Craft Brewers Exhibit for the First Time at Independent Grocers Show

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Thirteen small and independent craft brewers made up the Brewers Association (BA) Craft Brewer Pavilion this past week at the National Grocers Association (NGA) Show. Held in Las Vegas, Nev. over the course of four days, attendees took part in more than 30 education workshops and visited an EXPO of more than 350 exhibitors. BA member craft breweries were on hand for the first time, collectively, to interface with the independent grocer industry and showcase their craft beers.

paul NGA“Craft brewing is interacting with independent grocers in an exciting way and at the right time in their development as craft beer retailers,” said Paul Gatza, Brewers Association Director. “The pavilion was a big hit among grocers, as craft beer sales rocket in their stores.”

Participating in NGA’s tradeshow, as one of the six pavilions, craft brewers were invited to take part in a number of show events, including exclusively featuring beer produced by small and independent craft brewers at the NGAs PAC event and BA Chief Economist Bart Watson moderating an independent grocers panel on adopting craft beer into their stores. The discussion highlighted the operator’s own tactics to feature craft beer. In some instances these decisions lead to over 30% craft beer sales growth in their stores according to the panelists. One panelist summed up his new focus upon craft beer in his stores, “selling craft beer is much more fun than pork and beans.”

Craft brewers continue to expand at retail, and grocery stores remain the top off-premise segment for craft brewer growth. Providing craft brewers an opportunity to educate independent grocers about their brands and craft beer in general made the NGA show a fantastic opportunity for Brewers Association members, and the BA was thankful to NGA to be able to represent its member’s craft beer in at the show.

The Brewer Association would like to thank the 13 breweries who participated in the NGA show pavilion:

There are two more scheduled craft brewer pavilions available for Brewers Association voting members to participate at in 2015. Find information about the Craft Beer Pavilion at the International Pizza Expo and the Craft Brewers Pavilion at the Nightclub and Bar Show listed in the events calendar.