State of Craft Beer

Brooklyn Brewery co-founder and chairman Steve Hindy will moderate a discussion and live podcast recording between Jeff Hancock, President, Head Brewer, & Co-Founder of DC Brau, Mari Rodela, MSW, MPH, and Chief Community & Culture Officer at DC Brau; Greg Engert, Beer Director & Managing Partner of ChurchKey and Bluejacket; Justin Cox, Founder and CEO of Atlas Brew Works; and John Holl, editor of All About Beer, covering the controversies and opportunities facing brewers today and how those situations might play out in the future. Steve’s incisive wit and encyclopedic industry knowledge will leave no stone unturned as these beer experts tackle the issues faced by breweries around the country and worldwide.

Before (and during) the conversation, get a chance to sample beers from each brewery and see what everyone is working on. We'll also have snacks from The Big Cheese food truck to keep everyone satisfied during the discussion.

You'll be able to revisit the evening's discussion and hear from brewers all over the world as Steve travels with the Mash through our friends at the James Beard Award-winning food and culture site First We Feast. They'll be releasing every State of Craft Beer as a podcast on their site and through iTunes so that beer drinkers around the world can find out what Steve, John and the movers and shakers of craft beer have to say about life on the front lines of the beer industry.

Jeff Hancock is the President, Head Brewer and Co-Founder of DC Brau Brewing Company. He met co-founder Brandon Skall while they were DJing, and shared the complaint that there was no good local beer in the DC area. In 2009 the men founded DC Brau, pooling years of experience in brewing and beverage distribution to provide the local beer they felt DC deserved. Jeff had previously brewed at Franklin's Restaurant and Brewery in Hyattsville, Maryland; Grizzly Peak Brewing and Arbor Brewing in Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Flying Dog Brewery in Frederick, Maryland.

Mari Rodela is the Chief Community and Culture Officer at DC Brau Brewing Company, President of the newly formed District of Columbia Brewers’ Guild and an officer on the Board of Directors for Think Local First DC. Prior to her illustrious career in craft beer, Mari served as public health community organizer, public policy analyst and advocate, and manager of programs focusing on health behavior and education. As a native of the Washington, DC Metro area, Mari is proud to be in a key role in a business that contributes to the sustainability and growth of DC’s local economy and community.

Greg Engert is the Beer Director and Managing Partner of ChurchKey and Bluejacket. From an early age, his father extolled the virtues of good beer in hopes of guiding his son later in life. The seed took hold and blossomed while Greg was in college. He frequently made trips to Burlington, Vermont to sample various beers from the area, and studied and drank abroad in Munich and Dublin. When he was at graduate school at Georgetown, Greg began working in beer and never left. He now orchestrates a beer program across several restaurants that contains over a thousand beers, and is a leading mind in building beer programs for restaurants and bars everywhere.

Justin Cox is the Founder & CEO of Atlas Brew Works. He is a graduate of Vanderbilt University and the George Mason University School of Law. After completing a Presidential Management Fellowship with the Federal Government, he founded Atlas Brew Works focused on providing the District of Columbia and surrounding areas with fresh craft ales and lagers in the traditions of the old world and the new. Justin is a founding board member of the District of Columbia Brewers Guild, where he serves as Secretary.

John Holl is the editor of All About Beer Magazine and the author of the American Craft Beer Cookbook. An award winning journalist, he has visited more than 950 breweries around the world, conducting research for his beer-and-travel books as well as articles for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Wine Enthusiast, the Washington Post, and many other publications. He has judged beer competitions around the world, regularly lectures on the culture of beer, and appears often on NBC’s Weekend Today in New York.

All About Beer Magazine is America’s leading beer magazine, dedicated to covering the people, places, news, trends, and events that define the beer community. For 35 years, it has been our mission to celebrate the world of beer culture and enrich the lives of beer lovers through education, enjoyment and events like the World Beer Festivals. Click here to sign up for a free trial.

Steve Hindy (co-Founder and Chairman of The Brooklyn Brewery) founded one of America’s top 25 breweries. A former journalist, he became interested in home-brewing while serving as a Beirut-based Middle East Correspondent for The Associated Press. Back in the states as Newsday’s assistant foreign editor in 1988, he began brewing his own beer and persuaded his neighbor, banker Tom Potter,to start a brewery. Hindy is a member of the Board of Directors of the Beer Institute and The Brewers Association. He is a director of Brooklyn’s Prospect Park Alliance, chairman of the Open Space Alliance for North Brooklyn, former chair of Brooklyn’s Tourism Consortium and a former member of Community Board 1. Hindy also serves on the Board of Transportation Alternatives and the Alcohol Beverage Manufacturer’s Research Foundation. With Potter, Hindy co-authored Beer School: Bottling Success at the Brooklyn Brewery, with a forward by NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, published by John Wiley & Sons. His second book, The Craft Beer Revolution: How A Band Of Microbrewers Are Transforming The World’s Favorite Drink was released in the spring of 2014. You can follow Steve @SteveKHindy on Twitter.

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