Brian Winckel is the founder of Brewlytics, an AI-driven marketing and customer-loyalty platform built for breweries and taprooms. He spent 14 years self-employed across craft beer and hospitality — as a brewer and cellar manager, and running his own hospitality and creative businesses — before building software for the industry he came from. That operator's perspective shapes how he approaches the real problems small beer businesses face: turning first-time visitors into regulars, understanding customer taste, and competing with larger chains that have dedicated data teams. He writes and speaks on craft beer marketing, customer retention, hospitality technology, and the practical use of AI in small businesses.