2026 is proving to be another year of change and evolution for the brewing industry. Both in the UK and overseas.

And with that, running a successful brewery is a challenge – and opportunity – that many of us are facing.

With that in mind, we are revisiting a talk from our 2025 Brewers Congress, which focused on making strategic production choices and outlined why prioritising markets is key.

Speaking in London was Marian Reed, the General Manager and Head of Business Development at Sudden Death Brewing in Lübeck, Germany.

Throughout her career, she has been able to connect vision to actions, identify root causes and best outcomes, while managing team members in a way that best suits their own personal development arcs.

And last year she flew into London to take part in our 2025 Brewers Congress. In her talk, Marian spoke on how to make strategic production choices via data management and how to prioritize markets and know where you best ‘fit’.

She argued why people are essential to a great brewery and why owners and leadership have an obligation to keep the team as their number one priority. She also outlined that strategies vary, there is no one size fits all, so mix and match which approaches work best for your crew.