6th International Craft Brewer Conference: Innovation and quality

Greece | The 6th Independent Craft Brewers Roundtable (ICBR 2025) concluded with great success at Macedonian Thrace Brewery S.A. (MTB), in Komotini, Greece, end of November 2025, having brought together more than 40 independent breweries from South East Europe.

The TUM Research Center Weihenstephan for Brewing and Food Quality has been working with this innovative brewery for over 20 years, supporting it with numerous innovative product approaches and accompanying the successful development of this brewery. Dr. Klaus Litzenbuger came first to Komotini in 2004 and started a close cooperation which is going on under the team of Prof. Martina Gastl. This collaboration also includes participation as well as annual presentations at the ICBR together with many other closely connected speakers like Dr. Akis Trouboukis, Barth Haas Group and Dr. Mathias Hutzler (TUM BLQ) who have been involved in the congress from the outset.

Macedonian Thrace Brewery

The success of this congress and the successful development of the brewery is also thanks to the first brewmaster Christos Dimtsoudis, who remains very attached to the TUM Weihenstephan based on his education. Christos Dimtsoudis, Brewmaster of Macedonian Thrace Brewery S.A. and President of the Association of Greek Independent Breweries (SMAZE), graduated in 1996 as Dipl.-Engineer for Brewing and Beverage Technology (Dipl.-Ing.) from the TUM Weihenstephan and served Macedonian Thrace Brewery S.A. in different roles from Brew Master, CEO and Technical Director since 1997.

He has established many innovative approaches in the last decade and led the brewery to success and growth during challenging times for the industry. Asked about his passion and philosophy he replied with the German phrase “Furchtlos und Treu – Fearless and loyal” which is shown in the flag of Baden-Württemberg and continues with two key words: “innovation and quality”. Christos has created a lot of specialty beers during his career at MTB with Vergina Weiss to be the most recognizable, an internationally acclaimed Hefeweizen beer that has won the Silver Medal at the International Brewing Awards in London in 2013, as well as the Bronze European Beer Star Award 2014 and the Silver European Beer Star Award in 2018.

From 2006 to 2008 he coordinated field trials of barley cultivation in Thrace/Greece, a project which led in 2013 to the planning and execution of a new, state-of-the-art malting plant. He has implemented contractual farming with 400 farmers, planting 3000-hectare 2RS barley as well as an integrated management system Agro 2.1 – Agro 2.2 for securing crop quality. Since then, MTB has not only been able to cover successfully their own malt needs, but Christos has started supplying malt to craft breweries in Greece and the surrounding countries (Albania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Romania, Cyprus and other). The project minimizes transportation effort and leads to huge CO2 reduction for the brewery but supports additionally local and circular economy. In 2023 a new malt roaster was implemented in order to have a complete malt portfolio for the craft beer sector.

In the last years, he has guided the development of non-alcoholic beverages like sparkling water, near water and TUVUNU Greek mountain tea, a brewed herbal tea with fresh pressed lemon juice and honey.

With a lot of pioneers’ effort, he has implemented a unique maltose negative yeast for the product development of the new Vergina non-alcoholic lager beer together with the TUM Research Center Weihenstephan BLQ under the supervision of Dr. Mathias Hutzler

He has accompanied MTB with many extensions works with the latest planning and installment of a new brewhouse and fermentation cellar in 2023. This innovative spirit contributes to the steady and growing success of Macedonian Thrace Brewery in Komotini, Greece and exemplifies how innovation combined with high quality standards can successfully counteract industry trends.

For over 15 years Christos Dimtsoudis has been leading the Small Independent Greek Brewers Association as their president, always taking care of unity and a positive climate of cooperation. Since 2025, the Greek association have joined forces with the Independent Brewers of Europe (IBE) as their member. Based on this commitment, he established the ICBR – International Craft Brewer Conference together with his colleague Dimitri Chriss.

