Goin' Out West

We'll be in San Diego tomorrow through Sunday for the Craft Brewers Conference. This year's program includes a lot of seminars on startups and brewpubs, so we're betting our bank accounts that the information will be worthwhile. I'm excited to finally meet some equipment manufacturers and dealers at the BrewExpo trade show, as well as drink some new beer and get to know brewers from across the country.

I'm an individual member of the Brewers Association (the group who organizes the annual conference), which caused a little confusion about my registration. Most attendees are covered by their brewery memberships, which means the breweries themselves are members, so the association wasn't looking in the right place when they first tried to verify my membership. They called me to investigate, assuming that I wasn't a member, and make sure that I actually work in the brewing industry. I was amused to learn that a lot of random people try to sign up for the conference, at the non-member cost of $750, because they think it's a beer festival. That's dedication!