New record | Over 10,000 beers (2018: 8,345) were submitted by 2,658 breweries from 57 different countries, once again setting a new record for the World Beer Cup 2022 (WBC) staged by the Brewers Association (BA). The jury sessions for this giga-competition were held in three phases, with two in Louisville, CO, and the third ahead of the Craft Brewers Conference (CBC) in Minneapolis.

Brewers and maltsters should make joint investments

World Barley, Malt & Beer Conference | The malting industry and malting barley suppliers very much depend on the general beer output. However, the pandemic years 2020 and 2021 were a different case entirely, marked by full capacity utilisation, pull of demand, price pressure and a logistics crisis – not to mention the impact of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The World Barley, Malt & Beer Conference held by RMI Analytics, that brought the major players of the global supply chain together at the end of March, painted a varied picture of the challenges and opportunities.

Brasil Beer Cup | The Brasil Beer Cup took place in Florianópolis from 22–24 November 2021. A total of 1216 beers were submitted from Brazil, Uruguay and Mexico, and judged by categories in 157 different styles.

International competition | At the European Beer Star 2021, more than 120 international beer experts awarded 213 beers with gold, silver and bronze during a two-day blind tasting. A total of 2395 beers from 44 countries around the globe competed for the coveted awards this year in 70+1 categories. In the newly created category "Free-Style Beer" storytelling – the idea behind the beer – played a key role in the jury's assessment, in addition to the beer quality.

Great feedback | The last event of the year, the 2nd International Brewing Web Conference (IBWC) received once again a great feedback. From November 16th to 18th, 130 brewing experts from 27 different countries gathered together at the VLB Virtual Campus discussing hot topics from brewing science and technology.

The Seventh Ludwig Narziss Prize for Brewing Science

Premiere in Leuven, Belgium: the Ludwig Narziss Prize for Brewing Science was recently awarded a seventh time and for the first time at the 14th Trends in Brewing in Leuven, Belgium.

The latest Trends in Brewing: Beer and society

The 14th Trends in Brewing | Amid the long abstinence necessitated by the pandemic, after foregoing the fellowship brewers cherish just as much as they do their beer itself, finally in mid-October 2021, brewers and those from related industries were able to gather at the 14th International Trends in Brewing in Leuven, Belgium.

Best Italian craft beers | Birra dell'Anno has awarded the best Italian craft beers for 2021. The sixteenth edition of the competition organized by Unionbirrai, an Italian association of small independent breweries, had taken take place on 31st August 2021, the awards ceremony took place on the first day of Cibus 2021, and featured master brewers from all over Italy on the stage of the Barilla hall at Fiere di Parma.

Craft Brewers Conference 2021

Largest annual event | More than 7000 brewing industry professionals convened on September 9–12 in Denver for the 38th Craft Brewers Conference^® & BrewExpo America^® (CBC) presented by the Brewers Association^® (BA).

Digital format | After the cancelation of the Symposium last year, which was originally scheduled to be held in Barcelona, Spain, clouds of storm loomed over this important event again. Although in Europe this year the mobility situation derived from the pandemic has improved considerably, in other regions, particularly in Latin America, there are still restrictions that would make it impossible for Latin American brewers to participate in a “face-to-face” conference. This is how VLB Berlin decided, before canceling the Ibero-American Symposium again, to carry it out in digital format.