Ashley Routson

Through The Wench’s Eyes: 2010 Craft Beer Conference & World Beer Cup Highlights

Exactly one week from now I was in Chicago, where I spent roughly 6 days partaking in the madness known as the 20120 Craft Brewers Conference and the 2010 World Cup.

Last week I reported back to you with highlights of my first two days — what I will refer to as “pre-conference” days. Tuesday night through Wednesday night, I engaged in what I will refer to as “unofficially official” CBC events.

In this article, I am going to highlight my experience during the official three days of the conference.

Brad & Ken of HopCast with The Beer Wench

As I noted in my last post, CBC took me by storm. It was not necessarily the amount of parties and after parties and beer consumption that killed me, it was just the overall length of each day, lack of sleep, lack of healthy eating and lack of water.

CBC is literally a marathon. Conference all day, events all night. No time for napping. Sleep too long, and you might miss something epic.

The major reason this year’s CBC differed from all others is because it was held in Chicago. And apparently they don’t sleep in Chicago. Bars stay open until at least 4am, greasy spoon diners are open 24/7, and even some public transportation runs non-stop.

New Brew Thursday Video Shoot at Half Acre

Thursday morning was pretty rough. I stayed at a friend’s place somewhere not near the Sheraton, where the event was being held. After sleeping in a bit too late, I finally found myself sitting on a crowded bus on the way to the conference, for what seemed like an eternity.

When I arrived, the hotel lobby was buzzing with all sorts of industry folks — brewers, brewery owners, beer writers, exhibitionist and presenters. The event took up 4 floors in the hotel. The trade show was on the basement floor, the other exhibitors and hospitality rooms were on the second floor, the lobby and bar was on the third floor, and the seminar rooms were on the fourth floor. Beer was on every floor. Food was on almost every floor.

Todd Parker of Copper Canyon & The Beer Wench

Prior to arriving, I was told from CBC veterans that the CBC is actually not what happens during the conference, but outside of the conference. However, I was determined to put my geek hat on and check out the trade floor and the seminars.

Upon arriving I scoped out the “scene” and the seminar schedule. I took a buzz around the exhibitor floor, where I ran into my friend Ray Daniels and checked out the Cicerone table. I was impressed to hear so many breweries talk about intentions of getting entire staffs Cicerone certified.

After swinging around that floor, I hit the basement to check out all of the new brewery gadgets and gismos. Saw lots of innovative canning lines, new bottle styles, kegging supplies, and endless pieces of brewing equipment.

But instead of telling you step by step everything I saw, everything I ate and drank, and everyone I met. I will just break down the highlights (similar to what my colleague Michael has done).

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SEMINAR HIGHLIGHTS

Social Marketing: Creating Community In Real Time

Bob Morehouse, Vermillion, Inc. — “How do you use the rapidly evolving social media sphere to your advantage?”

Where do I begin? This seminar was awesome because several salient brands and personalities from social media were present for the talk. Personally, I got nothing from it because, well quite frankly, I am a social media addict. The presenters mostly showed case studies of breweries that were using social media well. I was disappointed that the speakers did illustrate HOW to use social media tools. Social Media 101 was definitely lacking in the presentation. Two other VERY important aspects of social media — beer blogs and beer forums — were not even discussed.

I did, however, get a shout out from Greg Koch about a hashtag I started with New Brew Thursday at Stone World Bistro (#gregface).

A Wee Humble Pub: A Simple, Less Expensive Way to Own, Start and Run Your Own Brewery

Tom Hennessy, Colorado Boy Pub & Brewery

Being that running a brewpub is one career path that interests me, this seminar was quite insightful. If I was ever to follow through on opening up my own establishment, I would definitely look to Tom for guidance. Tom spoke about:

• How to take over an exisiting restaurant to save time, money & headaches.
• How to put together a brewing system that will cost thousands less than you would expect to spend
• How to implement a “killer” business system to operate your brewery so you can make money and still have a life

Toothpicks, Chalk & Garlic: Three Key Ingredients to Any Brewery’s Barrel-Aged Sour Beer Program

Vinnie Cilurzo, Russian River Brewing Company

This was by far the most interesting and compelling (and popular) seminar of CBC. A common phrase during CBC was “Sour is the new Hoppy.” But then, this is not news to you or I. Vinnie talked in-depth about Brettanomyces and other various bacterias, fermentation in barrels, the addition of fruit during fermentation, cleaning and storing of barrels, bottling and so on and so forth.

He also told us a few secrets. The best way to patch a barrel? With toothpicks, chalk and garlic! The best way to pull barrel samples? Steel nails … but when tasting alone, put and extra nail in your pocket in case you drop it.

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EVENT HIGHLIGHTS

DOGFLOYDAPALOOZA 2

Place: Bottom Lounge, Volcano Room & Patio

About: Rare opportunity to enjoy the specialty beers of Dogfish Head Brewery in Milton, Delaware and Three Floyds Brewing Co. in Munster, Indiana, in the company of brewers Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head and Nick Floyd of Three Floyds. 10 special beers, 5 from each brewry, were on draft.

Highlights: By far the highlight of my night was busting a move on the dance floor with Sam Calagione. Other highlights include seeing Sean Paxton The Homebrew Chef, David Bulher of Elysian, Sebbie Bulher of Rogue, Mike Miller the owner of Bottom Lounge, Steve Caton and Ken McMullen of Limestone Brewing, Greg Koch of Stone … and so many others.

