The first Brewers Congress, organised by The Brewers Journal, took place on Monday (27th) and featured a range of best-in-class speakers discussing and debating key issues that affect the modern brewing industry.

More than 250 attendees flocked to the prestigious Institute of Civil Engineers for talks from 16 leading figures, as well as a sold-out expo that brought together some of the most respected and innovative manufacturers and supplier from across the globe.

Sir Geoff Palmer, OBE, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Heriot-Watt University, delivered the event’s keynote that focused heavily on his expertise in the field of malt intertwined with highlights from UK brewing industry.

“You need to understand what the industry’s needs are. You can’t talk about it if you can’t understand it and with that in mind, technology is science that works. So if you are doing stuff in brewing that isn’t working, the science is wrong. Simple as that,” he added.

Jaega Wise, head brewer at Wild Card Brewery gave a rousing call to arms on how sexism can be tackled in the beer industry.

This included the need for implementing a marketing and advertising code of practice that would have breweries sign up to and as a result, not use sexist branding within their business.

She also told the packed room that beer festival organisers need to be more proactive to put a stop to such imagery adorning beers at such events.

“A ban on beers with sexist imagery and branding entering SIBA and CAMRA festival competitions…would quickly stop some smaller breweries from deciding to have branding with some boobs on the front,” he argued.

Elsewhere during the day, John Keeling from Fuller’s expertly explored whether brewing was an art or a science.

He said: “With beer, there is quality and consistency plus flavour and character. For a great beer you need them in perfect balance. If anything is lacking then you don’t have a great beer.”

Keeling also stressed that you can’t be a real brewery “unless you have a brewing philosophy”.

Robert Percival from Lallemand and Simply Hops’ Phil Lowry joined forces to explore biotransformation, concluding that yeast strain selection can impact on aroma and flavour of beer, hop addition and timing is critical and also, there scope for creativity and experimentation.

“Go away, have fun with what you do and let us know. Feedback, feedback, feedback. We want to hear it!” said Lowry.

Dr Bill Simpson used his talk to explore four times where disaster has struck in brewing, including a recall due to a yeast issue at Revolution Brewing in Chicago that affected 10,000 barrels of beer.

He advised breweries to adopt four approaches to avoid such issues.

“You have to think creatively and ask yourself what’s the worst that could happen? You must assume nothing and check things for yourself. Always analyse risk and search the internet for the wealth of advice available. And finally, take responsibility for yourself as experts can be wrong too,” he explained.

Another issue that was tackled during the day was how a brewery can stand out in a crowded market. Mike Murphy, brewmaster at Lervig in Norway, flew in for the event and said breweries need quality and consistency to make a mark.

“You need to be yourself and in the process make great beers, and deliver those constantly. Also, don’t be afraid to be creative, invest in great branding and make the beer exciting for the consumer.” he added.

Delegates also took in an impassioned talk from Stu McKinlay, co-founder of Yeastie Boys, on workers rights in the brewing industry and also the importance of being kind to one another and looking out for each and every member of your team.

Alex Troncoso delivered a fantastic lecture on forming a competitive brewery, imploring breweries to recognise that making good beer is simply not enough.

“Consideration must be given to all aspects – making good beer is not enough. Culture, marketing, team, branding, sales, distribution and production all comes into it,” he explained.

The Brewers Congress also featured talks on malt innovation from Richard Simpson at Simpsons Malt and the guidelines breweries must adhere to so not to fall foul of Portman Group regulations.

Elsewhere, attendees were treated to an inside view of beer buying from Charlie McVeigh at Draft House and the importance of effective beer distribution from Cave Direct founder Colin Gilhespy.

Russel Bisset, co-founder of Leeds-based Northern Monk took an in-depth look at the evolution of the brewery and also, how it has developed its excellent range of beers, which include the ever-changing Patrons Project collaborations.

And on the subject of evolution, Nick Dwyer, creative director at Beavertown delivered a captivating insight into how he has created the iconic brewery’s branding, and how he works with the team at the London brewery to capture the essence of each and every beer.

Paul Jones, co-founder and managing director of Cloudwater, closed the event with a talk on serving the marketplace that looked at production targets, as well as the challenges and successes that come with that.

Jones observed how Cloudwater could further improve the customer experience.

“We can look at growing our influence, raising our voice to show that hazy isn’t lazy. We are also always asking ourselves what can we do to raise our benchmark, and serve our customers better?” he said.

Jones also added that self retail needs to play a much bigger part in contributing to the brewery’s income in the face of uncertainty in the economy.

Special thanks to everyone that spoke and attended the Brewers Congress. And also to the companies that sponsored, exhibited and help make it such a success. Thanks to Simply Hops, Lallemand, Muntons, QCL, Brewers Association, Anton Paar, Cara Technology, Cask Brewing Systems, Dixon Europe, Enterprise Tondelli, Erben, Hpe Process, Johnson Brewing Design, Kemtile, Moorgate Finance, Murphy & Son, Palmer Canning, Rankin and Rastal.