The 2018 Craft Brewers Conference, hosted by the Brewers Association attracted over 14,000 industry members to the music city, also known as Nashville, Tenn. The VicinityBrew team had the pleasure of spending the week with all of our closest friends in the brewing industry. Check out a few of the highlights of our week!
1. BrewExpo America Trade Show
For the sixth consecutive year, our team attended the 2018 Craft Brewers Conference. Each year we are blown away by the growth and passion for the craft brewing industry. During the show, our team engaged
with prospective breweries and reconnected with our existing clients as we shared some of VicinityBrew’s latest development and overall feature set. The Craft Brewers Conference is an excellent opportunity for our team to connect and stay in tune with brewers current goals and how VicinityBrew software can deliver additional resources to them. We gained some valuable insight, and we were eager to bring that back with us to further develop our software to fit the needs of all brewers!
Some of the new development items from VicinityBrew included new browser-based data entry and reporting screens, production scheduling enhancements for material requirements planning (MRP), as well as a brand new screen featuring a Gantt chart display of interdependent batches.
Check out our latest blog on 2018 development for more information on these features.
2. Brewbound BrewTalks
2018 CBC Brew Talks at Nashville Underground
VicinityBrew Software was proud to sponsor this years’ Brewbound Brew Talks industry meet-up series for the fifth year in a row. At each meeting, Brewbound aims to foster events that help us “engage with like-minded professionals and network with fellow brewers, distributors, retailers, and investors.” This series focused on “Marketing Craft & Creating Experiences” and “Retail Strategies for Craft Brewer’s.” The guest panel for “Marketing Craft & Creating Experiences” consisted of Neal Stewart, VP of Marketing, Dogfish Head Companies, Natalie Gershon, VP of Marketing, Boulevard Brewing Company, and Jean-Claude Tetreault, Co-founder, Trillium Brewing Company.
“How do you maintain connections with employees as you grow? The most that I can do is have that direct connection with certain people… and have them translate and propagate out to the rest of the team.” -Trillium Brewing Company.
The second panel for “Retail Strategies for Craft Brewer’s” consisted of Sam Calagione, CEO, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Dave Duffy, VP Sales & Marketing, Brooklyn Brewery, Dave Williams, Director of Analytics, The BWC Company, and Charles Slezak, Senior Category Manager, Lowes Foods.
We were thrilled to be a part of such a memorable event with a poignant discussion about the current and future climate of the craft brewing industry. A donation of $7,000 from event proceeds went to the Tennessee Craft Brewers Guild.
3. Fat Bottom Brewing-Collaboration Nation
Image Credit: Fat Bottom Brewing
In honor of the Craft Brewers Conference, Fat Bottom Brewing, who also happens to be one of our amazing clients, crafted the beer experience Collaboration Nation. This collaborative project was intended to bring together breweries and product suppliers of all shapes and sizes from all over the United States together to create limited edition beers with a portion of each beers proceeds going to a charity of their choice. If you are interested in participating in the 2019 Collaboration Nation send an E-mail to Fat Bottom Brewing.
Participating Breweries:
Arts District Brewing Co. – Los Angeles, Calif.
Brewery Vivant – Grand Rapids, Mich.
Dark Sky Brewing – Flagstaff, Ariz.
Foothills Brewing Co.- Winston-Salem, N.C.
Goodwood Brewing Co. – Louisville, Ky.
Gun Hill Brewing Co. – Bronx, N.Y.
Monday Night Brewing – Atlanta, Ga.
Participating Suppliers:
Anton Parr- Ashland, Va.
BSG – Shakopee, Minn.
Hopsteiner – New York, N.Y.
Microstar Kegs – Denver, Colo.
Omega Yeast Labs – Chicago, Ill.
Oregon Fruit – Salem, Ore.
Strategic Partner:
Pink Boots Society
4. Pink Boots Annual Meeting
VicinityBrew had the pleasure of sponsoring and attending the Pink Boots Society Annual Meeting. The organization meets twice a year once during CBC, and also during The Great American Beer Festival (GABF). Our team had the opportunity to mingle with the women in attendance to catch up on recent Pink Boots Society efforts over the last year, including membership stats and a PIF (Pay it Forward) Presentation from Kim Collins, Founder, Owner, and Head Brewer of Guardian Brewing Company. Kim is a past recipient of the PSU Business of Craft Beverages Scholarship. Kim’s keynote was titled “How to Open A Brewery 1,000 Miles Away – Lessons in Education and Planning”. She talked about planning and preparation for a destination brewery and the struggles along the way. Her points were very encouraging, yet realistic to all women and fellow entrepreneurs in the room. The six-point keynote gave many fresh ideas that anyone could implement back at their breweries!
