Craft Connections:
Beverage Education Summit
Empowering Industry Professionals and Consumers Alike
because we believe everyone should understand what they serve and are being served
Allo Gilinsky and Rachel Benkowski are two industry veterans passionate about beer and the education surrounding our favorite beverage. We founded this summit with the goal of creating a space where beverage enthusiasts, educators, and entrepreneurs can come together for productive, engaging learning—both from one another and alongside one another. We’ve teamed up in many ways to promote education, from virtual “Sunday Styles” Instagram Live sessions to co-presenting at the Crafted for Action Conference in Atlanta in June 2025. You can find us separately furthering beer education in Northern California and Arizona—and together, always bonding over our love of Belgian beers, especially a good Tripel.
Allo Gilinsky is a Certified Cicerone with 10 years of front-of-house hospitality experience spanning the hotel, restaurant, and beer industries. He founded his own beer education and events consulting business, widely known as The Craft Beer Concierge. He builds and delivers beer-centric events for taprooms to help boost revenue and deepen customer engagement, while also offering staff trainings designed to strengthen beer vocabulary and cultivate sharper sensory skills. His Craft Beer Concierge social media accounts host weekly “check-in” videos that highlight beer styles, ingredients, and exceptional places to drink great beer.
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Rachel Benkowski works at Bone Haus Brewing, is a Certified Cicerone®, and a co-founder of the international nonprofit Beer Babes Family, which funds business grants for women in beer and produces the popular Babe Brew™ collaboration series. Through her educational platform Brews with Beerkowski, Rachel leads advanced sensory trainings, beer-and-food pairing dinners, and historical brewing lectures that weave her background in archaeology into modern craft beer. Currently pursuing her Advanced Cicerone® certification, she’s known for transforming beer history, terroir, and flavor science into engaging, memorable learning experiences for both professionals and enthusiasts.