Overview The Craft Brewers Conference & BrewExpo America is the largest gathering of beverage alcohol producers in North America, run each spring by the Brewers Association, the trade group for small and independent brewers. Three days of seminars, a trade show floor of roughly 500 exhibitors and the World Beer Cup awards put brewery owners, brewers and the companies that supply them in one building. The coming edition is in San Antonio, alongside the American Cider Association's CiderCon. On site BrewExpo America fills the hall with equipment makers, ingredient suppliers, packaging, software and service companies, while seminar tracks cover brewing technique, operations, sales, marketing and the business of running a brewery. A keynote opens the show, the Brewers Association's State of the Industry address is the closing keynote, and the World Beer Cup awards wrap the week. Beer stations, lounges, a welcome reception and after-hours parties run into the evening. Sponsors can brand the lanyards, escalators, registration area, commemorative glass and conference guide, host a lounge, hospitality suite or sponsored seminar, or run an official off-site party. Audience Brewery owners, head brewers, production staff, sales and marketing leads and distributors, from small brewpubs to regional producers, plus a growing number of cideries and distilleries. They come to buy equipment, ingredients, packaging, software and services for the year ahead. Past editions have drawn about one attendee in six from outside the United States, led by Canada and Germany. Talent and Influencers Bart Watson, president and CEO of the Brewers Association, gives the State of the Industry address, the data briefing the American beer business waits for each year. Recent keynote speakers have included restaurateur and author Will Guidara. Seminars are led by working brewers, brewery owners, economists and technical experts, and World Beer Cup judges from dozens of countries are in town for the awards. Track record The Brewers Association has run the conference for more than four decades, moving between major convention cities such as Nashville, Las Vegas, Indianapolis and Philadelphia. The most recent edition drew about 7,000 brewing professionals and nearly 500 exhibitors, and the World Beer Cup that runs alongside it judged more than 8,000 beers from breweries in about 50 countries. Brand presence Sponsorship runs in four tiers, Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze, alongside on-site visibility buys and advertising in The New Brewer magazine. Recent Platinum sponsors include Abstrax Hops, ADM, Crosby Hops, Fermentis, Ekos, Pneumatic Scale Angelus and WSET, and Gold sponsors include Amoretti, Can-One, John I. Haas, KÜHL, Novonesis, RahrBSG, Siemens and the USTA's Red Ball tennis program. Sponsors can also reach attendees before the show with dedicated emails and the Brewers Association's list of about 21,000 beverage producer contacts.