GOOSE ISLAND BEER COMPANY BEER & FOOD OPEN HOUSE

Place: Goose Island Fulton Brewery

About: Goose Island Beer Company is opened it’s brewery doors and invited CBC attendees to experience its beers paired with nine of Chicago’s finest chefs. They paired their reserve beers with food from C-House, The Gage, Urban Belly, Nightwood, The Bristol, Vie, Primehouse and The Publican. They also paired 12 versions of Bourbon County Stout with desserts from Hot Chocolate.

Highlights: My group ended up arriving just a hair too late and missing out on all the food. I camped out at the sour table for pretty much the entire time. However, I did sample some of the Bourbon-aged beers.

CBC LATE NIGHT AT ROCK BOTTOM BREWERY

Place: Rock Bottom Brewery, Chicago

About: The Illinois Craft Brewers Guild, in conjunction with Country Malt Group, offered a late night gathering spot for this year’s CBC attendees at the Rock Bottom Brewery in downtown Chicago, just a few blocks from the Sheraton. Over 80 beers from Illinois and beyond were on tap and real Chicago-style dogs were provided.

Highlights: Not going to lie, I was pretty toasted by the time I arrived. And I’m pretty sure that I was a bit rowdy. I did drink my fair share of Heartwood Symposium Ale, a collaboration of fifteen Illinois breweries, though. Also, I ran into my friend Jason Oliver from Devil’s Backbone Brewpub and Brewery, which was a total highlight.

THE NEW HOLLAND & NEW BELGIUM BEER DINNER

Where: The Publican

About: Chef Paul Kahan and his crew presented a six-course dinner paired with beers from Michigan’s New Holland Brewing Company and Colorado’s New Belgium Brewing Company, including a unique “blending course” that combined beer from both breweries.

Menu included: Kushi Oysters with pine mignonette and New Holland Mad Hatter IPA; shrimp with slow toasted garlic, fried plantains and wild onions, and New Belgium Abbey Ale; artichokes & burrata and New Belgium Bier de Mars; rillettes & buckwheat crepes and New Holland Envious; grilled game and New Holland’s Charkoota Rye and New Belgium’s La Folie; and, bunuelos and New Belgium’s LeFleur Trans Atlantic Kriek alongside New Holland’s El Mole Ocho.

Highlights: I was humbled to have received an invite from Fred Bueltmann of New Holland for the “Eat with the Brewers” seating. Little did I know how freaking amazing it would be. I ended up sitting at, what I like to refer to as, the rockstar table. To my right was Peter Bouckaert, brewmaster of New Belgium. To my left was Fred Bueltmann, Partner of New Holland. Across the table was Kim Jordan, CEO of New Belgium, and Dick Cantwell, brewmaster at Elysian. Throughout the dinner, our group had the pleasure of being visited by the entertaining and hell raisin’ brewmaster of New Holland, John Haggerty. And if things weren’t cool enough, I got to meet to the Master Chef himself — Paul Kahan — at an after hours party. Talk about one EPIC evening. For the entire review, read my article at The World of Beer.

CBC WORLD BEER CUP GALA DINNER

Place: Sheraton Hotel

About: The World’s largest beer dinner, ever. Around 2,000 people turned out and around 10,000 plates were served. The dinner was the brainchild of The Homebrew Chef, Sean Paxton. Every aspect of every dish incorporated beer, or an ingredient from beer. Following the dinner was the 2010 World Beer Cup Awards Ceremony. Jay Brooks of The Brookston Bulletin has written up one of the most all encompassing and thorough write-ups about the night HERE.

Food Highlights: The beers were amazing, the food was amazing. What can I say? MY favorite pairing of the night was the soup course:

• CREAM OF PEARL BARLEY SOUP – Pearl barley cooked in vegetable stock and amber wort, topped with herb infused wild mushrooms, black truffle creme fraiche and drizzled with a Sazz hop steeped olive oil.
• PAIRED WITH — Bell’s Brown Porter
• VERDICT — The high-attenuation and dryness of Bell’s Porter really cut through the velvety richness of the soup. The porter cleansed the palate so well, every bite of soup tasted like the first!

Event Highlights: Once again, I found myself at a celebrity table. But then, what table is a “rockstar” tale at such an event? Right? I was honored to dine with the likes of Ray Daniels from the Cicerone, Jonathan Surrat and Chris Staten of DRAFT magazine.

Award Highlights: Award ceremonies are always exciting. I was particularly excited that Ballast Point won World Beer Cup 2010 Champion Brewery and Brewmaster in the Small Brewery category, and Jason Oliver from Devil’s Backbone won World Beer Cup 2010 Champion Brewery and Brewmaster in the Small Brewpub category.

CBC WORLD BEER CUP AFTER PARTY

Place: The Bottom Lounge

About: Bottom Lounge is hosted the CBC World Beer Cup After Party with the Beer Nuts playing at 1 am.

Highlights: I had the honor of riding to the after party in Niko of 21st Amendment’s limo with the man of the night, Sean Paxton, and a few other fellow West Coasters, including Jamie Floyd — brewmaster and owner of Ninkasi. Thanks to Fred Bueltmann of New Holland, I had a VIP wrist band that allowed me to drink for free all night. Which was probably not for the best, but then … yeah. The Beer Nuts were an amazing band. And then there was a burlesque show. And … we will just leave that night at that.

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Overall, the entire experience is one that I will never forget (even if some of it is pretty hazy). I will never forget how hilarious, yet frightening, it was to wake up fully clothed, still wearing my shoes on top of the covers on my hotel bed. But I did have enough sense to plug in my phone.

There is one thing I know for certain, I will use everything in my power to make it to the CBC 2011. And 2012. And 2013. And so on and so forth!

Cheers!

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