Conference Program
THE MAIN conference PROGRAM includeD A Keynote PRESENTATION, PANEL DISCUSSIONS & business and technical SEMINARS
Led by experts in the field, the ADC conference program was once again divided up into two tracks—in-depth, technical topics related to spirits production, and business-related topics such as branding, distribution, retail and marketing strategies.
OPENING keynote
Terroir Spirits: Crafting a Distinct Regional Style
Legendary distiller Matt Hofmann is founder of Seattle’s Westland Distillery and co-founder of the American Single Malt Whisky Commission. He has a passion for creating spirits with a sense of place, and has been exploring regional water, grain, malt styles and oak for his entire career. He speaks about his passion for regionality in spirits and its inspiration, how he built the Westland brand (eventually selling it to Rémy Cointreau) and what regionality in North American whisky can mean for the commercial and future prospects of the spirits industry.
Presentation
Rebranding Revisited: A Case Study in Design and Distilling
From its inception in 2014, Vancouver Island distillery Wayward Distillery has staked its reputation on distilling from local honey, creating vital community connections through local-food and pollinator networks and charities. Seven years later, it was time for a brand refresh—which coincided with a choice to begin distilling from grain. Founder and distiller Dave Brimacombe is joined by Leif Miltenberger of Hired Guns Creative to revisit the naming, branding and package design of its core lineup and small-batch releases.
Presentation
Quality Management for Distilleries
Save money and improve your final products using quality management planning and execution. An often-overlooked area for new and growing distilleries, it involves data-gathering to prevent production errors and avoid recalls—saving your distillery’s money and reputation. In this talk, co-founder of Calgary’s Burwood Distillery Jordan Ramey covers the basics of starting a quality management program at your distillery to gain valuable, data-driven insights into your operations. Using case studies from the beverage alcohol industry, he’ll make the case for using quality management to grow your business.
Panel
Getting Spirits to Market: Distribution, Retail and Marketing Best Practices
As artisan spirit brands continue to proliferate and competition for retail listings increase, the distilleries with the best chance for success are those making next year’s go-to-market plans today. Moderated by alcohol beverage marketing and sales strategist David Clarke of Craft CRM, members of this expert panel of artisan spirit buyers and retailers speak from experience on how to get your product on shelves and in the hands of consumers. Learn how to improve your sales and marketing prospects by understanding consumer demographics, building loyalty with on-/off-premise staff and customers, managing sales channels, and getting your distillery's products market-ready. This panel considers current marketplace issues.
Presentation
Increasing Distillery Yields
Learn from common mistakes … someone else’s mistakes! Drawing from his experience from Canadian and U.S. distilleries, plus his expertise as a distilling educator and author, Matt Strickland delivers a session packed with learnings to put into operation now. From raw materials to packaging, he looks at every stage of the distilling process and suggests ways to run a better, more efficient and higher-yielding distillery. This talk will look at how to assess raw material fermentables, processing and fermentation efficiencies, distillate management strategies, maturation programs, and more. Topics are designed to give ideas on areas where the distillery can better save valuable time and money while increasing overall plant efficiency, bettering their bottom line.
Workshop
Meaningful Inclusion: Strategies to widen your brand’s audience & appeal in a diverse world
Building on the engagement work around diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) topics that began at last year’s conference, Vinequity co-founder Debbie Shing again leads this important discussion, which will include an audience Q&A session. She will provide context with current market statistics on accessibility of the drinks industry, and the session will also spotlight case studies of businesses with successful DEI strategies—including Vancouver Island’s Wayward Distillery, whose founder Dave Brimacombe will also speak to a case study on this topic.
Presentation
Understanding Your Local Consumer
Niagara College Artisan Distilling professor Andrea Fujarczuk delivers insight on discovering the people and values that make up your community, identifying target markets and their preferences, plus honing in on your unique points of differentiation (and those of your competitors!) to find a local niche. She will identify ways to connect with your customers beyond point of sale and creative means of increasing overall revenue—from value-adds to behind-the-scenes experiences and to leveraging your team's unique talents and community connections.
Presentation
Still Design for Efficient Growth & Expansion
Custom still-makers Darcy Lane, Brandon Fry, and Mike Lewis of Sidney, BC-based Revival Stillworks examine the essential role of still design in allowing for efficient distillery growth. They explore a number of real-world case studies, highlighting the unique needs of artisan distillers at various stages of growth, and emphasize best practices for designing and building expansion-friendly distillation systems. Gain a strong understanding of the significance of a flexible and scalable distillation system, and practical strategies for adapting your system to achieve efficient distillery growth.
Presentation
Cooperative Production
With small staff operations and rising costs, it’s difficult for craft distillers to remain competitive and sustain margins. Organizing as a cooperative enterprise allows individual distilleries to create new opportunities to reduce costs and improve efficiencies, while maintaining individual brand identities and independence. BC Cooperative Association Director of Cooperative & Government Relations Elvezio Del Bianco will walk through the co-op enterprise model, provide examples of craft distilling co-ops and describe the co-op development process in this seminar for artisan producers from across Canada.
Presentation
Calling Technical Support: Case Studies in Collaboration
The BC Beverage Technology Access Centre at Okanagan College in Penticton is one of 60 NSERC-funded Technology Access Centres across Canada. Since 2020, BCBTAC has provided lab analysis, sensory, research, educational and commercial services to the beverage alcohol industry. In this session, General Manager Wesley Peterson and Chemistry Department professor and researcher Dr. Leonard Lermer, share highlights from some case studies of recent projects, to showcase when and how expert consults can be engaged to help distillers in every aspect of operations.
