Consuming the Craft

Audra Gaiziunas is the founder and CEO of Brewed for Her Ledger, a management consulting firm helping businesses and entrepreneurs in the craft brewing and cider communities improve profitability thr…

Sara Stender is the empress of loose-leaf tea. She is the founding CEO of 3 Mountains, LLC., the Founder and Executive Director of Africa Healing Exchange, and the owner of Tima Tea. After learning a…

Dan Kulenic is the COO of Precision Fermentation. Since it’s founding in 2017, Precision Fermentation has been dedicated to providing real-time monitoring solutions to craft brewers that dramatically…

Kimberly Floyd has a Masters degree in Public History with a concentration on Museum Studies from North Carolina State University. She currently serves as the Site Manager at Zebulon B Vance Birthpla…

Leah Howard wears a lot of hats. She is the President of the Distillers Association of North Carolina (DANC), a mutual benefit corporation that strives to promote the common business and regulatory i…

If you think non-alcoholics are easy to make and have no future in the market, think again. John Lyda—full-time instructor at and stalwart of A-B Tech’s Craft Beverage Institute of the Southeast and …

John Lyda is the master of all-things-brewing. He is a full-time faculty member and instructor at CBI where he shares his wealth of knowledge and experience on brewing, distilling, and fermentation w…

Dan McConnell is the owner of McConnell Farms, a family-owned farm based in Henderson County, North Carolina. Since its establishment in the 1940s, McConnell Farms has grown and produced a wide varie…

It’s a sad time in the brewing industry. Bill (William) Coors, an executive at Coors Brewing Company, recently passed away at the age of 102. So, as John Lyda and I tip our glasses to remember the gr…

This week on Consuming the Craft, John joins me to scratch the ‘beer-y itch’ and discuss all things related to lite beer. We dive deep into the history of lite beer and share who really invented the …

Ian McHarg is the Herald of Hops; the Leader of Lupulin at Country Malt Group. With over 100 years of combined brewery and brewing experience as well as 11 warehouses across North America, the group …

Beau Evers is the Account Manager at Crosby Hops Farms. Founded in 1900 by Albert and Mary Crosby, Crosby Hops is the leading grower, manufacturer, and processor of top-quality hops. The family farm …

Max Fann is the Co-Owner and Chairman of Inbox Beverage and a Brewing and Fermentation Program alumni of A-B Tech’s Craft Beverage Institute of the Southeast. After completing the program, Max when o…

After graduating with a degree in Environmental Design in Architecture from North Carolina State University, Palmer Fox found himself in an early-life crisis. He always had a knack for entrepreneursh…

As a young man, Kevin Sondey followed The Grateful Dead's rock band to learn about music and himself. The Grateful Dead not only provided him with great music—but also introduced him to craft brews. …

Sara Stender Delaney came to the Craft Beverage Institute of the Southeast at A-B Tech with a vision—an idea she wanted to morph and mold into something new: draft tea. A working mother in Asheville,…

John Lyda is a full-time faculty member at AB Tech and is the thumb that grasps the educational hammer in our Brewing, Distillation, and Fermentation program. It’s the first two-year accredited degre…

How much beer do you need to entertain a room full of friends and family? How many kegs would you need to throw your next get-together or party? While the answer to these questions relies on many dif…

I often take on the task of trying exotic spirits, weird and wonderful flavors of craft beer, and new products in the beverage industry. You may be familiar with wheat bourbon, but perhaps less so wi…

What does it take to become a great mazer? Or brewmaster? Or winemaker? John Lyda—full-time instructor at A-B Tech’s Craft Beverage Institute of the Southeast and meadmaker extraordinaire—says that t…