AGENDA
Thursday, August 27th
12:00 PM Pickup at Hotel Marivaux for the Optional Pre-Conference Excursion with the Belgian Family Brewers
11:00 PM Pre-conference excursion returns to the Hotel Marivaux
Friday, August 28th
11:30 – 1:00 PM Registration, Expo & Buffet Lunch with typical Belgian Cuisine provided by Visit Belgium. The lunch will also feature the following beers: Saison – Dry Hopping from Dupont, Omer from Omer Vander Ghinste, Hommellbier from Van Eecke, Liefmans Kriek Brut, Petrus Oud Bruin from De Brabandere, Oude Geuze from Timmermans, Scotch Barrel Aged from Silly, Cuvée du Château from Van Honsebrouck, Tripel Karmeliet from Bosteels, Arend Tripel from De Ryck and Barbãr from Lefebvre. Please arrive early enough to register and enjoy the fine food and incredible beverage selection while getting to know the organizations and fellow attendees that make this event possible. – Hall Marivaux
1:00 – 1:25 PM Conference Opening with a few words from Phillippe Close, Alderman of Tourism for the City of Brussels and Xavier Vanneste, owner of Halve Maan Brewery and President of the Belgian Family Brewers and Pierre Coenegrachts, Deputy General Manager of the Belgian Tourist Office Wallonia Brussels – Hitchcock Auditorium
1:30 – 2:30 PM History, Present, and Future of Brewing in Belgium with a panel Belgian Brewers and industry leaders including An De Ryck of Brewery De Ryck, Didier Vander Haeghen of Brasserie de Silly and Willem Van Herrenweghen of Brewery Timmermans. This session will be moderated by international beer consultant, Krishan Maudgal – Hitchcock Auditorium
2:35 – 3:35 PM Finding Content Beyond the Beer Review – Are you stuck writing beer reviews? Consumers may be more interested in the backstory than an actual beer review. Hear from several successful bloggers and writers about ideas for developing content including Dr. Ina Verstl, a business journalist that writes stories about the global brewing industry’s “backstories” for her own blog and as editor for Brauwelt International; Prof. Dr. Fabrizio Bucella, Director of Inter Wine & Dine School of Oenology, blogger for the Huffington Post and beer writer; and Pete Rowe, a writer and columnist for The San Diego Union-Tribune. This session will be moderated by Paul Walsh, owner and editor of Belgian Beer & Food. – Hitchcock Auditorium
3:40 – 4:40 PM Press Conference – The non-profit association Belgian Family Brewers are Belgian breweries which have been brewing beer in Belgium for at least 50 years non-stop. Together they represent 15% of Belgian brewers, with a total of more than 3,500 years of experience in traditional beer brewing. The Brewers will be announcing some changes to the association’s focus and direction via a formal press conference. Members of the press from throughout the region will be invited to join the beer bloggers and writers attending the conference itself for this event. The press conference will include 30 minutes for Q&A. – Hitchcock Auditorium
5:00 – 6:00 PM Live Beer Blogging featuring Duvel Equinox from Duvel, Ename Pater from Roman, St.Feuillien Grand Cru from St. Feullien, Oude Kriek from Lindemans, Cornet from Palm, Duchesse du Bourgogne from Verhaeghe, Bush de Charme from Dubuisson, Straffe Hendrik Heritage from De Halve Maan, Gouden Carolus Classic from Het Anker, Delerium Tremens from Huyghe and Extra 4 from Sint Bernardus – Hall Marivaux
6:15 PM Meet in the lobby of the Marivaux for a short ten-minute walk to dinner. We will start tonight’s Café Crawl from dinner so please come prepared for the entire evening.
6:30 – 9:00 PM Dinner – The Belgian Family Brewers intend to welcome the beer bloggers and writers into their family by hosting them for what will surely be the finest dinner this conference has ever included as part of its agenda. Brussel’s, Belga Queen, one of Brussel’s best restaurants, will host the bloggers and writers this evening. The Belgian Family Brewers will feature an impressive selection of beers to pair with the food. Brewers and brewery representatives will join bloggers and writers for dinner, drinks and conversation.