ICBR 2025 – Focus on non-alcoholic beer

The congress took place for the first time in 2018, and 2025 was the 6th edition. The aim was to bring together independent brewers from Europe to exchange experiences with focus on independent breweries from Southeast Europe, but breweries from other areas are also welcome. In addition to technology and marketing transfer, networking and the exchange of information between breweries is particularly valuable. The program focuses on current and challenging key industry topics.

In 2025, the central theme was the production of non-alcoholic beer (NAB) which is showing growth despite declining sales figures and offer market potential by several reasons, particularly for SMEs, provided that modern technologies and technological know-how are used to produce high-quality products. Additionally, the production of non-alcoholic beer in craft breweries, as heavily discussed, is a necessary step to balance the consumer trend towards non-alcoholic beverages.

Against this backdrop, highly topical papers were presented, taking various perspectives into account, such as the presentation by Dr. Akis Trouboukis (Barth Haas Group). He drew attention to the fact that beer sales in the European market (but also worldwide) are declining, with reference to the consumption behavior of Gen Z and, looking ahead, Gen A. It therefore makes sense to switch to non-alcoholic beverages as an alternative considering future consumer behavior and the demographic structure.

The papers also focused on providing support for technological questions and practical know-how. Further presentations dealt with the question how NAB can be produced with the help of maltose negative yeasts without large investments (Dr. Juan Eizaguirre, TUM Research Center Weihenstephan BLQ and Gianmaria Ricciardi, Lallemand Brewing).

Finally, the philosophy of high quality was always be kept in mind and attention was drawn to the danger of incompletely fermented products (Dr. Klaus Litzenburger, Dr. Hubertus Schneiderbanger, TUM Research Center Weihenstephan BLQ), and concrete recommendations to preserve NAB were presented (Vijay Nahar, Lanxess). Current technology recommendations were presented by Roland Novy (Barth Haas Group), who introduced NAB hopping techniques (with beer tasting), or Giorge Arvanitis (Adams Trading), who talked about craft beer filling systems.

Important marketing aspects were also covered, since these can be particularly crucial for SMEs, as Nicola Djurovic (Jet Can Studio Belgrade) showed in her presentation “Digital printing on cans, new possibilities for Craft Brewers”.

The annual program, which focuses on current topics and always practice-oriented presentations, is the basis for the success of the congress, which is becoming increasingly popular and well-known. The presentations and speaker change from year to year depending on a main topic of the conference. Right from the beginning, the ICBR conference has been permanently supported by the TUM Research Center Weihenstephan for Brewing and Food Quality and the Barth Haas Group.

In 2025, breweries from Turkey, Bulgaria, Albania, Romania, Serbia, and Greece were present. Brewers from Turkey, Bulgaria, and Greece are “repeat offenders”; such as Husein Ozturk from the Bosporus Brewing Company (Turkey) and Deyan Ivanov from the Glarus Brewery (Bulgaria) being the ones who have attended almost all six events.

Side program

In addition to technical and technological topics, the congress offers a platform for exchange between various brewers, start-ups, and the supplier industry. Numerous beers from the participating breweries were available for tasting and sensory evaluation, accompanied by excellent catering with typical delicious Greek dishes.

Participants had the opportunity to tour the facilities of Macedonian Thrace Brewery and taste a huge variety of craft beers brewed, of course, with Thracian malt, including the Vergina beer, which is well known in Greece. The social gathering always ends with a side program. This year, it was a visit to the Vourvoukeli Estate winery in Avdira, Xanthi, with a wine tasting.

The focus of the congress has always been on communicating the latest technological advancements, industry challenges, and dynamic trends in craft brewing. The contributions of the well selected European speakers – consultants, scientists and the entire spectrum of the industry – sparked meaningful dialogue on the future of craft beer and inspired the new generation of brewers in attendance.

ICBR is now firmly established as the leading annual meeting point for independent brewing in Southeastern Europe. Welcome to Komotini in 2026!