The Craft Brewers Conference officially started yesterday, May 2nd. The morning began with brewery tour buses leaving for five different “circuits” divided by regions of San Diego county (North County Inland, North County Coastal, Central City, etc). Conference-goers that were lucky enough to purchase sold-out spots on those tours were treated to lunch, beer tastings, and conversation with brewery representatives. Afterwards, the Conference officially kicked off with a welcome reception at the world famous San Diego Zoo. 39 craft breweries, many local, showcased their finest beers for conference attendees in a unique setting. West Coaster “12 To Watch In 2012” members Societe Brewing Co. capped off their first day of serving beers by bringing two very fresh beers (kegged earlier that day), a strong IPA called The Apprentice and a Belgian extra called The Harlot, to share with the sizeable crowd of close to 3,000.
This morning, the opening keynote address and general session opened with a short talk from Charlie Papazian, founder of the Brewers Association, on key ingredients every brewery should invest in. There was a lot to process, so more on that as well as Brewers Association Director Paul Gatza’s slideshow on the State of the Craft Brewing Industry in a future post. Charlie Papazian summed up the state of the industry in his opening remark: “We are not in a bubble, we are knee deep in foam and the foam is still rising.” Comments from San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders and Congressman Peter DeFazio preceded annual awards to influential members of the brewing community: St. Louis Brewery’s James Ottolini received the 2012 Russell Schehrer Award for Innovation, Doug, Wynne and Corkie Odell of Odell Brewing Co. accepted the Brewers Association Recognition Award for their charitable efforts and support of local homebrewers especially, and executive director of the California Craft Brewers Association Tom McCormick took home the F.X. Matt Defense of the Industry Award. Steve Hindy of Brooklyn Brewery’s keynote focused on his path from journalist to brewery entrepreneur, what he’s learned along the way and how the industry can continue to grow. The BA has more info on these awards here.
The seminars and sessions have started, see you after class…
