Just a portion of the 180 brewers and brewery professionals at our first annual Indiana Craft Brewers Conference. Lee Smith, Executive Director, smiles at left as Greg Emig, Board President and owner of Lafayette Brewing Co., welcomes attendees at the beginning of the educational sessions.
Brewers of Indiana Guild convened some of world’s foremost beer experts and industry professionals to discuss best practices in brewing and business
180 Indiana brewers and brewing professionals gathered this weekend in Bloomington for Brewers of Indiana Guild’s first Indiana Craft Brewers Conference. The conference offered educational sessions on best practices in brewing and management from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Saturday at Fourwinds Resort and Marina, as well as networking and beer-drinking opportunities across Bloomington on Friday and Saturday nights. (Big thanks to Upland, Bloomington Brewing Co., and Function Brewing for their hospitality!)
Brewing industry professionals–including renowned authors and brewers John Palmer and Stan Hieronymus; Master Officer of Indiana Excise Police, Scott Bedwell; and an array of brewing, legal and business experts–presented sessions ranging from “Quality Issues & Taste” (by Ron Smith) to “Is LOCAL the New IPA? and Other Thoughts About ‘Beer Fashion’” (Hieronymus). A variety of industry vendors and sponsors attended the event as well.
“By all accounts, the conference was a rousing success,” said Greg Emig, President of Brewers of Indiana Guild. “We’re looking forward to an even better event next year.”
On Sunday, Brewers of Indiana Guild, the non-profit trade association representing Indiana’s 100 craft breweries, held its annual meeting and board of directors elections after the conference. The following board members were up for re-election, and all were voted onto the board again: Roger Baylor (New Albanian Brewing Company), Nick Davidson (Tin Man Brewing Company), Jeff Eaton (Barley Island Brewing Company), Greg Emig (Lafayette Brewing Company), Jon Lang (Triton Brewing Company), DJ McCallister (Black Swan Brewpub), Justin Miller (Black Acre Brewery), Clay Robinson (Sun King Brewing Company), and Blaine Stuckey (Mad Anthony Brewing Company). New to the board are Shane Pearson (Daredevil Brewing Co) and Steve Llewellyn (Function Brewing). President Emeritus Ted Miller (Outliers Brewing, Brugge Brasserie) was also voted onto the board.
We haven’t yet determined the time and place of the next conference, but we are busy preparing for our next event, the fifth annual Bloomington Craft Beer Festival, on Saturday, April 11, 2015 at Woolery Mill in Bloomington. Tickets are on sale now at bloomingtonbeerfest.com. Ticket sales directly support our legislative, promotional and educational efforts for the Indiana craft brewing industry.
No comments yet.