Craft Brewers Conference Means Business
The Craft Brewer’s Conference had been looming over the Bay Area for some time. Discussion began before the year had begun as the first couple of months in the Bay Area are dominated by SF Beer Week. Sure enough, as soon as the beer industry was able to catch its breath after another busy beer week, the Craft Brewer’s Conference was upon us.
With the festivities officially kicking off on Wednesday evening, the steady flow of brewing peoples was evident early in the week. A visit to Russian River Brewing in Santa Rosa saw a full lineup of 19 beers waiting the bearded crowds in similar, but unique work shirts. Former brewers came back to visit their old breweries, a laid back atmosphere of a pending party loomed over everyone.
While the reception on Wednesday and the welcoming nature of the Keynote Address definitely played into the party atmosphere (a toast with a 10% imperial stout at 10AM?), it was quite obvious that the CBC is about business. For those not familiar with the way CBC works, the focus is split between two sets of activities.
At the trade show everything from kegs, to draft systems, mills and sanitation solutions are pitched to brewers. Beer is poured at designated stations, but even then, it’s to show off the canning process, bottling options, hops usage or any other aspect of a beer that is the result of someone’s proporietary system.
Back downstairs are where the sessions are taking place. These sessions are focused on various aspects of the beer brewing business. Most topics are something beer geeks would find obvious as well as interesting, hop and yeast usage, sours beers and techniques. These sessions were well attended and lead by some of the more prominent members of the brewing community. At the same time though, there were sessions of sustainability, packaging, quality control, anything you could imagine that could affect the growth and success of a small brewery.
The party atmosphere wasn’t completely lost, there were the hospitality rooms after all. In these rooms, if you weren’t required elsewhere, you could sit back, have a beer, maybe a few snacks, and socialize a bit more. Generally, this was an extension of the trade show where companies who hosted the rooms took their opportunities to show off their wares. Most impressive was the Turbotap, a tap extension and sparkler that submerges into a pint and fills from the bottom (I think I had seen these at the ballpark this last year).
By the end of the week though, it was obvious, the conference is a lot of work. Tired faces dominated the crowds, summed up by 21st Amendment’s head chief as “Death By Conference.” From a personal standpoint, three days of standing, walking and hiking up and down flights of stairs had finally taken its toll on my legs.
When it was all said and done, I was sad to see the CBC come to an end. Any time you get a crowd within the beer industry together there tend to be good times. Maybe it’s the social lubricant we all work together to sell. I like to think Jay Brooks had it right when describing why all the beer folks knew each other at the 99 Bottles of Beer Symposium, the beer industry “has a low tolerance for assholes.”
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