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The mood at the annual Craft Brewers Conference held in San Diego April 14-17 was decidedly upbeat. Why not feel good? A 3.4% growth rate in 2003, coupled with declining import sales, amidst the backdrop of San Diego’s considerable attractions, both liquid and otherwise.
The San Diego Brewers Guild made sure there was no shortage of beer, setting up a 30-tap hospitality bar which poured well into the night at the conference’s site, the Town and Country Resort in the Mission Valley area of town. While the weather remained just cool enough to keep most of the 1,400 attendees out of the resort’s four swimming pools, there were plenty of activities to explore.
The gathering opened with the usual pre-conference tours encompassing San Diego’s increasingly varied brewing scene — up the coast to the Pizza Ports in Solana Beach and Carlsbad; northeast to Stone Brewing in San Marcos; the more local ones such as Alesmith, Oggi’s Pizza, Karl Strauss and, the closest to the resort, Ballast Point.
At the conference opening, Greg Koch, president of Stone Brewing Co., kept his arrogance under control (his brewery is famous for Arrogant Bastard Ale) during his welcoming address. He stressed the point that in the San Diego area, it was not public demand which drove the trend toward fuller, sometimes intense flavored beers. "The brewers decided to do it that way," he said. And the market followed. "It doesn’t matter what the norm is...or if your area is not known (for beer). It only matters what is right for us and our breweries and that we act as compatriots."
Koch berated breweries for encouraging retailers to seek "free" kegs; campaigned to rid the industry of the word "product" for its beer; and advised brewers, as musicians do with their music, to keep beer close to their hearts.
Paul Gatza director of the AOB’s industry arm, the Institute of Brewing Studies, reported craft brewing reached a new high of 10.5 million barrels in 2003, an increase of 3.4% over 2002. Industry growth continues to be driven by the larger, regional craft breweries.
Keynote speaker, David Rehr of the National Beer Wholesalers Association warned of the specter of neo-prohibitionists stalking Washington D.C. "These people are trying to take your livelihood away," he said. He encouraged brewers to be pro-active in promoting lifestyles that include moderate consumption of alcohol.
The opening session included the presentation of two industry awards. Jack Joyce of Rogue Ales was recognized for service to the industry and Dick Cantwell of Elysian Brewing Co. received the Russell Scherer award for innovation in brewing. In acceptance, Joyce made particular reference to the industry’s new generation of 21st century brewers. These brewers have helped us avoid "becoming the beers our fathers drink," Joyce said. He also thanked the youngsters for working hard and contributing to his social security checks that he will soon be receiving.
The conference’s 3-day agenda was split between seminars, divided into four tracks, and the industry tradeshow, BrewExpo. Inside the tradeshow, business was brisk with vendors reporting much more activity than in recent years.
Seminars were split into two separate brewing tracks and two management and marketing tracks, one for brewpubs and one for packaging breweries. Brewing topics ranged from the technical to the stylistic. A Cask Conditioning workshop presented by Mark Dorber of the White Horse real ale mecca in London was particularly popular, while seminars on Imperial IPA and Barrel Aging reflected new beerstyle trends. International flavor was contributed by such presentations as Duvel, Belgian Beer Culture, and professor Hubert Verachert’s discussion on Recent Developments in Lambic and Gueuze.
Marketing seminars ran the gamut from the usual distribution and packaging issues for breweries to hospitality issues for brewpubs. Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head, DE, addressed the issue of maintaining profitability during a growth spurt, while Gretchen Schmidhausler of NJ’s Basil T’s Brew Pub, participated in a presentation on Mug Clubs.
The conference culminated in the Saturday night banquet, which, this year was held in conjunction with the World Beer Cup awards. Several days of judging had preceded the conference, leaving a multitude of beers from around the world to be enjoyed at the banquet’s reception.
East Coasters will not have to travel so far next year. Mark your calendars for the 22nd annual Craft Brewers Conference in Philadelphia April 13-16, 2005.
Warmth of Heart and
Whiff of Wickedness
Charlie Papazian likes sunstruck beer and Michael Jackson doesn’t care about defects. He also says there is no such thing as a beer that’s too hoppy. So we found out at the combination conference banquet and World Beer Cup Awards ceremony.
Hosting what I would consider the Association of Brewers’ best presentation to date, chief Charlie Papazian reminisced about the "warmth of heart" produced by a beer that became increasingly lightstruck in the afternoon sun.
Michael Jackson, who was kept on a short, 20-minute leash, waxed about the "whiff of wickedness" that emanated from the pubs his mother tugged him past when he was a lad. Both beer icons were painting a picture of beer’s ability to enrich our lives, even to define moments in our lives.
Jackson used part of his time to chastise beer judges for their straightjacketedness (a theme he follows in his column on Page 7), claiming that defects didn’t necessarily bother him or others. He illustrated his point with the example of the Youngers Ale he drank in Yorkshire as a teenager. "It was full of diacetyl; the locals loved it."
He also pooh-poohed the much heard pronouncement at the judging tables, "too hoppy." "There’s no such thing as a beer that’s too hoppy," he said. "If people are paying for it, how can it be too hoppy?"
What else did we find out in San Diego? Well, the bars close early...something the locals knew as the SD Brewers Guild poured local brews until 2 a.m. back at the hotel. Comforting to know there was a nightcap waiting when the night’s explorations were finished.
The locals like beer...they like hoppy beer! And they like pizza! Many made the trek up the coast to the now World Famous Pizza Port where Tomme Arthur brews his award-wining brews. Then there’s Oggis Pizza which snagged the prize for the best microbrewery. Nice to see their Blonde and Hefeweizen being sold at the Padres new ballpark, along with Oggis pizza, of course. The stadium’s sponsor Petco reflects San Diego’s love of canines. You can take them to the beach; you can take them to the ballpark, but I wonder if they are serving hot dogs there?
William Crisp of Crisp Malting once again provided a change of pace with a Scotch tasting. The Happy Hour tasting ensured a rambunctious beginning to the evenings pool party and poolside shenanigans which extended long into the night.
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