The annual Craft Brewers Conference was recently held in Chicago (April 8 -10) and this year’s meeting was memorable for several reasons.  This event is a professional meeting put on by the Brewers Association and is a combination of technical and business talks related to craft brewing and a trade show featuring the things that commercial brewers need to make their breweries operate.  The event began with an opening reception at the famous Field Museum in Chicago.  The main floor looked like a small beer festival and featured great beers brewed by members of the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild and food from local restaurants.  This was a wonderful first night to an awesome meeting … I wonder when the next big party will occur in this beautiful museum!

The really neat thing about this year’s meeting was the strong attendance.  The meeting booked up weeks in advance with 1400 registered participants, up 40% over last year’s meeting in Boston.  A big portion of the attendees were those interested in entering the craft beer industry.  This type of surge has not been seen since the mid 1990’s.  Craft beer sales were up last year 7% while large domestics were down 1% and imports down 9% from the previous year.  The US beer scene has indeed changed in a big way.

Much of this change over the last 30 years can be credited to home brewing as the craft beer movement is inextricably linked to home brewing.  Many, if not most, craft brewers in the US began their brewing careers as home brewers tinkering in their kitchens, basements and garages.  The Brewers Association recognizes individuals who have contributed to craft brewing with three awards.  This year, all awards were presented to individuals who began their brewing careers at home.  Furthermore, the staff recognized by the award recipients began their careers with home brewing.

This year, the F.X. Matt Defense of the Industry Award was presented to Steve Hindy, Chairman and President of The Brooklyn Brewery.  Hindy recently testified in a Congressional hearing to communicate how state franchise laws can hinder the ability for small brewers to grow their businesses and how self-distribution is important to many small brewers to develop their access to market.  Steve began home brewing while working as a journalist in the Egypt and the Middle East.  Brooklyn Brewing is a great brewery with a passionate brewmaster, Garrett Oliver, who has made a real effort to elevate the perception of beer by pairing with food and noting how wine is often NOT the best companion to great food.  Garrett’s impeccable fashion sense was also noted, arguably the best dressed man in craft brewing (although Dan Carey of New Glarus has a killer pair of lederhosen!).

Larry Bell, founder and owner of Bell’s Brewery in Kalamazoo, Michigan, was awarded the Brewers Association Recognition Award.  Larry started his brewery in 1985 and was the first craft brewer east of the Mississippi.  In his acceptance speech Larry proclaimed [it was either becoming a licensed brewer or going to jail for selling home brew]!  He was being facetious with this statement (I think!), but the truth is that his brewery grew out of his homebrew supply shop.  Bell’s Brewery today brews more than 100,000 barrels per year.  Larry gave props to his staff, in particular John Mallett who has been instrumental in helping the brewery grow.  John has worked for several successful breweries as well as owning his own brewing equipment and consulting company.

The third award, The Russell Scherer Award for Innovation in Craft Brewing, was presented to Ken Grossman who founded and owns Sierra Nevada Brewing Company.  Ken is also a former recipient of the Brewers Association Recognition Award.  This year is the 30^th Anniversary for Sierra Nevada and one could easily argue that craft brewing in the US would be very, very different if Ken Grossman had not decided to open a small brewery in the back of his bike shop in1980.  Ken acknowledged his staff, in particular Steve Dresler who has been with Sierra Nevada since 1983.  Sierra Nevada is an incredible brewery and certainly deserves all of the acclaim they garner.  They also brew my "if I were stranded on a desert island" beer.

Congratulations to Steve Hindy, Larry Bell and Ken Grossman!  It’s amazing to me that there are now two generations of adults who grew up being exposed to craft beer when they became of legal drinking age.  I cut my teeth on craft beer beginning in 1986 when I was not of legal age and chose to pursue brewing as a career thanks to these three breweries and others.  The interest and passion that today’s craft beer consumer has about beer is amazing and will grown only stronger as the US craft brewing segment continues to grow.  Cheers to great beer!