9:00 – 11:00 PM Evening Event with the Belgian Family Brewers featuring twenty-plus beers at the Delirium Café
Saturday, August 29th
10:00 – 11:00 AM The World of Blogging with WordPress.com – Hear from WordPress.com expert Konstantin Obenland who will share his impressions of the current state of blogging from having spoken at WordPress blogging conferences around the world; provide some insight into how beer bloggers can improve their blogs using simple and free software; and venture into a few predictions about the future of blogging. – Hitchcock Auditorium
11:05 – 12:05 AM Beer Marketing – How does beer blogging and writing fit in to the broader subject of beer marketing? Hear from a panel that includes Sofie Vanrafelghem of Sofie’s World, Tom Young, marketing director for Nøgne Ø , Johnny Moran, ‘Beer Bandito’ and community manager for BrewDog and Jean Hummler, owner of Moeder Lambic – Hitchcock Auditorium
12:10 – 2:00 PM A Walking Lunch, pairing Belgian Beers with Traditional Belgian Foods – Visit Flanders will host a moveable feast with mulitle food and beer stations featuring Gentse Waterzooi (typical chicken meal soup) paired with Gruut Wit – City Brewery Gruut; Brabantse hespenrolletjes (Chicory rolls with ham and béchamel) paired with Witgoud – Farm brewery Hof ten Dormaal; Chocomousse (chocolat desert) paired with Fort Lapin Quadrupel – Brewery Fort Lapin; Stoverij (Flemish Meat Stew) paired with Gouden Carolus Cuvée van de Keizer Blauw – Brewery Het Anker and Fricandon met Krieken (meat bread with cherry sauce) paired with Ter Dolen Kriek – Brewery Ter Dolen – Hall Marivaux
2:00 – 3:00 PM State of Beer in Europe – Bo Jensen, Executive Member of the European Beer Consumers Union and Simon Spillane, Senior Advisor with the Brewers of Europe will let us know where the European beer industry stands now compared to where it was and what current trends are suggesting. This session will be moderated by Reuben Gray, Beer Blogger and Chairman of Beoir – Hitchcock Auditorium
3:05– 4:05 PM Beer Blogger & Writer Reports – Hear eight five-minute reports from Peter Rowe, Columnist from the US’s San Diego Union-Tribune; Matt Curtis, Freelance Beer Writer from the UK’s Total Ales; Pedro Marques Beer Journalist and Editor-in Chief of Brazil’s Menu Magazine; Chris Routledge & The Baron of the UK’s The Omskirk Baron; Bert Mattijs of Belgium’s Beer Awards; Jeffrey Michael of The Biking Brewer; Carol Dekkers of Micro Brews USA; and Wayne Dunne , The Irish Beer Snob on what is happening in their part of the world; what apps and software are they using; what posts or publications are getting the most attention; what trends are they seeing; what are they drinking, what’s working and what’s not: – Hitchcock Auditorium
4:10 – 5:10 PM Sour Beers – A scientific approach on how sours beers are brewed and aged. Making sours is science with a touch of magic. This session will make a clear difference between barrels and foeders. Presented by Petrus Sour Beers – Hitchcock Auditorium
5:10 – 6:00 PM Break
6:00 – 8:00 PM Dinner – “Brewmaster’s Dinner with Vaclav” We look forward to spending some time with our friends from Pilsner Urquell and Brewmaster, Vaclav Berka. The beer for dinner will be driven fresh from the brewery and filled on site for dinner! – Hall Marivaux
8:00 PM Optional Pub Crawl departs from Hotel Marivaux lobby. Paul Walsh of Belgian Beer & Food Magazine has designed a crawl route and will provide a map highlighting some of the more interesting cafés and historical sites with a beer or brewing significance along the way. We look forward to seeing where people are and what they are drinking via the #EBBC15 hashtag that evening. Bloggers and writers should bring their conference badges on the crawl to take advantage of some special arrangements along the way.
Sunday, August 30th
9:00 AM Pick-up at Hotel Marivaux for Optional Post-Conference Excursions with Visit Flanders. One of these excursions will return to the hotel at 6:30 PM the same day. Two are overnight excursions that return to the hotel on Monday, August 31st at 6:30 PM.