FDBusiness.com

BrauBeviale will once again welcome professionals from the international beverage community to the exhibition halls in Nuremberg from 13th to 15th November 2018.

The exhibition team for the world’s biggest capital goods fair for the beverage industry this year made use of the scheduled break from the event’s three-year cycle to fine-tune the concept, ask around in the market and track down the hot topics affecting the industry so that they can be addressed in the next three-year programme. This resulted, among other things, in a comprehensive supporting programme that aims to provide impetus for dealing with all the challenges that the beverage sector is currently facing.

Creating momentum and inspiration are the key elements of the supporting programme that BrauBeviale is offering alongside the exhibition. It is designed to appeal to all beverage producers, whether they are brewers, mineral water operations, or manufacturers of spirits or alcohol-free drinks. All of them are basically asking the same questions about the future viability of their company and their sector. “We determined that many people in the beverage industry are currently asking how they will become or remain competitive in the future,” explains Andrea Kalrait, Exhibition Director BrauBeviale. “As the key platform for the sector we see it as our job to address and discuss these important issues and provide food for thought.”

Professional Development Opportunities

For some visitors it is well worth arriving before the fair actually starts to take advantage of the three interesting training events on the day before the exhibition as such. Almost all beverage producers will have asked themselves at some point whether, and in what form, it would be worthwhile exporting their products. The Export Forum German Beverages will address this very issue. The high-calibre speakers and networking opportunities at the forum will help all manufacturers to make decisions about exporting their products.

The European MicroBrew Symposium hosted by the Berlin-based research and teaching institute for brewing (Versuchs- und Lehranstalt für Brauerei, VLB) will be taking place for the sixth time. With its focus on technological and quality aspects, it is intended for international craft brewers and brewpub operators and so will also be conducted in English.

Another hot topic among brewers worldwide is heirloom brewer’s barley. This will be the focus of the Heirloom & Terroir Barley and Malt Symposium hosted by RMI Analytics. The Heirloom Brewing Award, which acknowledges select beers with a consistent overall concept, will also be presented at the symposium. The beers themselves can then be tasted at BrauBeviale.

BrauBeviale Forum

The BrauBeviale Forum will once again take place on all three days of the exhibition. The proven blend of talks, presentations, panel discussions and award ceremonies invites visitors to become informed about current issues and be inspired by exciting ideas and approaches. The very wide range of topics includes raw materials, technologies, entrepreneurship and marketing. The language of the forum is German with simultaneous translation into English. The detailed programme will be available in good time on the BrauBeviale website to allow visitors to plan their visit. Also in the Forum: The official opening on the first day will feature a keynote address by food trend researcher Hanni Rützler as well as the presentation of the Bavarian Beer Medal. At 16:00 on Day 1, visitors can also attend the Final of the German Beer Sommelier Championship.

Tastings of Beverage Specialities

Anyone wanting to explore and indulge in the diversity of beverage specialities should head for the Craft Drinks Area. With a total of around 7,500 participants over the three days of the last event, it represented a logical development of the Craft Beer Corner from the last trade fair cycle. This is where visitors can enjoy tastings conducted by independent experts at a total of eight bars, while immersing themselves in what are sometimes completely new taste experiences. As well as the glass bar, where you can experience how the quality of the glass can affect the taste of the beer, there is also one bar each for mineral water, spirits and innovative alcohol-free drinks. There are four bars dedicated to beer that showcase specific countries and themes as well the diversity of alcohol-free and low-alcohol beers.

As tradition demands, the European Beer Star, which has been part of BrauBeviale since it was ‘born’ in 2004, will also be awarded again at the event. In 65 categories, five more than in the previous year, breweries from all over the world can submit their beers for inclusion in one of the most important beer competitions worldwide. Last time the competition attracted 2,151 beers, 60% of which were from overseas. The competition was initiated by the German Private Breweries Association (Private Brauereien Bayern), the honorary sponsor of the fair, and the German and European umbrella organisations. On the first day of the fair, BrauBeviale visitors will once again be lucky enough to be able to vote for their favourite beer from among the gold medal winners, resulting in the Consumers’ Favourite 2018 in gold, silver and bronze.

Themed Pavilions

Various themed pavilions will present themselves as the focal point for certain issues tailored to specific groups of visitors – Artisan and Craft Beer Equipment and brau@home are where small and micro-breweries and home and hobby brewers can find comprehensive information on equipment, ingredients and solutions as well as valuable suggestions through the short presentations in the associated Speakers’ Corner. Another pavilion is devoted to ‘Sustainable Water Management in the Beverage Industry’, an issue that affects all drinks manufacturers and is becoming increasingly important at a time when raw material resources are becoming increasingly scarcer.

For consumers, the packaging at the point of sales continues to be a key purchasing criterion. The World Packaging Organization has given this aspect the attention it deserves with its Special Show Innovative Beverage Packaging. Interesting examples of packaging innovations are provided by the winners of the World Packaging Awards that will be presented at the special show. The reasons why these products won their awards will be explained clearly to visitors. PET continues to be a topical and important issue. The quality association Wertstoffkette PET-Getränkeverpackungen will cover various approaches and present ideas and solutions for PET recycling.

Spotlight on the Future

To be able to continue to operate successfully on the market in future, every company needs to be able to count on its workforce. The issue of the lack of skilled employees at all levels is one that also affects the beverage industry. As the key platform for the sector, BrauBeviale has dedicated the last day of the fair, the Thursday, to the theme ‘Future Generation’. At the BrauBeviale Forum there will be presentations specifically on the topic of recruiting and encouraging the next generation. On this day, many exhibitors will have representatives of their HR department at their stands to answer in detail any specific or general questions.

Young companies from Germany that develop innovative products and processes for the beverage industry that they would like to bring onto the market in the near future, or have just launched on the market, will showcase their companies and ideas to the professional community at the Innovation made in Germany Pavilion. Their participation is subsidised by the BMWi, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. Many a former participant in this pavilion has meanwhile become a permanent fixture in the beverage industry.

Beyond Beverages

With so much going in the beverage sector it only stands to reason that we should take a look at other culinary pleasures. With this in mind, the SFC Street Food Convention will take place alongside the BrauBeviale from 14–15 November 2018. For the fourth time, it will offer a varied programme covering all aspects of street food, food trucks, mobile catering and visionary dining culture, accompanied by a sponsor exhibit and food trucks serving food on the trade fair grounds.