, I mean, it's #2, I believe, in beer consumption next to Texas, if not #1, and likely #1 in a number of craft breweries. So, it's that outsized size that sort of, you know, makes everything look larger there, but uh, Absolutely interested in hearing your talk to with Chris Walker on the legislative priorities, and that's gonna be a feature at the summit. And you mentioned the extended producer responsibility, and that's something that we've been tracking as well, and have talked about on the podcast is, you know, what does this mean for producers? And the answer that I, I believe is the fines are starting to roll out in January, right?
[00:13:00] Speaker 2: Yeah, so this is something that a lot of breweries. Do not have on their radar. Admittedly, I can't blame them. Even the administrator of the program, the California Circular Action Alliance, has admitted that they can't fully implement the program. So when the entity tasked with implementing the law says they can't fully implement the law, how are small and mid-size and even larger breweries supposed to understand what they need to do? So, EPR was put in by SB 54 a few years ago. It was passed through the legislature. It was said that it was gonna be a single-use plastic bill. We were trying to prevent plastic forks and Styrofoam takeout containers and all of that stuff. And there was an exemption for things covered by the bottle recycling program. So, admittedly, craft beer said, OK, cool, our stuff is exempted because it's regulated under the bottle bill. We're good. Well, there's this line in SB 54 that says that caliber cycle can regulate. Any other product it deems necessary. So basically, they've decided, hey, you know what, we're gonna go after all plastic, and it's actually counter to a lot of their recycling goals. Because craft beer is already a very, especially in California, a very sustainable business. We've got, you know, Sierra Nevada with the first solar panels. The solar panels have already gone through their entire life cycle and had to replace them. We do brews to barns, we donate spent grain. To farmers and ranchers, we have water sustainability efforts. Everything that craft beer does is very conscious of the resources that it uses. Without water, we don't have beer. Without grain, we don't have beer. So we need to be good stewards of the environment. But this bill, because we're already such a good stewards of the environment, our plastic use targets are already really low, and so it's very difficult to cut plastic use, unless you're looking at things like pallet wrap. And are you going to not wrap your pallets? That's a workers' comp violation waiting to happen. That's a serious injury waiting to happen. But under EPR in California, guess what? You have to report your pallet wrap. And that's not something that a lot of people have considered. They think, oh, it's Pact-Tex. Well, it's anything that has your logo on it. So if you have a cardboard box that is lined with a type of plastic, so that it doesn't disintegrate when it's in the grocery store shelves, that plastic lining has to be reported. Your keg wrap, your palette wraps, that all has to get reported. We're at the point of trying to determine if the glue onto your labels has to be reported. So, there is a level of minutia, and I have seen from some member breweries who have already signed up and registered through Circular Action Alliance and have done their initial baseline reporting. That they also distribute to other states with EPR programs, and they've shown me the spreadsheets and the Colorado spreadsheets, like, just a little bit. It's super easy, super simple, and then California is just line after line, and tab after tab of data, trying to figure out what in the heck they're supposed to report, and the entity to oversee it isn't getting back to people. It'll take a month or two for them to respond. And so how are you supposed to know that you are accurately reporting and trying to be in good standing with the law. When Circular Action Alliance doesn't even get back to you for 2 months, and fines start getting issued in January, and we have already heard from Cal Re Cycle and Circular Action Alliance that there is a baseline level of fines that they need to issue to function and to operate. So it doesn't matter. What your actual plastic reduction was between 2024 and 2025, 2025 to 2020206, which by the way, you have to back report. So I hope you remember how much plastic you used over the last few years. The fines that start coming out next year are going to be divided amongst the people that filed, essentially, and they're gonna find a way to make up that amount that they need to issue to operate.
[00:17:48] Speaker 1: That's wild.
[00:17:50] Speaker 2: It is wild. It is gonna be devastating. And if you don't pay your fines and you're not in compliance under SB 54, you technically could lose your business license in California. So this is all a lot of doomsday, and I feel like every single presentation I give on it is like a scared straight type of presentation and terrifying people, but that's the reality we have right now, and the talk Chris Walker and I give, it's gonna go into a little more detail of some of the things we're working on to try and pause the implementation or. at least pause the fees on this. There are a lot of entities that are involved and a lot of stakeholders that want to get the money from the fees that'll be levied. So it's an uphill battle, but we have a couple of different avenues we're working through, and we're hopeful that by summit, we will have something to tell the membership beyond, you know, we're working with legislators to try and get a reform. But it's definitely something that if it is not on your radar, it needs to be. And if you are distributing or doing business in other states that have EPR, California's Circular Action Alliance will require you to register and you will be impacted by this. So, start wrapping your pallets, unwrapping them, and weighing the amount of plastic, and multiplying that out by the number of pallets you do, cause at the bare minimum, you're gonna have to report that.
[00:19:26] Speaker 1: Wow, I'm interested in hearing more at the summit and seeing what solutions that you all have and, you know, what you're hearing from lawmakers because that's a lot for brewers to take in and then definitely worth going to the summit and seeing where this is going. I guess before we get out of here, tell folks how they can get tickets to the festival and also how they can get tickets to the summit and anything else they need to know before they go.
[00:19:53] Speaker 2: Yes, so, everything can be found through the CCBA website, californiaCraftbeer.com. If you go to the events tab, you can find both the Summit Festival and the Summit conference. Summit Beerfestival.com is the festival, uh, website, and tickets are sold through Eventbrite. You can also go to CA Craft beer summit and get your conference tickets through there. The online ticket sales cut off on the 31st for the conference, but there will still be tickets available at the door. So you can still buy tickets on site. We'll still let you in. We just need to print name badges. But everything can be found through the website, californiaCraftbeer.com. And you can also follow us on social media and get updates through there, but we're really looking forward to seeing you in Torrance and in Irvine, and looking toward the year ahead and what we can do for craft beer in 2027.
[00:21:03] Speaker 1: Well, I'm looking forward to being there and uh seeing it all. So thanks for doing this, Kelsey. Yeah,
[00:21:09] Speaker 2: thank you, Justin.
