We are very pleased to announce the 2012 North American Beer Bloggers Conference will be July 13-15 in Indianapolis, Indiana. To make it even better, we are arranging a pre-conference excursion in nearby Chicago. Registration is open now.
Indianapolis submitted an excellent bid to host the location and was the winner of the vote by beer bloggers who selected among the four possible locations. All four locations (Austin, Asheville, St. Louis, and Indy) would have made great hosts but we believe Indianapolis won out for its central location, the support of some vocal local bloggers, and the good timing of a July conference.
Indianapolis now has over 40 breweries in the state and this is growing quickly within another dozen or so expected to open within the next year. Sun King Brewing in Indianapolis was the recipient of eight medals at the 2011 Great American Beer Festival. Not only did Sun King lead the field in total medal count, its four Gold Medals were the most won by any single brewery.We have the support of the Brewers Guild of Indiana, which is hosting one of our conference dinners, and World Class Beer, a two-time conference sponsor that has arranged for dinner and a tour in its million-case-strong Monarch Beverage warehouse.
If you choose to join the pre-conference excursion in Chicago, you can fly into that city on Thursday, July 12th, in time for dinner at the Goose Island brewpub. After dinner, we’ll have a blogger-led brewpub tour in Chicago. Not only is Goose Island providing dinner, they are stepping up to provide bus transport back to Indy the next day. We will arrange another Chicago-area brewery visit on Friday morning before we depart for Indianapolis.
The conference content is not yet set. We will reach out to the beer blogging community in the coming months for suggestions about content and speakers. We are working on details of the European Beer Bloggers Conference as well and hope to announce it within a week.
Sorry for the delay on both conferences – it takes a long time to solicit location bids, gather the opinions of beer bloggers, and then work out the details of the conference. In the end, we think it is time well spent. If you have never attended a Beer Bloggers Conference, make 2012 the date you join us.
Hi
I’m interested in attending the annual conference as well as the pre event in Chicago. Where might I get registration info and recommended hotels?
Thanks
Hi Bill! I’m sending you an email now.
Sigh – still easier to get to Europe (and having grown up in the midwest, I won’t pay money to go back, even if there’s good beer). Maybe next year…
Hi Lisa! Well, we will be announcing BBC Europe soon, and while it costs a little more to get to there than Indy, I hope you will be able to join us on the other side of the pond.
I’m looking forward to this! Finally will get around to making one!
Cheers!
BB
Looking forward to having everyone in Indianapolis for the conference.
There are also a couple breweries in Lafayette (Peoples and LBC) that are minutes from I-65. Just a thought.
I would think FFF would be extremely hesitant to host ANY event, considering how tremendously popular Dark Lord Day has become. I don’t think I’m exaggerating by saying if word got out that FFF was hosting another event, it could get overwhelming very quickly (http://hoosierbeergeek.blogspot.com/2011/03/none-of-us-are-party-planners-interview.html) They really do have very little space or parking, and there are lot of surrounding businesses they have to be considerate of. Just my 2 cents.
I might suggest the #BBC12 2nd Chicago-area brewery stop be at Three Floyds in Munster, IN. It’s even on the way back to Indy and close to Chicago.
We already tried Three Floyds. They declined because of a lack of space but also, I expect, because of a lack of conviction that it is worth their time and money to host bloggers. I’ll give them a try again later but if any of you have pull, please let us know.
Not to worry! Three Floyds will be at the Microbrewers Festival in Indianapolis the next day, along with all their Hoosier brewer/brethren (and lots of guest brewers from around the country)! We look forward to seeing everyone here in beautiful Indianapolis in July. (And in case you don’t know, the Brewers of Indiana Guild will host a dinner and beer tasting for all bloggers on Friday, July 13, and is gifting tickets to the Festival on Saturday, with transportation provided by our friends at World Class Beverage!)
ROAD TRIP!!
Already there!
Congratulations to the Indy folks for putting together a great bid. Very excited!