Media Release

Updated inaugural Australian Craft Brewers’ Conference programme

15 April 2014

The Craft Beer Industry Association is today happy to release the updated programme for its second annual Australian Craft Brewers’ Conference. (Download it here.)

The CBIA Australian Craft Brewers’ Conference, to be held on Wednesday the 21st and Thursday the 22nd of May, will be a highlight of this year’s Good Beer Week in Melbourne.

The venue will be the Melbourne Arts Centre’s ANZ Pavilion, located at 100 St Kilda Road, just a short walk from Flinders Street station and Federation Square.

On launching the programme CBIA Chair Dave Bonighton spoke of his excitement for this year’s event.

“For ACBC 2014 we have set the bar high for ourselves. We have secured a great new venue and the programme is top class. Our committee has spent many months working on this, trying to find ways to improve on what we did last year and we think we have done that,” said Bonighton.

“Chief among these changes is the introduction of a keynote address to kick of proceedings. We are extremely fortunate that industry pioneer and legend Phil Sexton has agreed to deliver the inaugural ACBC Keynote,” said Bonighton.

“Our industry owes Phil a debt of gratitude for the work he did in establishing craft beer in Australia and we look forward to hearing his views on where we came from and where he sees us heading.”

“We have also included more multi-person presentations this year in order to increase the variety of voices being heard,” said Bonighton.

ACBC 2014 continues its commitment to offering a diversity of content that is appropriate to all sectors of the industry.

Technical brewing presentations will include hour-long panels on hop and malt innovations and a presentation on yeast by the head brewer at the world famous Weihenstephan Brewery, Frank Peifer.

Industry leaders in the area of sales and marketing will present on ­topics including managing relationships with large retailers, exporting and social media.

The interactive panels that generated so much discussion last year will also return for the final session of each day.

Another innovation for this year’s conference is a breakout room that will be the venue for a series of roundtable discussions.

“These will be limited to about a dozen people and will enable much more detailed discussions about some niche areas of our industry,” said Bonighton.

Also returning will be the ACBC Tradeshow, presenting attendees with an excellent opportunity to interact with a number of industry suppliers.

Tickets for the CBIA Australian Craft Brewers’ Conference will be $200 (+ booking fee) for CBIA members and $350 (+ booking fee) for non-members. This includes entry both days and catered lunches.

Tickets are on sale today via the Good Beer Week website.

Australian Craft Brewers’ Conference programme

WEDNESDAY 21 MAY

8.00 REGISTRATION

9.30 WELCOME
DAVE BONIGHTON: CBIA Chair
10.00 THE THOUGHTS OF A CRAFT BEER PIONEER
PHIL SEXTON

10.30 BRANDING CRAFT: AN OVERVIEW OF ACADEMIC RESEARCH
DR TORGEIR ALETI

11.00 MORNING TEA

11.30 THE BIG 3 OF LAB ANALYSIS
WARREN PAWSEY: Little Creatures
DR PETER ALDRED: Federation University Australia
PAUL HOLGATE: Holgate Brewhouse

12.00 THE FUTURE OF MALT
DOUG MICHAEL: Gladfield Malt
PAUL RIGONI: Barett Burston Malting
ROB WICKS: Joe White Maltings
MODERATOR: CHUCK HAHN: Malt Shovel

1:00 LUNCH

2:00 KNOW YOUR NUMBERS
ANDREW BAIRD: Crowe Horwath Australia
TRENT ADAMIS: Crowe Horwath Australia

2.30 SOCIAL MEDIA: STRATEGY THAT LEADS TO ACTION
ANGIE BRADBURY: Dig & Fish

3.00AFTERNOON TEA

3.30BREWERY START UPS: HOW TO MAKE IT A DREAM COME TRUE NOT A NIGHTMARE
MATT HOUGHTON: Boatrocker
JAYNE LEWIS: Two Birds Brewing
IAN ATKINS: Young Henrys

4.00DRAUGHT QUALITY: THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM
BRAD MURRAY: Brewtique
LACHIE MACBEAN: Grainfed
SIOBHAN KERIN

4.45 FINISH

THURSDAY 22 MAY

9.15WELCOME BACK

9.20THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF PINK BOOKS SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS
JAYNE LEWIS: Pink Boots Australia

9.30EXPORTING: ARE WE READY?
CAM HINES: Mountain Goat

10.00YEAST MANAGEMENT: HANDLE WITH CARE
FRANK PEIFER: Weihenstephan

10.30PLAYING WITH THE BIG BOYS
ROSS JURISICH: Stone & Wood
IAN KINGHAM: Woolworths
BEN KRAUS: Bridge Road Brewers

11.00MORNING TEA

11.30HOW TO SELL CRAFT BEER TO THE UNDECIDED?
TOM DELMONT: Mountain Goat
STEVE FINNEY: Feral

12.00TROUBLE BREWING: THE KEY REASONS WHY SAFETY NEEDS TO BE YOUR FIRST INGREDIENT
JESS FLETCHER: Hall & Wilcox Lawyers

12.30 THE FUTURE IS IN THE CAN
MATT BEBE: Mornington Peninsula Brewery
NEAL CAMERON: The Australian Brewery

1.00 LUNCH

2.00UNDERSTANDING THE REGULATORY AND QUALITY ISSUES OF GROWLERS
MAL BARTLETT: National Measurement Institute
CARALINE HILL: ATO
RICHARD ADAMSON: Young Henry

2.30 THE FUTURE OF HOPS
OWEN JOHNSTON: Hop Products Australia
DOUG DONELAN: New Zealand Hops
MODERATOR: BRENDAN VARIS: Feral

3.30 AFTERNOON TEA

4.00 OPPORTUNITIES, CHALLENGES AND THE FUTURE OF CRAFT BEER IN AUSTRALIA
PETE WILLIS: Hawthorn Brewing
GRANT DOW: True South
STEVE BROCKMAN
BLAIR HAYDEN: The Lord Nelson Brewery Hotel

4.45 FINISH