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Craft Beer Wholesalers Conference in Chicago

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Senior Vice President of Professional Brewing Division

Paul Gatza is the Senior Vice President of Professional Brewing Division at the Brewers Association. Paul’s origin in the beer community started when he took up homebrewing in 1990. He worked on the bottling line at Boulder Beer and would sneak over to the brewhouse when opportunity allowed. He owned a pair of homebrew supply shops in Boulder and Longmont, Colorado from 1994 to 1998. He served as director of the American Homebrewers Association for seven years and is in his 23rd year as Brewers Association director. Paul is ranked as a National Beer Judge by the Beer Judge Certification Program. Paul is also a former judge director of both the Great American Beer Festival and World Beer Cup, before moving to the judge panels for these elite competitions.

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The 7th annual Brewers Association Craft Brewers Conference concluded April 7, 2010 in Chicago. Two hundred forty-four craft beer distributors gathered to discuss topics including supplier-distributor interaction, logistics and warehouse, staff and business issues, information technology, and sales strategy and sales team. One hot topic was the discussion in the distributor’s role in beer weeks, which have been sweeping the U.S. At last count, we are aware of 30 beer weeks on the city, county or state level, plus American Craft Beer Week.

The Craft Beer Wholesalers Conference started in 2004 with 44 hardy people looking to see how others were approaching specific business issues. Greg Koch and Arlan Arnsten of Stone Brewing Co. founded the conference. Stone are brewers and also distribute the beers of 20 breweries in Southern California. At that time the event was called the Specialty Beer Wholesalers Conference.

The day of seminars concluded with suggestions for the future including collection, aggregation and presentation of survey data; a one-and-a-half day schedule to precede the Craft Brewers Conference; and the desire for breakout sessions for distributors of like sizes. The conference networking involved a reception at Goose Island’s Brewpub (Clybourn) and the Craft Brewers Conference welcome reception at the Field Museum.

–Paul Gatza

Link to author biography
Senior Vice President of Professional Brewing Division

Paul Gatza is the Senior Vice President of Professional Brewing Division at the Brewers Association. Paul’s origin in the beer community started when he took up homebrewing in 1990. He worked on the bottling line at Boulder Beer and would sneak over to the brewhouse when opportunity allowed. He owned a pair of homebrew supply shops in Boulder and Longmont, Colorado from 1994 to 1998. He served as director of the American Homebrewers Association for seven years and is in his 23rd year as Brewers Association director. Paul is ranked as a National Beer Judge by the Beer Judge Certification Program. Paul is also a former judge director of both the Great American Beer Festival and World Beer Cup, before moving to the judge panels for these elite competitions.

See Paul Gatza's Articles