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.

Malting receives increasing scientific attention

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.

China Brew & China Beverage 2014

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.

Will he even hear their call? The Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) and the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) are imploring the UK’s Chancellor George Osborne to cut the duty on wine and spirits by 2 percent in his March budget. The “Drop the Duty!” campaign, launched on 15 December 2014, argues that a cut would give a big billion boost to public finances in 2015.

The 11th edition of the European Beer Star was a huge success: 1613 beer samples from 42 countries had been sent in to be evaluated by the jury consisting of 105 international brewing experts – a new record. The award ceremony took place on 12 November 2014 during BrauBeviale in Nuremberg.