Registration for Craft Brewers Conference (CBC) and BrewExpo America will open on January 11, the Brewers Association (BA) announced.
The conference, the country’s largest gathering of employees of the craft beer industry, will take place May 2-5 at the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minneapolis.
“The Craft Brewers Conference delivers concentrated, affordable brewing education and idea sharing to improve brewery quality and performance,” the BA wrote in a press release. “More than 11,000 brewing industry professionals will have the opportunity to meet with 500 exhibitors and hear from a wide range of speakers during seminars across eight different relevant educational tracks ranging from brewery operations to sustainability and government affairs.”
Attendees, exhibitors and staff will be required to show proof of vaccination against COVID-19 or provide the negative result of a test taken within 72 hours of arrival, according to the health and safety page of the CBC website. In November, the BA had considered excluding a negative test option for unvaccinated people to attend its 2022 events, but ultimately backed away from that requirement. In addition to CBC, the BA’s signature events include:
- SAVOR: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience, June 24, in Washington, D.C.;
- HomebrewCon, June 23-25, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania;
- And the Great American Beer Festival, October 6-8, in Denver, Colorado.
CBC attendees will not be required to provide proof of vaccination at the time of registration, and the BA has tapped Health Pass by Clear as its verification partner. Health Pass by Clear is an app-based system to verify COVID-19 vaccination status, upload negative test results or complete health surveys. Several sports venues use the system to check vaccination status for spectators, including New York City’s Madison Square Garden and Yankee Stadium, San Francisco’s Oracle Park, Denver’s Coors Field and Minneapolis’ Target Field.
The annual conference, which includes the BrewAmerica Expo and several official and unofficial social gatherings, centers around its educational seminars, which are classified into eight tracks for 2022:
- Brewing operations and beer styles;
- Business and leadership;
- Craft beer culture;
- Government affairs and export development;
- Quality and ingredients;
- Safety and sustainability;
- Sales, distribution and marketing;
- Taprooms and brewpubs.
World Beer Cup, the BA’s 26-year-old biannual global beer competition, will return in 2022. The 2020 edition was canceled due to the pandemic. The BA predicts that this year will be “the most competitive to date with more than 11,000 entries anticipated.” Winners will be announced in a May 5 award ceremony during CBC.
Registration fees vary by brewery size, BA membership status and date of registration. Early bird pricing will be offered January 11-March 1 and ranges from $299 for BA member breweries with production volume up to 1,000 barrels to $1,209 for non-members. Regular pricing will be offered from March 2-April 29 and ranges from $499 for the smallest member breweries to $1,509 for non-members. Onsite pricing will be in effect from April 30-May 5 and ranges from $599 for the smallest member breweries to $1,659 for non-members.
Last year, CBC took place in September, rather than its original target date in late March, due to concerns about the spread of COVID-19. Masks were required and attendees used color-coded stickers on their badges to indicate their level of comfort with in-person interaction.
In 2020, the BA was forced to cancel the in-person versions of all four of its signature events, but pivoted quickly to host virtual versions of CBC and HomebrewCon. The BA hosted the competition portion of GABF in both 2020 and 2021, but the in-person festival was canceled both years due to health concerns. Instead, breweries participated in a month-long passport program for consumers coordinated by the BA.
Prior to the pandemic, events — which include ticket sales, sponsorships and advertising sales — were the BA’s largest revenue source, totaling $16,173,153 in 2019, according to the organization’s stewardship report. In 2020, event revenue declined 89.5%, to $1,702,215. Advertising and sponsorship revenue totaled $1,982,023 in 2020, a 57.3% decline compared to the $4,648,272 generated in 2019.
A nearly 90% decline of its largest revenue source forced the BA to eliminate the jobs of nearly 40% of its staff in two separate layoffs in 2020.