2023
Special Guests

@taranurin

TV host and former Forbes beer/spirits contributor Tara Nurin writes for hundreds of media outlets—such as USA Today and Food Network—and presents publicly—for entities like the Smithsonian and Colonial Williamsburg —on topics that relate primarily to beer business and culture. In September 2021 she released her first book, A Woman's Place Is in the Brewhouse: A Forgotten History of Alewives, Brewsters, Witches, and CEOs, which won a first-place award from the North American Guild of Beer Writers. Nurin designs and teaches for-credit beer and spirits courses for Wilmington University (DE) and provides marketing consulting services for a client roster that includes Visit Philly and NZ Hops, Ltd. She is frequently quoted as a beverage expert in publications such as Wine Enthusiast and Food & Wine. After residing in 11 states and countries, the trilingual Nurin has chosen to live as an urban pioneer on Camden, NJ’s, riverfront.

@beautyofthebeer

Melissa Jones has been involved in the beer industry since 2015, but her love of craft beer began much earlier. While attending Hartwick College, she first found her love of craft beer at nearby Ommegang Brewery where her interest in the industry would begin to blossom. Melissa found herself combining her passion for advertising, photography, and beer, through freelance photography for breweries like Twelve Percent Beer Project, Tilted Barn Brewery, Five Churches Brewing, and online beer magazines, Good Beer Hunting, Pellicle and others. Through her Instagram account @Beautyofthebeer her creative storytelling helps followers find new places to visit, new beers to try or inspiring people to meet, and in 2021, she launched a side project to showcase the women of the craft beer industry through @Fermphotography. Now based in the Southern Tier, Melissa hopes to become involved with the craft beer community here in New York State.

@beer.brat

CJ, aka @beer.brat, has visited more than 300 breweries around the world (yes, she is counting) and tried over 5,000 different beers (that one, she’s stopped counting). CJ got into craft beer during her senior year at Canisius College, where she'd drink towers of Trainwreck at Pearl Street with her friends on the upstairs patio—and she’s been stuck on craft ever since. You can find her sipping on the wildest, open fermentation beer that she can get her hands on or ordering a classic IPA, while documenting it all on Instagram.

@thecraftbeergirl

@thecraftbeergirl started a blog and Instagram account in 2012 to chronicle her journey into craft beer. In 2015, she officially joined the industry as a sales rep for a regional craft brewery. Now, she’s working in the wine industry, and enjoys working with craft breweries as a freelance photographer and graphic designer.

@abrewtifulmess

Emily Penrose has been in the Craft Beer industry for 10+ years. In 2019 she created @abrewtifulmess to exclusively share her craft beer experiences. Emily often gets her inspiration from the fun can art and creative names of craft beers. Making colorful photos and even fun makeup and costumes inspired by the beer. Over the past year Emily has also been having fun with Reels, making light of the things we all experience in the craft beer world as well as the Restaurant and Bar industry, where she has worked throughout Rochester NY.

@craftedmindsllc

Gloria @hoppynomad has been in the craft beer industry for over ten years in a variety of capacities – writer, brand ambassador, sales representative, bartender and founder of the Syracuse Women of Craft Beer. A former university professor, she changed careers from higher education to pursue her beer journey. Her writing started with The Hoppy Nomad blog which led to writing for Syracuse’s Table Hopping Newspaper, Beer Advocate Magazine, Cigar Snob, VinePair and more. She is a Cicerone® Certified Beer Server; her love of beer is what drives her to teach others all about it.