The Eric Kneen Memorial Award 2015 for the best paper published in the Journal of the ASBC in the previous calendar year went to an author team from Germany. The award was presented to the lead author Dr. Christina Schmidt by ASBC president Prof. Thomas Shellhammer, Oregon State University, at the annual meeting of the American Society of Brewing Chemists, which took place from 14-17 June 2015 in La Quinta, USA.

From 17-19 October 2015 a new initiative in the brewers’ world opens its doors for the first time at Waagnatie Expo & Events BrouwPlus. Billed as ’the Craft Brewery Fair of the Low Countries’, it will be the rendezvous for all hobby, micro and craft brewers. BrouwPlus is a trade fair – a window on the world of brewing – with a wide selection of stand holders covering this classic art from start to finish. There will be information on ingredients, production, bottling, marketing, distribution and the latest technology – all under one roof.

On 11 June the American Homebrewers Association National Homebrewers Conference has opened its doors in sunny San Diego, in the Town and Country Resort & Convention Center. The three day event is packed full of special seminars and caters to beer enthusiasts and amateur brewers of every level.

The Beer Academy has awarded Rod Jones of Meantime Brewing Company its prestigious Beer Sommelier of the Year title. Rod, who began his career with Meantime as a brewer, now undertakes beer education for both colleagues and customers. He was accredited as a Beer Sommelier in 2013.

Brewers and cider makers from all over the world gathered at London’s Guildhall on 29 April for the unveiling of the Championship winners in the International Brewing and Cider Awards 2015. Trophies were awarded to nine beers and one cider, with US brewer Deschutes scoring a ‘hat trick’ with three Championship titles.

Well in excess of 1000 participants and more than 130 exhibitors from all over the world assembled at the beginning of October 2014 in Providence, Rhode Island, USA to attend the annual Congress of the American Association of Cereal Chemistry (AACCi), to bring themselves up-to-date and to tap into ideas about the most recent results from cereal research.

Talented young brewers from South African Breweries and Carlsberg UK took the top prizes in the Institute of Brewing & Distilling (IBD) 2014 examinations.

The 11th China Brew & China Beverage took place from 13 - 16 October 2014 in the New China International Exhibition Center, Beijing, China. BRAUWELT International and BRAUWELT Chinese attended the international brew and beverage processing technology and equipment exhibition in cooperation with the Academy for Brewing Technology in Wuhan.

The boom in craft brewing and cider making around the world is reflected in the diversity of beers and ciders which won medals on 13 February at the International Brewing Awards and International Cider Awards.

In late November, at the sps ipc drives 2014 trade fair in Nuremberg, the trade medium “elektrotechnik” chose for the third time the best corporate apps in the field of automation. For the first time, the “automation app award” was presented in four categories: corporate, catalogue, engineering and production.