Brewing For Your Market, Not Your Palate — Brett Robison of Silver Branch Brewing

Brett Robison co-founded Silver Branch Brewing in Silver Spring, Maryland in 2019 with head brewer Christian Layke, and has since grown it to three operating locations with a fourth and fifth already in motion — expansion that's kept going even as national craft beer volume and brewery counts have both declined in 2026.

Recorded live at the Virginia Brewers Conference in Richmond, this episode covers the panel Brett had just come off of: brewing for your market, not your palate. He and host Adam Howe talk through why Silver Branch treats every taproom as its own market rather than a copy of the flagship — down to which beers and events actually work location by location — how the Warrenton, Virginia taproom is reopening after a fire destroyed it two days before Christmas 2024, and how Montgomery County itself invited Silver Branch to open a fifth location. They close on the back-office systems, not the recipes, that made the jump from one location to five possible.

Get a summary of the interview on the GoTab blog at Why Silver Branch Brewing Keeps Expanding in a Tough Year for Craft Beer.