The founder of Brooklyn Brewery, Steve Hindy, one of the most respected voices in the global beer world, heads up an impressive roster of speakers for this year's Australian Craft Brewers Conference. The man who famously decided to launch a brewery while working as a war reporter in the Middle East will give the keynote speech when the third ACBC opens in Melbourne during Good Beer Week on May 20.
The Craft Beer Industry Association's two-day event is set to grow once more. Having launched at the Lithuanian Club in North Melbourne in 2013 then moved to the Arts Centre last year, this time it will be held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) to allow for greater numbers, more room for exhibitors and more breakout sessions. As well as the core program aimed at brewers and others in the beer industry it will include, for the first time, a separate one-day stream aimed at people from retail and hospitality on May 21.
Among the other international guests joining Steve (pictured below right) is another man who decided to launch a brewery while bombs fell in the Middle East, Mazen Hajjar. The Lebanese founder of 961 Beer last month launched Hawkers Beer in Melbourne with restaurateur Joseph Abboud (Rumi, Moor's Head) and will talk about sales and management. Denis Gayte from US hop grower Yakima Chief is also flying in to talk about the US hop market.
Kiwis are well represented on the program too. Champion brewer Martin Townshend, of Townshend's Brewery in Nelson, will give a presentation about real ale, Soren Eriksen from 8 Wired will join Bentspoke's Richard Watkins to discuss their very different approaches to building a brewery and a business, while Jos Ruffell from Wellington's Garage Project will talk label design.
Joining them are dozens of leading Australian brewers and experts for presentations, panels and more, with the full program available for download here.
Brendan Varis, head brewer at Feral Brewing in WA and ACBC director, says: "Being more on the practical brewing side of things and someone who's lucky enough to get to the US quite often, there's a few things you bring back. One is 'quality, quality, quality' and we see that as especially relevant to Australia now.
"There's a lot of immature businesses – and by that I mean by age, not the way they behave – that are getting some really good traction and fairly rapid growth. They're going from little breweries to larger breweries with lots of people making beer and maintaining quality while that happens is a really, really important thing for craft beer in Australia. It's something we talk about at board level a lot with Chuck [Hahn] and Doug [Brooke].
"The second thing I've got from going to the CBC [the American Craft Brewer's Conference] for years now is that it's a really great example of the altruistic part of the industry that we work in, where the whole 'rising tide floats all boats' is really on display. We want to use people here who can share their experiences. If we all make better beer then it's better for everybody."
With a new, larger venue they hope to attract more attendees, including more from individual breweries, recognising that as breweries expand they are moving beyond a couple of mates or mum and dad doing everything and now have multiple employees who could benefit from attending.
As for the addition of the symposium aimed at hospitality, Brendan says: "These guys are very much at the coalface and this is all about teaching them how to buy beer, create a craft beer list and have the education to know what they've bought and are able to pass that on to the consumer in a logical and clear way. It's important that craft brewers given these people the opportunity to learn about what craft beer is."
Outside the annual conference and the Craft Beer Awards, which launched in Sydney last October during Sydney Craft Beer Week, he hopes to see CBIA becoming "more vocal and more active".
The conference runs on May 20 and 21. You can download the ACBC 2015 program and buy tickets here and plan the rest of your Good Beer Week via the festival website here.
CBIA Media Release
The Craft Beer Industry Association, the national body representing Australia's craft brewers, is proud to release the details of the third annual Australian Craft Brewers Conference.
The conference will be held on Wednesday the 20th and Thursday the 21st of May in Melbourne and will again be one of the key events of Good Beer Week.
“We are committed to growing the Australian Craft Brewers Conference into an event of international significance within the craft beer industry and this year we are working very hard to take it to another level in terms of programme, speakers and venue," said CBIA director Brendan Varis.
“This all feeds back into the CBIA's commitment to provide to the industry the necessary knowledge to help maintain and improve the quality of product it produces."
The continued growth of the conference means another move to a larger venue in 2015. This year it will be held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre located at Melbourne's South Wharf and just a short walk from the CBD.
The move to a larger venue has enable organisers to implement the long held goal of introducing tailored programme streams. One will focus on Brewery Operations and the other Sales and Management.
“This will allow delegates to have more control in creating their own conference experience," said Brendan Varis.
“We hope it will encourage employers to send along more of their staff from all areas of the business in the knowledge that they will be able to concentrate on gaining knowledge in their areas of responsibility."
Some of the programme highlights from the Brewery Operations stream include Denis Gayte from the US hop giant Yakima Chief looking the US hop market, a look at building sensory panels and a session exploring the intricacies of brewing saisons.
Highlights for the Sales and Management stream include Mazen Hajjar from Hawkers Beer giving his unique insights on running breweries in two countries, a panel looking at how to source growth funding for breweries and insights from a top PR person on how small businesses can better manage their public relations.
Over the past two years the Australian Craft Brewers Conference has established itself as a key event on the Australian brewing calendar. This year organisers are looking to engage with the New Zealand industry as well.
“Our industries have a strong relationship and we believe that the information presented at the conference is relevant on both sides of the Tasman," said Varis.
The 2015 programme features presentations from key New Zealand industry figures Martin Townshend, Søren Erikson and Jos Ruffell.
In a sign of the conference's growing international stature, conference organisers are pleased to announce that have been able to secure Brooklyn Brewery Co-founder, Chair and President Steve Hindy to deliver this year's keynote address.
Along with being at the vanguard of the craft beer movement in the US for over 25 years with Brooklyn Brewery, Hindy has also been heavily involved with both the US Brewers Association and the Beer Institute. This enables him to bring a unique perspective on both the history and the future of the craft brewing movement.
The ACBC Trade Expo returns in 2015 and with over 20 exhibitors locked in and more to come it promises to be bigger and better this year, further cementing its place as Australia's premier forum for suppliers to interact with the industry. This year will also see the introduction of a series of special presentations curated by the exhibitors each afternoon following the day's main programme.
In another innovation for 2015 organisers are introducing a one-day symposium aimed at improving the knowledge of the on-premise trade. Titled “The Art of Selling Craft" this is sure to be an event not to be missed by anybody that is serious about selling craft beer on-premise. The programme and tickets for this will be released on the 25th of March.
