Craft brewers make BeerAttraction fair in Rimini their showcase
Thanks to Italy’s vibrant craft beer sector, the country has a beer trade show again. BeerAttraction’s predecessor Pianeta Birra, which was also held in Rimini, died several years ago, after the country’s Big Brewers pulled their support.
In its fourth year, BeerAttraction, which was held from 17 to 20 February 2018, seems to have firmly established itself. On show were Italian and international beer brands which were joined by food manufacturers in the fair’s special Food Attraction section.
The fair’s strategic partners are Unionbirrai, Italy’s craft brewers association, the Italian Federation of Chefs, ICE, and the Italian Trade Agency. Trade visitors included members of the food service trade, brewers, beverage wholesalers and food distributors.
The organiser reported 22,743 visits, including multiple visits, which represents an increase of ten percent over 2017. The organiser had also invited dozens of international beer buyers from 18 countries and brought 215 accredited journalists and bloggers from Italy and abroad to the fair.
This year also saw the debut of BBTech Expo, a section of the trade fair dedicated to technology, equipment and ancillary products for beer and beverage production and packaging.
Reportedly, there were 505 exhibiting companies (apparently beer brands represented by importers were counted individually), with 398 on show at BeerAttraction and 107 at BBTech Expo.
Unionbirrai held its 13th Beer of the Year competition at BeerAttraction, which featured 279 participating breweries and 1,650 beers (an increase of 20 percent over 2017). The jury was made up of 84 expert tasters from all around the world, but mainly from The Netherlands, Spain, USA, France, Canada and Belgium. They declared the Cr/Ak Brewery from Campodarsego in the province of Padua as the winner.