Attracting over 66 886 visitors from 183 countries, drinktec 2013, the world’s leading trade fair for the beverage and liquid food industry, has exceeded the expectations being communicated before. 1445 exhibitors from 77 countries benefited from a significant rise in the number of visitors, 14 percent compared to the previous drinktec in 2009. Especially pleasing was that German SMEs, many of them local and regional brewers, rediscovered drinktec and enjoyed the benefits of the show, including the well-attended „Brewers‘ Meeting Point“ in Hall B1 specially set up for this target group.

This year, the symposium was held in Nuremberg, home to the historic Kaiserburg castle. Planned as part of the run-up to the drinktec in Munich, sixty attendees from over a dozen nations were present at the event, which was organized by the VLB and Brau Beviale, Nuremberg. Key topics at this year’s symposium were the opportunities and challenges facing the burgeoning small brewers.

An article entitled “New stage for classical brewing art”, published in BRAUWELT no. 45, 2012, p. 1333-1334, reported on an innovative brewhouse concept. Meanwhile, the Karmeliten Brauerei in Straubing has implemented these ideas in its new brewhouse for the first time. These innovative products will now be presented in a series of articles and the gained practical experience will be summarized accordingly. The first product in this series is the mash agitator Colibri.

On August 6th - 8th 2013, around 240 brewers and industry experts from South America, North America and Europe converged on Buenos Aires, Argentina, for the 4th Ibero-American Symposium on Brewing and Filling Technology. Organized by the VLB Berlin, the symposium was actively supported by three leading breweries in Argentina – CCU Argentina, Quilmes und SAB Miller. SENAI from Brazil was joined by the American Society for Brewing Chemists (ASBC) for the first time as a collaboration partner for the event.

Since Olds College in Olds, Alberta, Canada opened its doors in 1913, it has provided education and training for many generations of learners. In September 2013, it launched the first brewing training program in Western Canada. Offered in collaboration with Niagara College, Southern Ontario, the Olds College Brewmaster program will equip graduates for a variety of careers within the brewing industry. The program will provide a mix of theory and hands-on practice. The brewing facility includes a teaching brewery with state-of-the-art equipment and will be attached to a new hotel located on the campus. This will also serve as a retail outlet for students and the own brews will be served in the hotel restaurant and lounge..

For its 75^th Annual Meeting from 19^th to 22^nd May 2013, the American Society of Brewing Chemists (ASBC) was back in Tucson, Arizona. Many visitors from all over the world found their way through the desert towards the Hilton “El Conquistador”, a perfect place to have scientific discussions about beer.

No, that’s not entirely true: there were no timpani, but a fanfare was performed on trombones, trumpets and tubas to mark the opening of the 34^th Congress of the European Brewery Convention (EBC) in the presence of the Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg in late May in Luxembourg City. The “Brewers for Brass”, consisting of Dr. Thomas Bühler of Ecolab, Dr. Thomas Preuss of ProLeit and John Brauer of the EBC on trumpets, Dr. Karl-Ullrich Heyse on trombone and Gert De Rouck and André Schmutz on tubas, extended a stylish welcome to the 550 delegates who were spending the next three days at the congress for brewing science.

The twelfth Brasil Brau convention is now history. With 60 percent more exhibitors spread over a significantly larger area (6000 m²) this year, the biennial meeting of the Brazilian brewing scene has grown considerably since 2011. At that time, the convention already boasted 5000 visitors at the Transamerica Expo Center in São Paulo. This year the visitor numbers must have been substantially higher. One of the main reasons for the higher attendance at this year’s Brasil Brau is most certainly the increased interest in Degusta Beer, a platform for highlighting microbreweries and craft beers, which the organizers, Fagga Eventos and the Brazilian Association of Brewers and Maltsters (Cobracem), first made accessible to the public in 2011.

Mash and wort acidification have a positive influence on finished beer. In view of the benefits associated with biological acidification, these plants are also of interest to those brewers who are not constrained by the German Purity Law. In this study, the effects of temperature, wort concentration and initial cell count on lactate production and cell proliferation will be investigated. Practical tests were carried out in order to simulate the fed-batch process and explore the potential of a full-sized plant in a large brewery.

The exhibition in Rimini, Italy (Rimini Fiera) presented a new face and a new name to the public this year. The Rimini Horeca Expo (Horeca is an abbreviation for hotel, restaurant and catering) took place from February 23rd to 26th 2013. This year’s event was envisioned as a novel concept for a trade fair, one aimed at the catering market and encompassing all categories of gourmet foods. The name RHEX actually refers to famous Italian film director Frederico Fellini, who hails from Rimini, and alludes to the name of a ship that appeared in one of his films.