Tech Trends 2027: Building the Smart Brewery
The breweries that thrive in 2027 will not necessarily be those that produce the best IPA or win the most medals. They will be the ones that make the smartest decisions — faster, with better data and more connected systems.
For much of the first 40 years of craft beer, growth masked many operational inefficiencies. Demand exceeded supply, distribution expanded, and new taprooms opened every month. Breweries could afford spreadsheets, disconnected software and manual processes because there was always a new account to win or a new market to enter.
That landscape has changed. According to the Brewers Association's Mid-Year Report, the number of operating breweries fell by 1.8%, from 9,515 in 2025 to 9,344 this year, while overall craft beer volume declined by 4% in the first half of 2026 compared with the same period the previous year. New openings have also plummeted — from 518 in 2024 to just 300 last year.
Breweries today are navigating tighter margins, evolving consumer preferences, rising ingredient costs and growing operational complexity. In this environment, technology is no longer just a convenience: it is a competitive advantage.
One Platform, Unlimited Solutions
Walk into almost any brewery today and it is not unusual to find production, logistics, operations, inventory, sales, POS and payroll managed by separate systems. Most breweries did not intentionally build disconnected operations: they simply added software as they grew.
Individually, those tools often work well. Together, they create blind spots. Every time data has to be entered twice, copied into a spreadsheet or emailed between departments, breweries lose time, introduce errors and slow down decision-making.
That is why more and more breweries are moving toward integrated operational platforms that connect production, inventory, sales, accounting and reporting in one centralized hub.
Trend #1: The ERP Advantage — How Growing Breweries Reclaim 10 Hours a Week
As breweries expand into new markets, add taprooms, diversify into new beverage categories or take on copacking, operational complexity grows just as quickly. An ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) platform helps keep all the moving parts connected, giving production, inventory, sales, accounting and operations a shared view of the business.
By replacing manual data entry, disconnected spreadsheets and repetitive administrative work with one centralized system, breweries can spend less time managing information and more time making strategic decisions.
The case of Sociable Cider Werks in Minneapolis is emblematic: before implementing an ERP, the team spent more than an entire day recording production information in a paper-based system. After going digital, the brewery estimates it saves around 10 hours every week that previously went toward manual record-keeping.
“It provides a central hub that anyone can access from anywhere. It allows us to track customers and update things in real time.” — Olivia Schumack, Operations Director, Sociable Cider Werks
Technology will not replace great brewing, but it will give great breweries more time to brew and the operational foundation to grow without adding unnecessary complexity.
Trend #2: Data Is the New House Beer
A decade ago, breweries could not produce hazy IPA fast enough. Today, the market is very different: with competition increasing and margins shrinking, instinct alone is not enough. The breweries that thrive in 2027 will not rely solely on intuition — they will trust their data.
Connected operational platforms generate enormous amounts of information. The real advantage lies in turning that information into smarter decisions: forecasting demand, managing inventory, monitoring costs and planning production with greater confidence.
MadTree Brewing in Cincinnati has embraced exactly this approach, building customized dashboards that track sales and volume by distributor, giving leadership a shared view of the business.
“We are all looking at the same thing. That is probably one of my favorite aspects. I love digging into data we did not have access to before.” — Ryan Blevins, Director of Brewing Operations, MadTree Brewing
For Societe Brewing, data has become a daily decision-making tool: monitoring cost of goods sold, forecasting future expenses and quickly identifying changes in supplier prices before they become larger financial problems.
“You are not just trying to make the cheapest beer possible; you are trying to make the best beer possible with the best cost inputs. That drives a lot of innovation.” — Teddy Gowan, VP of Brewing, Societe Brewing
The lesson for breweries approaching 2027 is simple: your next competitive advantage probably is not hiding in the fermenter — it is already in your data.
Trend #3: AI Will Not Replace Brewers. It Will Make Them Better Decision-Makers.
The potential of artificial intelligence is undeniable. But the conversation should not be about replacing people; it should be about helping teams make better decisions, faster.
Brewers do not need AI to write recipes or decide which beer to brew next. They need it to eliminate repetitive work, uncover trends buried in thousands of data points and answer business questions that would normally require hours of analysis.
The next evolution is making this information immediately accessible, so brewers can ask in natural language:
- Which brands had the highest gross margin last quarter?
- Which SKU is growing fastest?
- How have ingredient costs changed over the past six months?
- Which products should we produce more of — or less of — next month?
Through the Model Context Protocol (MCP), producers will be able to securely connect their operational data with leading AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Claude and other LLMs — interacting with their business data through natural conversations.
Breweries that embrace AI in 2027 will spend less time searching for answers and more time acting on them.
The Foundation for Smarter Brewing
The future of brewing technology does not replace craftsmanship — it equips it with better tools for expression. Connected ERP systems eliminate repetitive work and provide real-time analytics. AI will make these insights more accessible than ever. Together, these technologies create what every brewery is looking for: simplicity. Simplifying operations, production and data analysis helps producers make smarter decisions for growth.
Maltese: Italian Technology and Craftsmanship, Together
At Maltese, we apply these principles every day: precise production data, real-time inventory management and decisions based on real numbers — all to ensure consistently high-quality Italian craft beers, available whenever you need them.
Discover our craft beers and choose the right one for you: from intensely hopped beers to elegant lagers, every product is the result of optimized production processes and a genuine passion for the craft.
