“You do amazing!… I love what u do independently and as a community!” exclaimed Charlie Papazian, President of the Brewers Association, in his opening remarks of the 2011 Craft Brewers Conference in San Francisco on Thursday, March 24. The General Session/Keynote Speech featured the current growth of craft beer and the early days of craft beer. 10% of the 3900+ attendees were from outside the US – an indication of the small but present interest of American craft beer outside of the US.
Each year the Brewers Association selects a different city in which to hold the Craft Brewers Conference. This year it was held right here in San Francisco, California. Thanks to the Brewers Association both myself and Liz were given media access to cover this craft beer industry conference. The whole event was kicked off with a welcome reception at the California Academy of Science.
To chime in the New Year, we visited Shanghai, China and received a personal tour of Boxing Cat Brewery by the head brewer, Michael Jordan. While sampling some beer right from the fermenters, we learned insights about creating and offering an American craft product in China as well as the challenges of doing business as a foreigner in China.
For my second beer dinner of SF Beer Week, two friends, my wife, and I coordinated on which beer dinner to attend. We decided on the Sierra Nevada Dinner at Bar Crudo and it turned out to be a wonderful evening.
Last year for SF Beer Week I completely missed out on the beer dinner experience so I was eager and ready to sign up for at least two beer dinners. My first beer dinner of the week was on Monday, February 14, 2011 at The Summit for the Beer & Nosh Dinner, where my wife and I had a wonderful 7 course dinner.
Beer 47 in a Tumblr
