European Beer Bloggers Conference – Edinburgh, Scotland

The word “conference” used to conjure painful memories; a reminder of long boring seminars in my prior 10+ years of business careers,  where I suffered through lectures on sales, employment law, performance management and how to be a company leader. Fortunately, the Beer Bloggers Conference has forever changed my view…

First Impressions..Wow!

The conference was based at the Ghillie Dhu, a traditional Scottish pub near to Edinburgh’s Princes Street. An ideal location for a beer conference, the pub had character both inside and out.

Outside, the sandstone exterior was beautiful and blended in well with other notable Edinburgh architecture.

Inside, we proceeded up a wide, curved staircase and ventured into a spacious event space with vaulted ceilings, candle-lit chandeliers (that made me feel like I was a part of the “Phantom of the Opera”), and beer – lots of it! Brewers each had their own individual display table filled with specialty beers, flyers and other material they showcased to educate us on their beer.

Jim holding a bottle of Sam Adams “Utopia” – one of our tastings at the conference start

A weekend of useful advice from reputable Brewers

Brooklyn Brewery Brewmaster Garrett Oliver addressing conference attendees

A keynote speech from Brewmaster Garrett Oliver of Brooklyn Brewery kicked off the event. When we lived in New York City, Jim and I spent many Saturday afternoons at the picnic tables inside the brewery where we met up with friends and drank some great craft beer. It was therefore interesting to hear from the Brewmaster firsthand. Brooklyn Brewery celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. Their beer is now in approximately 25 states and 20 countries, and they are currently undergoing a major expansion to double their overall production, as well as opening a new facility in Sweden, a clear sign their mark in the craft beer industry is strong.

Our Friday night dinner was hosted by Pilsner Urquell, and it was enjoyable to hear their Brewmaster, Vaclav Berka, speak. His passion for beer is evident in all of his speeches and actions. Now that I’ve met Vaclav in person, I am much more inclined to order a Pilsner Urquell beer whenever it’s available to me.

One of the highlights for me was meeting Bruno Carilli, the founder of Birra Toccalmatto, a brewery business that started in 2008.  I’ve only recently gained more understanding on the Italian brewing scene (my previous posts about The Rake craft beer bar & Il Birratrovo beer shop describe when we first discovered Birra Toccalmatto), but every single one of the beers that I’ve tried from Birra Toccalmatto has been outstanding! Bruno’s success alone proves that the Italian brewers are making high quality craft beer, and that they deserve to be recognized as serious players in the craft beer marketplace. His “Surfin hop” beer was by far my favorite among our live beer blogging sampling session on Saturday afternoon.

Bruno Carilli (founder of Birra Toccalmatto) and I

Personal Inspiration from Stewart Brewing Owners

The Friday night dinner sponsored by Pilsner Urquell would have been enough, but as an added bonus there was an after dinner party at Stewart Brewing on the outskirts of Edinburgh. (For those interested, Jim will be writing a more detailed post on Stewart Brewing in the coming weeks).

Steve (one of the Stewart Brewing owners) and Vaclav (Pilsner Urquell brewmaster)

Founded in 2004 by husband and wife team Steve and Jo Stewart, Stewart Brewing is now recognized as one of Scotland’s notable breweries.  We were lucky to be some of the first guests to their brand new 30 barrel brewhouse. Steve shared the brewery’s history with the group and we had the chance to get a personal tour of the brewery as well as enjoy some great beer on site. I had a wonderful conversation with Jo about their trials and accomplishments throughout their early years as a new business.  On our way back to Edinburgh, Jim and I were excited as we discussed commonalities in Steve and Jo’s story to our own personal situation.

At Stewart Brewing’s brand new facility

Jo and Steve, we can’t thank you enough for sharing your story and for the inspiration. We’re now more determined than ever to develop our plan and pursue our own dreams of entrepreneurship in a beer-related operation!

Friendships with like-minded people 

Beginning with a pub crawl on Thursday evening and continuing on until the Saturday night closing dinner, I could not have expected to develop better friendships or meet more wonderful writers and brewers. Too many names to say, but if you’re one of those reading this post….stay in touch and I look forward to keeping up to date with your future work in the beer industry!

Beer, beer and more beer

No surprise that there was plenty of beer poured last weekend over the duration of the conference…

In addition to the breweries noted above, I gained a better understanding about a few of the English brewers including Badger Ales, Shepherd Neame, and Ilkley Brewery. As a  result of this conference, I have a much better appreciation of their history and beer and hope to visit their breweries throughout the remainder of our time in England.

Similarly, I was happy to have the opportunity to sample quality beer from Williams Brothers, Fyne Ales, Innis & Gunn, Inveralmond Brewery, Traquair Brewery, West Beer and Harviestoun Brewery in Scotland.  I was not very familiar with any of these breweries before the conference, but after tasting their beers and hearing from some of their owners firsthand, I will surely be following their future success.

Jim & I at the Edinburgh City Chambers after our Friday night dinner

Amazing conference. Both rewarding and inspiring.  Somehow, I also think a future visit to Scotland will be necessary with one very important, clear objective – Scottish brewery visits!