The 2016 Craft Brewers Conference & BrewExpo America took over the “City of Brotherly Love” May 3rd-6th at the Philadelphia Convention Center. This year’s festivities were “hoppin” to say the least with various events, brewery tours, meetings, conference sessions, seminars and the tradeshow itself. It’s safe to say that more than the 800 vendors and over 13,000 attendees all went home with a takeaway.
To no surprise, CBC delivered an impressive schedule including an inspiring keynote by Billy Beane, executive vice president of baseball operations for the Oakland A’s. In addition, the CBC recognized the top innovators, influencers and game changers within the craft brewing industry.
This year’s winners were:
- Brewers Association Recognition Award: Sam Calagione, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
- F.X. Matt Defense of the Craft Brewing Industry Award: Nick Matt, F.X. Matt Brewing Co.
- Russell Schehrer Award for Innovation in Craft Brewing: Jason Perkins, Allagash Brewing Co.
- Brewers Association Craft Beer Wholesaler of the Year: Odom Corporation, Coeur d’Alene, ID
The 2016 Craft Brewers Conference & BrewExpo America also executed the World Beer Cup! The World Beer Cup consists of brewers from 55 countries competing in “the Olympics of Beer.” This year an impressive 1,907 breweries entered 6,596 beers that were then submitted to a panel of over 200 judges from 31 countries!
See full list of this year’s winners here: World Beer Cup Results
Pennsylvania natives Victory Brewing were no strangers to CBC events this year, specifically hosting the event “Amber Waves”. Amber Waves featured over 20 breweries including Great Divide Brewing Co., Real Ale Brewing Co., Ska Brewing and Southern Tier Brewing Company. The event was also sponsored by two vendors that stood out to us during our time spent on the tradeshow floor: Ticketleap and Grandstand!
See below for a full list of vendors who caught our eye during the 2016 Craft Brewers Conference & BrewExpo America!
Ticketleap provides simple, easy-to-use ticketing to help make your event a success. With advanced features like customizable event pages, mobile ticketing, social integration, reserved seating, real-time analytics, and a complete POS solution, Ticketleap's simple yet powerful platform makes it easier than ever to create great experiences.
Grandstand Glassware & Apparel
Grandstand's mission is to provide quality products and creative branding that connect their passion and art to customers. Since 1988, we've partnered with over 3,000 craft brewers, providing branded glassware, custom apparel, promotional items and creative services. Nothing promotes your brand like personalized glassware and apparel. From printed beer growlers to custom apparel, Grandstand will make sure that you will always brand responsibly. When your brand is on our line, we put our reputation right beside it.
Beer Garden Furniture LLC offers quality German and European beer garden/bistro furniture and accessories. Table and bench sets in different lengths and table widths and beer garden/bistro tables and chairs are available with different table’s sizes and can be custom made in choice or colors. All furniture is folding for easy storage and transporting and can be used inside or outside.
Digital beer menus, showing off your beer info on any standard TV. Menu information also includes logos, glassware icons, color of beverage, ABV & IBU info, flavor icons and real time keg levels. Those keg level icons will bring people in when they see the beer they want is almost gone. The digital menus also highlight social media accounts & promote customer engagement to post on the menu. Using DigitalPour will save time when changing menu items by automatically updating the website, Facebook, send out a tweet and update your POS! This is an inventory management tool that will show sales analytics, keg level accuracy reports & value of loss.
The Shine Craft Vessel Company designs and manufactures premium growlers, barware and utilities for social excursions. Only design quality, function-driven products and use high end finishes that assure long term use.