2018 seminar for craft brewers in Komotini, Greece

The Small and Independent Greek Brewers’ Association (S.M.A.Z.E.) was founded in 2003 by seven privately owned breweries in Greece.

By 2016, the association had expanded to 16 breweries and continued to grow, reaching a total of 23 in 2018. Now, there are 45 breweries in Greece in the association, including multinational brewing groups. The association is striving to build relationships with similar organizations representing private breweries in Europe and has already established contacts with those neighbouring countries. In May of 2017, the Macedonian Thrace Brewery hosted the first seminar, aptly named ICBR (Independent Craft Brewers’ Roundtable).

The second ICBR seminar was held from December 6th to 8th 2018 at the visitors’ centre in the Macedonian Thrace Brewery in Komotini, located in Northern Greece (Thrace). The hosting brewery is privately owned by the Politopoulos family. The brewery produces approximately 195000 hl of beer, 10000 tons of malt from spring barley grown in Greece and makes around 10000 hl of non-alcoholic beverages, including tea. Tuvunu tea is brewed using herbs grown in the Greek mountains and is considered a delicacy.

The first seminar drew 47 participants. In 2018, a total of 97 were in attendance, traveling from Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Serbia, Bulgaria and Turkey, among other countries. The association invited lecturers from all over Europe to give presentations on scientific and technical topics tailored to the needs of smaller breweries.

The first day of the seminar was filled with presentations about microbiology, dry yeast management, filtration and stabilization, can fillers for craft brewers and the global hop market, among others.
The second day was dedicated to topics like Industry 4.0, trends and developments in the global malt market, nutritional information on beer labels, brewing with alternative natural ingredients and specialty light beers.

Many questions arose during the presentations that led to spontaneous discussions. Seminar attendees were given a tour of the entire brewery and the malthouse with its spacious storage facility, which is large enough to hold all of the barley from the harvest. In addition, attendees were given the opportunity to view the warehouse where the mountain herbs are stored. In the evenings, the participants and the lecturers met in the visitors’ centre for lively conversations over beer.

And what would a seminar be without a cultural programme? An excursion to a monastery was on the itinerary for Saturday followed by a visit to the historic centre of the neighbouring city of Xanthi. Leaving Xanthi, the group headed up into the mountainous region of Thrace. After a brief visit to the fields where the herbs are grown, attendees were treated to a delicious meal accompanied by beer, wine and ouzo – a proper close to a successful seminar. Many thanks to the Macedonian Thrace Brewery, brewmaster Dipl.-Ing. Christos Dimtsoudis and his team for organizing the event and for their warm hospitality. The 3rd International Craft Brewers’ Roundtable will be held once again in Komotini in December of 2019.