Per Matt
For only the second time, ever, Nashville, Tennessee hosted the Craft Brewers Conference and BrewExpo America trade show. From May 8th to the 10th, thousands of brewers and brewing industry representatives poured into Music City, bringing an energy (and spending their tourism money) to the downtown district. It was a busy timeframe, as Janet Jackson had just performed, Trevor Noah did a comedy show, Oprah Winfrey gave the commencement speech at TSU’s graduation ceremonies and Taylor Swift occupied Nissan Stadium for three days, but there was plenty of room for everyone interested in participating in the ongoing festivities.
As a homegrown local currently working within the craft beer industry, it was truly an honor for the Brewers Association to bring back CBC to Middle Tennessee. There was absolutely no way I could afford to miss this opportunity to expand my knowledge and mingle with my peers while having a great time in the process, which just happened to be taking place on my own turf.
Sunday was technically the preview night, so after checking in at the Music City Center, I meandered over to Yee Haw Brewing for Proximity Malt’s Nash Bash — this was a special invite-only dinner with guest speaker Steve Dresler, who gave a great slide presentation, discussing his early days as the Sierra Nevada brewmaster. The collaboration beer release was a red rye IPA that was enjoyed with Mexican food. As the rain began to fall, I retreated over to the convention center to catch the very end of the German Hops Meet Lager Beers session and then the First-Time Attendees meetup, which was briefly delayed due to lightning. Unfortunately, the outdoor Welcome Reception was canceled due to bad weather, but all of the intended food was donated to local charities, so that was a good thing.
Monday was the official first day of CBC, which began in earnest by seeking parking. As a local, I already knew downtown lots would be outrageously priced, so I managed to find a prime spot outside one of my favorite breweries (New Heights), which was located about a mile away. I don’t mind hoofing it when the weather’s kinda cool, and by the time I’d returned to the big show, the Attendee & Exhibitor Breakfast was in full force. I’ve got to hand it to the BA, this is a much needed and well-planned experience. Having multiple buffet-style food tables set up for thousands of people to attack their morning before heading out to different events moved like clockwork. Everyone involved did a great job (Monday through Wednesday).
I felt the need to attend the Welcome/State of the Industry presentation, which was highlighted by four annual awards (including the F.X. Matt Defense of the Craft Brewing Industry Award, the Russell Schehrer Award for Innovation in Craft Brewing, the Brewers Association Recognition Award, and the Brewers Association Mentor of the Year Award), and BA Chief Economist Bart Watson’s informative deep dive into the state of the industry. A panel of leaders closed the session discussing multiple challenges and opportunities within the industry, while defining beer as “America’s beverage.”
CBC ’23 was a very busy four-day event at the Music City Center. Photo Courtesy: Brewers Association.
That was a lot of important information to consume so early in the morning, but it was all worth it. I definitely needed to stretch my legs afterward, so I managed to chew the fat at the Start a Brewery Lounge, as well at the BA booth, discussing all of my options in trying to open a brewery within a dry county (yes, that’s somehow still a thing within the 21st century). And then it was time to throw all of my plans aside to venture onto the vendor room, which was absolutely massive.
If you can imagine thousands of beer professionals gathered in one place to conduct business while enjoying a craft beer or two, then you’ve come to the right place. It’s absolutely mind blowing, all of the different things that were happening within this consolidated area. You want to discuss purchasing new brewing equipment while learning about the latest hop-growing techniques and how that will affect the year’s upcoming crops? You’ve got it. You wanna explore Cicerone certification plans for all of your employees while choosing a new malting company? That’s available. What about mining the details of puree production and choosing a craft clothing distributor? It’s all there… and more, so much more.
Raw Ingredient Storage and Best Practices may not sound like the most riveting of panel discussions, but when the speakers include an influential sales manager overseeing multiple large malting companies, the Co-Founder of Creature Comforts Brewing, the Director of Sales for Yakima Chief Hops and the President/CEO of White Labs, you make sure to take notes. I got a lot of valuable information from this panel, alone. After another round through the trade show, my day was complete.
Back at it on Day 2 and I made a point to start meaningful (to me, at least) discussions with many different vendors. I reconnected with a former instructor at the Siebel Institution of Technology table. I quizzed some Cicerone volunteers about the best studying techniques (I’ve got to retake my Certified test ASAP), as well as topic-specific talks at the Crosby Hops and Yakima Chief Hops lounges. I even managed to chat up brewery relations with the PrideBites crew.
The day’s main lecture focused on a topic near and dear to my heart: Beer and the Origins of Civilization. Dr. Edward Slingerland’s presentation involved historical, psychological, genetic and archaeological information that was second to none. There would definitely be no human civilization within our world without intoxication, and beer plays a major role in building our society. After swinging by the Best Brands Hospitality Suite, I wrapped up the day by running into some friends at the Homebrewing Enthusiasts Meetup, who encouraged my brewing pursuits.
Tri Star Blonde Ale was the official CBC beer, brewed by the TN Craft Brewers Guild. Photo Courtesy: Brewers Association.
Earlier that afternoon, there was a screening for the Black is Beautiful documentary, followed by a roundtable discussion with Marcus Baskerville, co-founder and head brewer of Weathered Souls Brewing Co. in San Antonio, TX, who started the collaborative brewing campaign post-pandemic in order to bring awareness to the injustices that many people of color face. With an open-sourced imperial stout recipe, the initiative was launched in 2020, encouraging breweries to collaborate and donate its proceeds locally, in order to become allies to this underserved community.
