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There was a chicken-and-egg quality to some of the good feelings at this year's Craft Brewers Conference in Philadelphia. The lingering question is: are things actually improving, or did they just feel that way after a tough coupla years? Obviously we don't know the answer yet, and craft sales remain a pain point, with regionals dropping by 6% in 2025 and microbreweries falling by 9%. But there are glimmers of hope, particularly on-premise. Opening keynote speaker Will Guidara, the former owner of three-Michelin Star restaurant Eleven Madison Park, spoke to the value of "unreasonable hospitality" and embracing up-front costs to create memorable in-person experiences. Quoting Maya Angelou, he reminded that "people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."Will's examples included several items familiar to fans of the television show The Bear, on which he is a creative consultant, including an anecdote he told about throwing an impromptu reception inside the restaurant for a lonely couple after their City Hall wedding. But there were smaller touches, like when he ran to get a "dirty water dog" for a traveler who lamented he hadn't tried one before leaving NYC. That tier of gesture is probably most applicable to craft brewers; one CEO, unprompted stressed to CBN the importance of using bespoke/correct glassware for different beer products to premiumize the drinking experience, while across the street at Iron Hill Brewery, diners were given free flights with a beer purchase on its Sunday night grand reopening.In general, CBC itself was proof of its own concept: Attract the right people, in the right numbers, add beer, and magic can still happen. While no one is celebrating total victory over recent downtimes, the urge to celebrate seemed to enliven the Convention Center. It was definitely a different feeling than at CBC Vegas 2 yrs ago, where then-chair Leah Cheston said "back to normal is no longer in the cards" and lamented that cos needed to find a "sustainable path, even if it feels like running in circles" (see Apr 22, 2024 issue). Nowadays one road ahead seems fairly straightforward, and it runs straight thru maximizing the on-premise experience.The message of the conference was decidedly not "build it and they will come," tho. "Every CEO says they want better hospitality," said Eleven Madison Park's Will, but "nothing will take root in the absence of resources." In short: to survive, you have to center the biz around actively giving the customer a memorable experience at as many touchpoints as possible because "raindrops make oceans&hellip; When you give people stories like this to tell, they'll tell them over and over and over." In the end, "I promise it will make you money," he said.That's potential music to the ears of the nearly 500 vendors who attended the event. After all, "the numbers aren't as bad as you think," said BA Prexy Bart Watson in his closing address, "but the vibes are off. Perception influences behavior, behavior influences outcome," and so on. There's a reason what he calls hospitality breweries were tracking ahead of the industry at large, he added; people are "going out less," yes, but swimming against the tide "clearly can still be done," as these bizzes outperformed craft and the larger beer biz by a few points in 2025. "When you stop scrolling, put your phone down and pick up a beer," Bart said, "reality starts to look a lot better than the vibes."With the GABF switching to a weekend outdoor format this yr, the org is trying to skate to where the puck is moving on that front, so to speak, rather than stick with what worked in the past. If the scaled-down CBC was any indication, the right-sizing of the industry might be turning the vibes around, but the work isn't finished. "We have an opportunity, and perhaps a responsibility, to create magic worlds in a world desperately in need of more magic," Will said to close his speech, urging the audience to "systemize graciousness" and "become addicted to that feeling." Put another way: it's not only about the beer anymore, if it ever was. It's about the people drinking it.

Analysis: CBC Was its Own Example of How Good Vibes Can Help Chart a Path Forward

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