American Craft Beer Draws a Crowd at 2014 Stockholm Beer & Whisky Festival

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The 23rd annual Stockholm Beer & Whisky Festival opened its doors to the thirsty audience of Sweden on September 25. This year also marked the 10th anniversary of the Brewers Association (BA) Export Development Program’s participation. Through the BA Export Development Program, 38 breweries sent beers to Stockholm for this international festival. An assortment of American craft beers were featured at the BA’s festival booth.

An American craft beer lunch was also hosted in Stockholm during the festival at the highly acclaimed restaurant Gondolen with media and trade invited to further promote American craft beer. BA’s culinary consultant chef Adam Dulye and Gondolen’s chef Björn Wahlund created a beer and food pairing menu for this event. The chefs selected 10 beers to match with the six dishes. In attendance were 50 guests, which included U.S. Ambassador Mark Brzeznski, representatives from four American craft breweries, media, retailers and importers from Sweden, Netherlands, Ireland and Austria.

Brewers Association Export Development Program

During both weekends of the festival, I held American craft beer master classes with over 130 people in attendance, providing information about the BA, the evolution of American craft beer (both in the U.S. and Europe) and introduced attendees to six different American craft beers and styles. I also conducted smaller tastings at the BA booth for importers from Sweden, Norway, Finland and the UK that were keen to find an American craft brewery to add to their portfolio.

On Thursday evening, the awards ceremony was held for the Stockholm Beer & Whisky Festival competition. Brewers Association members took home nine awards.

All in all, the 10th Anniversary of the BA booth at Stockholm Beer & Whisky Festival was as popular and as successful as previous years!

With a strong knowledge of American craft beer and held in high regard by brewers and distributors alike, Andreas Fält is charged with educating the beer community and media in Europe about the availability and quality of American craft beer for the Brewers Association Export Development Program.