The Draught Beer Quality Workshop is a collaboration of draught quality related seminars conducted by members of the Brewers Association Draught Beer Quality Subcommittee. The intention of this workshop is to provide education for brewers, retailers, distributors, line cleaners, and draught installation companies on best practices for draught beer.
Sessions in this workshop are broken into two tracks: “Essential” and “Elective.” Essential seminars contain content essential for draught systems at every bar, restaurant, or brewpub. Elective seminars have either more specialized or advanced content.
Essential Sessions
- Line Cleaning and Safety
- Draught Beer Sensory
- Equipment and Troubleshooting
Elective Sessions
- Nitro Beer Dispense
- Dispense Gas Mechanics and System Balance
- Serving Cask Beer
About the Speakers
Bridget Gauntner, Market Quality Specialist
Bell's Brewery, Inc.
Bridget Gauntner became part of the craft beer industry about 11 years ago. After receiving her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology, she was hired to work as a QA lab tech at Great Lakes Brewing Company. From this, she learned so much about the inner workings of production. She spent her days looking through a microscope, swabbing petri dishes, climbing grain trucks to test raw materials, and her favorite part…running a taste panel. She gained a great appreciation for all of the hard work done by folks in the brewery to turn out great beer.
Often, Bridget was a regular consumer buying draught or package beer and was disappointed that the quality of the beer she experienced could be so drastically different from the same beer she enjoyed at the brewery. It made her curious of the causes of these discrepancies. After working in the lab for a couple of years, she was anxious for some change. She wanted to grow and expand her horizons, but still had love for the craft beer industry and was extremely passionate about quality. She wanted to help ensure that consumers could experience beer the way the brewer intended, no matter the distance from the brewery.
Eventually, this path led Bridget to working at Bell's Brewery. She joined the team almost six years ago as a Field Quality Specialist. While touring the brewery as a new employee, she was blown away by the advanced lab equipment being used, and even more impressed with the caliber of people who worked at Bell's. It instilled a great confidence in her for the brand that she had the honor to represent. Having so much trust in Bell's beer quality makes her job pretty darn easy.
Earlier in her career, Bridget joined the Brewers Association Draught Beer Quality Subcommittee and was named Chair in 2019. The collaboration of so many competing brewers working toward the common good of promoting beer quality was what really drew her to the subcommittee. Meeting both large and small brewers echoing the same best practices was very inspiring.
Matt Meadows, Director of Field Quality
New Belgium Brewing Company
Matt Meadows started with New Belgium Brewing in 2002. In 2006 Matt became New Belgium's Director of Field Quality. Today he oversees a national team that manages all facets of post-brewery quality throughout New Belgium's distribution in the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Matt is co-author of the Brewers Association's (BA) Draught Beer Quality Manual and Draught Beer Quality for Retailers. Matt has also done extensive work with the BA, including serving on the Technical Committee, chairing the Draught Beer Quality Subommittee, and serving as the Draught Beer Quality Ambassador.
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