The Brewers Association welcomed attendees to the 2022 Craft Brewers Conference & BrewExpo America from May 2 to 5 at the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minneapolis. The conference brought together professionals across the industry for educational seminars and workshops led by the top minds in the beer world.
As small and independent craft brewers head full force into 2022, CBC allowed them to connect with their colleagues and comrades to share ideas and learn about relevant topics.
In 2021, the overall craft beer industry grew 8%, lifted by the return of draft and at the-brewery traffic. They collectively produced 24.8 million barrels of beer, giving them a 13.1% market share. The number of craft breweries reached an all-time high of 9,118, the association says.
As 9,500 independent craft brewers poured into Minneapolis to build on this growth, this conference provided the resources to run breweries from top minds in the industry on topics like on-premise sales, packaging, consumer insights, export development and more, it notes.
The first general session on May 3 featured the Welcome Address and the State of the Industry from Bart Watson, chief economist for the Brewers Association. Featured speakers that day are were Jennifer Briggs, CEO of Modern Times Beer, and Douglass Miller, lecturer at Cornell University, who discussed leveraging technology to enhance the guest experience.
On May 4, Natalie Cilurzo, co-owner and president of Russian River Brewing Co., opened the general session. The day also featured Tim Wu, special assistant to the President Technology and Competition Policy National Economic Council, as a keynote address.
The 2023 Craft Brewers Conference & BrewExpo America will take place May 7-10 in Nashville, Tenn.
