The Brewers Association (BA) Export Development Program (EDP) recently traveled to London to promote American craft beer and provide education at and around the Great British Beer Festival (GBBF). BA Executive Chef Adam Dulye and BA UK Representative Lotte Peplow represented the BA at the world-renowned event.

Activities kicked off on August 8, with the GBBF’s trade day for the beer industry. As in past years, EDP members’ beers were featured at the Biéres Sans Frontiéres pavilion. Over 100 beers from 31 EDP members were showcased at the BA stand, which was one of the busiest bars at the festival. In addition to pouring beer for UK trade and media, the BA was pleased that the acting U.S. Ambassador Lewis Lukens and several of his team members from the U.S. Embassy in London visited and showed their support for American craft beer.

On August 9, the BA hosted an American craft beer and food pairing dinner at Sager & Wilde, a modern London restaurant renowned for its award-winning wine list. In a unique, one-off event, Chef Adam Dulye and Chef Chris Leach presented a five-course menu using seasonal and local ingredients expertly paired with two full-flavored, bold and distinctive American craft beers per course to demonstrate beer’s diverse range of flavors and its affinity to food. The menu included:

On Arrival

Tropical Torpedo, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

Panic IPA, Track 7 Brewing Co.

Starters

Grilled Peach Salad

Seacoast Pilsner, Coronado Brewing Co.

Pils, Hardywood Park Craft Brewery

 

Crab with Gazpacho & Chilli

Colette, Great Divide Brewing Co.

pFriem Saison, pFriem Family Brewers

Pasta

Tagliarini with Summer Truffles

Big Swell IPA, Maui Brewing Co.

Singapore IPA, Saugatuck Brewing Co.

Mains

Smoked Middlewhite Pork, Fennel & Baby Turnips

Melange à Trois, Nebraska Brewing Co.

Dessert

Lemon Tart

Optimal Wit, Port City Brewing Co.

Blonde Cougar, Wormtown Brewery

The attendee list consisted of media, importers, retailers, and U.S. Embassy representatives, with a particular focus on media. This helped generate significant attention for American craft beer on social media, and several press articles have already been published including:

• “Avoiding jargon can increase interest in beer and food pairings”
• “Brewers Association Challenges Wine in Latest Beer and Food Pairing Inspiration”

The EDP expects that many other articles will be written in the coming weeks, covering the dinner’s main theme: small and independent craft beer can pair with any cuisine. The dinner was also a great opportunity to educate the guests about the BA, small and independent American craft brewers, the Independent Seal, the forecast for more exports, growth in diversity of styles, pairing trends in the U.S., craft growth and comparisons between U.S. and U.K. current craft status.

The BA EDP also set up satellite events around GBBF to further showcase American craft beer at the British Guild of Beer Writers, a tutored tasting of American craft beers at The Draft House Hammersmith and an American craft can-beer takeover at The Rake Borough Market.

The BA will look to engage British trade and media again in 2018 through participation in at least one craft beer festival. The BA will meet with and host British and European importers and other trade at the next Great American Beer Festival^® and Craft Brewers Conference & BrewExpo America^®.

The BA EDP appreciates the support of its members with this activity and looks forward to continuing the promotion of American craft beer in the near future.

Great British Beer Festival