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The last time the Craft Brewers Conference was held in Seattle, the emerging industry’s growth spurt had hit the wall. It was 1997 — signs of slowdown were everywhere and the media was quick to pounce on the death of a fad. Nine years later, the industry has solidified its foundation and is on a major roll!
More than 2,000 attendees showed up in the Pacific Northwest mid-April to celebrate a 9 percent increase in craft beer sales last year, which built on 7 percent in 2004. In contrast to the last few years of growth, 2005 figures were driven by growth at the lower end — those in the 5,000 to 20,000 bbl. range, said Paul Gatza, director of the conference’s sponsor, the Brewers Association. In keeping with gourmet trends in bread, coffee, cheese and more, "Americans are getting the concept of beer styles," he said. "We should maximize what we have here and now — brewers who are passionate about making flavorful beers."
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n his keynote speech, Sam Calagione of the Dogfish Head Brewing Co., borrowed a term from the wine industry — "terroir" — to describe the colorful diversity of what has become the "creative, communal industry of craft brewing." Calagione, one of craft brewing’s fastest-rising stars and the Small Business Administration’s Man of the Year, likened the early days, when pioneering microbrewers with "balls the size of small planets" shook up the monopolistic brewing industry, to Bob Dylan going electric at the Newport Folk Festival. "Things were in need of a little upheaval," he said.
During his talk, Calagione showed a graph predicting, at the current rate of growth, 10 percent industry share by 2017 (craft brewing is currently nudging 4%). He then dismissed it saying, "I don’t care that much about these charts. We make great beer; growth is just a side product. We should never be consumed by growth; the process is more important than the outcome." He also warned against "culture vultures taking advantage of the momentum we’ve created."
Echoes of respect were everywhere. Bob Lachkey of Anheuser-Busch was among the seminar presenters, talking about A-B’s rekindled interest in alternative beer styles. Craft brewers appear split on A-B’s latest dabbling in the category. Many feel it would it would expose craft/flavorful beer to a much wider audience, while some tout hypocrisy by the brewing giant. As one said, "I’m offended that they’re coming in on our coattails, in an industry we have built and that they in the past have tried to crush."
The BA’s president, Charlie Papazian, who addressed a full house at the conference’s culminating banquet, exemplified the new empowerment of craft brewers by challenging big brewers to put some balance back into the beer business by taking a more responsible approach to advertising and promotion.
"If we are to improve beer’s image in the USA or for that matter globally, it is a long and patient strategy that will only achieve results decades from now," Papazian said. "Is the global beer community prepared to make the investment? If not – then what price will all of the beer community pay? A lack of balance is bad for beer."
The conference was split between seminars and the Brewexpo America trade show, featuring over 100 industry vendors. Seminars were split into four tracks: management and marketing for brewpubs and packaging breweries respectively, and two technical tracks for brewers. Special workshops on export development and distribution were also on the agenda while some foreign expertise was harness from many overseas attendees who were in town to judge at the World Beer Cup which was held in conjunction with the conference.
Evening activities were highlighted by several beer dinners around town, and pillared by the two closest brewpubs to the convention center, the Pike Place Pub, which hosted some raucous rock n’ roll (Tom Dalldorf’s Rolling Boil Blues Band) and the Elysian Brewing Co., which supplied a blistering array of guest kegs and casks. Their outside HQ tent featured Belgian Brews, the Hoppiest Beers, and Infected (wild) Beers on three different nights. Seattle’s many famous alehouses, new and old, as well as brewpubs such as Hales, Pyramid, Big Time, Elliot Bay and Rock Bottom, rewarded those who ventured outside the downtown area.
The BA also handed out three awards of its own: the BA Recognition Award went to Chuck Skypeck of Boscos Brewing Co. The Russell Schehrer Award for Innovation in Brewing went to Dan Carey of New Glarus Brewing Co.; and the F.X. Matt Defense of the Industry award was presented to Daniel Bradford, former president of the Brewers Association of America and publisher of All About Beer magazine.
The next gathering of the small brewers "terroir" will be in Austin, TX, April 18-21, 2007.
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