I received an incomplete screener of this movie before the conference by BiB Producer-Director Marco Ortega for media review, and even got a quick email interview with him (more details can be found HERE), discussing the doc’s details. Clocking in with a run time of 32.5 minutes, it isn’t overlong or overly complex, but it does highlight growing the industry and nurturing the next generation, which is a very good thing.
I didn’t get the opportunity to interview Marcus before the conference, but I was hoping to ask him a few questions for clarity. There’s a couple of scenes in the film involving Black Lives Matter. Early on in the initiative, I had heard rumblings that Black is Beautiful was initially started to raise money for BLM, but the topic’s never addressed in the film. It’s obvious the campaign was part of a civil rights movement, and I realize Marcus and Weathered souls chose the 100 Black Men chapter in San Antonio as their main beneficiary — which provides a service as being strong role models within the community — but I was really curious to ask him if any of his proceeds actually supported the group.
As of 2023, the Black is Beautiful initiative has raised more than $4.5 million going toward social justice reform with more than 1,500 breweries participating worldwide, which is a very good thing, and the initiative continues today, but that kind of message can definitely be politically polarizing. Overall, I thought the BiB documentary was informative, entertaining and encouraging, providing hope for the industry at large.
This film was made possible through grants from San Antonio’s Arts and Culture Department, as well as The Brewers Association through its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion program, and the financial support of friends, family and anonymous donors. I would really enjoy watching more documentaries focused within the craft brewing industry every year and would greatly encourage all filmmakers, as well as industry organizations, to step up their efforts to help make this happen.
One overdue topic that needs highlighting would be Other Half Brewing’s successful All Together open-source recipe, which was meant to raise funds for out-of-work hospitality professionals during the very early days of the worldwide pandemic. Without the work of Other Half, Weathered Souls might never have followed the template to success. I definitely supported both causes.
On Wednesday, the final day of the show, I was playing catch up, speaking to attendees and vendors I hadn’t already gotten around to. I finally met up with author Em Sauter, whose art is both fun and informative, often highlighting her brewing education. I’d like to see her host a panel discussion at a future CBC, possibly detailing how to bring creativity to your brewery’s social–media presence in order to connect with followers.
The day’s highlight was attending the session entitled Tasting and Making Thiols. Not having much first-hand experience with yeast strains that promote the release of thiols, I was encouraged by the lesson and comparison tasting, which broke down the complex flavor characteristics that were imparted by not just yeast, but also malts. Additionally, this course was co-authored by Dr. Laura Burns, who happens to be my previous boss, so there was definitely some familiarity there.
While super technical in nature (both presenters hold advanced chemistry degrees), this session was approachable from a general perspective, which I could definitely relate to. While time ran short on the presentation due to the fact the overfilled audience had to retrieve beer samples before it could begin, I’d REALLY like to see more offerings just like this in future shows (but maybe these types of sessions could open the conference with a little more flexible timeframe, not end the show with limited time available).
The World Beer Cup awarded the industry’s winners at the conclusion of CBC ’23. Photo Courtesy: Brewers Association.
One of the biggest draws to CBC is the World Beer Cup, which is a judged beer competition held behind closed doors both before and during the trade show taking place over 18 sessions throughout nine days. A panel of 272 judges from 26 countries evaluated 10,213 entries from 2,376 breweries representing 51 countries in order to award gold, silver and bronze awards for the best beers in 103 beer categories covering 176 different beer styles (including all subcategories). I was really looking forward to attending the awards ceremony, however it didn’t begin until an hour after the trade show officially closed, which brings me to my biggest complaint of the entire event…
As a local working within the industry, there were so many great events lined up, I couldn’t possibly attend them all, which was unfortunate, but when so many of the evening’s activities don’t start for at least one to two hours after the trade show officially closes for the day, the bad timing totally locked me out from attending any of them. After speaking to a couple of vendor reps about the planning of after-hours activities, the sponsoring companies seem to be well meaning, hoping attendees will leave the conference and grab a meal before returning to alcohol-related events, but instead, the scheduling only works in favor of the visiting out of towners.
Could I have ventured out to all the tourist traps on Broadway to spend my hard-earned money before returning to these events? Sure, but as a local, that’s far from the top of my to-do list. I’d rather sit in stop-and-go rush-hour traffic and fall asleep at a decent time in my own bed than deal with that headache. As a result, I didn’t attend any scheduled after-hours event, including the WBC awards ceremony, which was heartbreaking. I was really looking forward to that one. I only hope that future shows will remotely attempt to host earlier evening events outside the host city’s convention center. I can promise they’ll be attended. Late nights are definitely not fun for everyone.
In speaking to some of the Music City Center’s employees, it was interesting to learn that this year’s CBC was the quickest turnaround for a trade show to return to the Nashville convention center for a second time. Ever. Now, the MCC’s existence doesn’t have a super long and storied history (it officially opened 10 years ago), but that proves the not-for-profit trade association truly values what Nashville has to offer. I truly hope that other industry events take note.
Overall, on behalf of the 600-plus exhibitors and the more than 10,000 registered attendees who walked the halls and attended the various sessions (as well as brought their tax-spending money to support our local economy), I’d like to proclaim the 2023 Craft Brewers Conference a smashing success. Much was learned, enjoyed and valued by this craft beer afficionado throughout the entire process. While homebrewing brings hope for the future of the industry, craft beer is definitely enjoying its moment in the sun, while having a whole lot of fun.
And speaking of homebrewers, I truly hope that Homebrew Con will finally debut in Music City at some point in the near future, since the conference’s previously scheduled appearance in Tennessee was derailed by the pandemic, with seemingly no plans to reschedule. Hopefully, the BA leadership of the American Homebrewers Association can inform the group of CBC’s success this year and the conference will finally make an appearance in downtown Nashville!