Difficult times | The European brewing industry has been hit very hard by the Covid pandemic and the ensuing shutdown. BRAUWELT International spoke with Pierre-Olivier Bergeron, Secretary General at The Brewers of Europe, about where the Brewers Forum fits into this picture.

Timely decision | Industry representatives and Messe München make timely decision in view of the extensive planning trade fairs for industrial goods require and drinktec’s 4-yearly cycle.

Rescheduled | Messe Muenchen South Africa, presenters of analytica Lab Africa, IFAT Africa and food & drink technology (fdt) Africa, are gearing up to present the three events in a mega co-located trade show at the end of this year.

Virtual conference | The postponed 36th Convention of the Asia Pacific Section of the Institute of Brewing and Distilling will be held Tuesday, 23rd February and Wednesday, 24th February 2021.

American Society of Brewing Chemists | This year's ASBC meeting will be fully virtual. Taking place from June 7–9 2021, it will include:

Key growth markets | In spring 2021 three Beviale Family events are planned around the globe: in Mexico, Russia and Korea. In addition to BrauBeviale in Nuremberg, the Beviale Family is active in around ten countries worldwide in the key growth markets. Now it’s time to prepare the post Covid-19 era.

Rescheduled | The Brewers Association announced that the 38th edition of the Craft Brewers Conference & Brew Expo America® (CBC) will return to the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, Colorado, USA, from 9–12 September 2021.

Brewing it Differently | The EBC Symposium, originally scheduled for this year, has been postponed to 18-20 April 2021. The call for abstracts is now open and available on the EBC Symposium website. Only abstracts submitted via the abstract submission tool will be considered. The deadline for submitting abstracts is Sunday, 17 January 2021.

Messe München | Due to the rampant spread of Covid-19 in the country and the consequent travel restrictions imposed by the Government of India, show organizer Messe München India has announced the postponement of the Mumbai edition of drink technology India to October 20-22, 2021.

Complex challenges | The Brussels Beer Challenge (BBC) took place for the eighth time in 2019 and is one of the most established and renowned beer competitions in the world. The organizers have steadily increased the number of entries over the years and, in 2019, it reported over 1650 beers sent to Belgium for tasting from breweries in 35 different countries. BRAUWELT International author Sandra Ganzenmüller, kommunikation.pur, Munich, Germany, talked with BBC organizer Luc De Raedemaeker about the challenges the competition faces this year.