For the 63rd year, the Brewers’ Association of America will convene small brewers from around the country to discuss issues facing the beer industry. This year’s conference will take place in New Orleans on November 14- 16.
Membership and involvement in the BAA from the craft brewing segment has increased dramatically in the last decade, and the conference now blends participants from a varied cross section of craft brewers, both small and large, along with regional ‘heritage’ brewers rich with history.
As in recent years, the conference will feature a number of speakers from outside the malt beverage industry. The speaker lineup for this year includes Ron Zappy of Zaps Potato Chips who will give a luncheon talk, Sam Boyer, a consultant with Boyer & Associates will discuss fractionalization of the industry, Bump Williams of Information Resources Inc. will give a talk titled “Making Markets by the Numbers” and the president of WineAmerica, David Sloane, will discuss the challenges that small wineries face.
There will also be speakers from within the malt beverage industry, most notable of which will be Norman Adamai, CEO of SABMiller who will give a luncheon speech. Other familiar names on the docket include Marc Sorini, legal counsel for the BAA, Charlie Bamforth, Professor of Malting and Brewing Sciences at the University of California, Davis, Robert Weinberg of R.S. Weinberg and Associates and Paul Romain, executive director of the Oregon Beer & Wine Distributors Association.