By Eli Raffeld
The 2011 Craft Brewers Conference, held in San Francisco at the Union Sq. Hilton Hotel, hosted a record 3,900 attendees and held 50-plus educational seminars. The welcome reception was a sight to behold. Located at the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, craft beer made its appearance on the historical timeline surrounded by exhibitions of dinosaurs, marine life, rainforests and the newest on the evolutionary scale, the “beer geek”. With more than 100 beers to sample, straight from the hands of the brewers, it was impossible to not to notice the creativity and passion that surrounds this ever-evolving industry.
Introduced as the “original rock-stars” of the Craft Beer, Ken Grossman (Sierra Nevada) and Fritz Maytag (Anchor Steam) gave the opening address bright and early on Thursday morning, March 24. While sitting in armchairs, they recalled anecdotes from their early years of brewing, leaving the audience in good spirits with a toast of their collaboration Fritz and Ken’s Ale.
“Chuwy” with Pizza Port brewer, Jeff Bagby.
On the floors of the Hilton Hotel, brewers, home-brewers, suppliers, and distributors, wheeled and dealed for three days, in the hopes of securing the necessary equipment and supplies for the year ahead. The CBC offers insight into the fastest growing sector of the American economy. Label makers, bottle makers, hop growers, malt growers, yeast providers, keg-leasing companies and brewery manufacturers all shared the expo convention hall, offering a dizzying array of spectacles and displays. The energy in the conference was akin to an apiary, with people scurrying about with the sole purpose of producing the finest nectar.
Beer education and quality control are the emphasis of the conference, but the whole picture is not understood without the knowledge that the CBC is one gigantic party. Beer samples and food await you at every turn, with someone trying to top-up your glass, or invite you into one of the many hospitality suites. The CBC is a celebration of the hard work of the past year and the new beginnings and struggles to come in the year ahead. With San Diego on the horizon for the 2012 Craft Brewers Conference, the conference will only become more diverse– impassioned with new brewers and flowing with finest brews America has to offer.
To learn more about craft beer and the conference, visit Craftbeer.com and www.BrewersAssociation.org.
The boys of Bear Republic.
This article was published in Japan Beer Times # () and is among the limited content available online. Order your copy through our online shop or download the digital version from the iTunes store to access the full contents of this issue.
