Lotte Peplow, the Brewers Association’s American craft beer ambassador for Europe, takes a look at brewing conferences and their value.
The Brewers of Europe Forum. Photograph: Miguel Rivas
Brewing conferences are an effective way of bringing an industry together by sharing knowledge, education and experiences. They present excellent opportunities for networking, fostering existing relations and establishing new ones.
The fifth edition of the annual Brewers of Europe Forum recently took place in Prague, Czech Republic, and gathered together brewers, suppliers, distributors, consultants, and more to explore how the sector can become more sustainable and more innovative. It combined plenaries, seminars, and practical workshops on trends, sustainability, brewing technology, diversity, marketing, and much more, delivered by experts in their field.
Highlights included a plenary discussion between Bob Pease, chief executive/president of the Brewers Association, and Christian Weber, chief executive of Karlsberg Brewery, Germany, who talked about beer as the beverage alcohol choice of moderation. They discussed the need for global alcohol policymakers to view beer as an inherently low-alcohol beverage and support the sector in their decision making.
Popular seminars reflected the above themes with low/no alcohol, the renaissance of light lager, and brewing low-carb beers all hot topics. There’s no substitute for learning from the masters of their craft, and this conference had plenty in abundance. The workshops and technical sessions were all well attended, and the industry as a whole can only benefit from such knowledge-sharing and expertise.
The final day of the conference was devoted to technical visits to local breweries, and a popular destination was the iconic Pilsner Urquell brewery in Plzen, creator of the first pilsner lager in 1842, which is still brewed to the same recipe today.
Bart Watson, chief economist at the Brewers Association, addresses the Craft Brewers Conference
From Europe to America, as earlier last month the Brewers Association — the trade association representing small and independent American craft brewers — held the annual Craft Brewers Conference and BrewExpo America in Nashville, America’s largest gathering of the craft brewing industry. These events deliver concentrated, affordable brewing education and idea sharing to improve brewery quality and performance.
It attracted more than 12,000 attendees, who could hear from 200 speakers during over 70 seminars across ten educational tracks, led by top minds in the beer and business worlds. On the Expo floor, 600 exhibitors showed off their
latest technology and innovations.
According to the Brewers of Europe, there are 10,000 breweries in Europe, while in the USA the Brewers Association puts the figure at 9,527. In the US, growth is slowing, and the gap between openings and closing is shrinking, with 522 opening in 2022 (the lowest number since 2013) and 319 closures.
It’s always fascinating to listen to industry experts, and Bart Watson, chief economist at the Brewers Association’s state of the industry address on t,he first morning of the Craft Brewers Conference, was one such occasion.
He explained that the craft beer industry had failed to grow in 2022, and that after years of constant growth the industry is entering a ‘new normal’ phase of slow-to-no growth. The years of double-digit growth are “clearly in the rear-view mirror”, according to Watson.
The Craft Brewers Conference hall
The primary reason is simply competition from alternative adult beverages. Watson says that many of the new products now on the market are competing around flavour and variety, the key points that define craft beer, and they are increasingly going after craft beer occasions and craft beer customers.
Every year a new generation of adults are entering the market not wanting to drink what their parents drank, and the latest generation are moving away from craft beer. Growth in the beverage alcohol market is coming from female and BIPOC (black, indigenous, and people of colour), individuals, ie non-traditional beer drinkers. Watson urged the industry to find new strategies, new innovations, new occasions, and new customers in order to return to the growth rates of five to ten years ago.
Running alongside the Craft Beer Conference was the now annual World Beer Cup, which attracted a total of 10,213 entries from 2,376 breweries, representing 51 countries. Entries were judged by 272 world-class judges from 26 countries.
The award ceremony took place on the final night of the conference, at Music City Centre in Nashville, making many brewers from all over the world very happy recipients of a medal. These included Lost and Grounded from Bristol, who won gold with Keller Pils in the Kellerbier/Zwickelbier category.
Next year, the Brewers of Europe Forum takes place in Lille, from 26th to 30th May, and the Craft Brewers Conference/World Beer Cup will be in Las Vegas, from 21st to 24th April.
The Brewers Association
The Brewers Association (BA) is the not-for-profit trade association dedicated to small and independent American brewers, their beers, and the community of brewing enthusiasts. The BA represents 5,600-plus US breweries. Its independent craft brewer seal is a widely-adopted symbol that differentiates beers by small and independent craft brewers. The BA organises events including the World Beer Cup, Great American Beer Festival, Craft Brewers Conference, and BrewExpo America, Homebrew Con, National Homebrew Competition, and American Craft Beer Week. The BA publishes The New Brewer magazine, and Brewers Publications is the leading publisher of brewing literature in the US. Beer lovers are invited to learn more about the dynamic world of craft beer at CraftBeer.com and about homebrewing via the BA’s American Homebrewers Association and the free Brew Guru mobile app.
About the author
Lotte Peplow is the American craft beer ambassador for Europe for the Brewers Association, and is based in London. She is a certified cicerone, BDI accredited beer sommelier, beer writer, author, beer communicator, international beer judge, homebrewer, and beer lover.
