The 2015 Craft Brewers Conference & BrewExpo America, April 14-17, opened with a tribute to the eccentricities of the host city. With unconventional clowns, women on stilts and a unicycling bagpiper dressed as Darth Vader, the Welcome Reception proved that Portland hasn’t lost its weird charm. Reception attendees sampled beers from over 50 Oregon breweries, and enjoyed an assortment of small bites, as well as over 138 dozen Voodoo Doughnuts and 21,000 oysters sourced regionally. On Wednesday, the conference began in earnest with the general session and keynote address. Brewers Association director Paul Gatza led the session, which was held at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, a venue, Gatza noted, that once hosted the Beatles and the Grateful Dead. Esteemed company, to be sure. The session included words from BA president Charlie Papazian, CEO Bob Pease and recently hired federal affairs manager Katie Marisic, who spoke of her excitement for promoting and protecting the interests of America’s small brewers in Washington. BA Event Committee chair Steve Bradt announced this year’s Brewers Association Award winners:
Award Winners
Brewers Association Recognition Award Dave & Diane Alexander, Brickskeller
F.X. Matt Defense of the Small Brewing Industry Award Brook Bristow, South Carolina Brewers Guild
Russell Schehrer Award for Innovation in Brewing Steve Dresler, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
At the general session Gatza and BA chief economist Bart Watson presented an analysis of the state of the craft brewing industry. The upshot? The state of the craft beer union is strong. Craft continued its meteoric ascent across all 50 states in 2014, with notable growth in the southeastern part of the country (Florida alone saw 42 brewery openings throughout the year). Posting 18 percent volume growth nationwide, craft accounted for virtually all of the growth in the beer category in 2014.
The keynote address, given by anthropologist and noted leadership expert Simon Sinek, author of Leaders Eat Last, offered insight into the cultural and biological underpinnings of leadership. Sinek spoke about the way true leaders earn trust and engender cooperation: by sacrificing their own interests for their peers. “It’s not about being in charge, it’s about being responsible for those in your charge,” he said.
This year’s conference featured 173 speakers, including EPA administrator Gina McCarthy, who spoke about the importance of protecting our nation’s water supply, and nearly 80 seminars across 11 educational tracks. Themes included safety, quality, sustainability and technical brewing. These seminars provided learning opportunities for packaging breweries, brewpubs, startups and veteran breweries alike. Of note was the introduction of a new publication for brewpubs, Beer Server Training for Brewpubs: A Manual for Hiring, Training and Retaining Great People, developed by the BA’s brewpub server training manual subcommittee and collaborative author Laura Lodge.
With 255,000 square feet of floor space, this year’s BrewExpo America saw a record 600 exhibitors, up from 490 the year before. And for the first time, attendees were given an extra half day to meet vendors and browse the many products and services on display.
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