The Michigan Brewers Guild’s Annual Winter Conference will take place in Kalamazoo on January 15-16, 2009 with an afternoon of pre-conference events on Wednesday, January 14th. The schedule is as follows:

Wednesday, January 14th ***pre conference***
      2:00-4:00pm Government affairs round table discussion
      4:00-5:30pm Bell’s tour
      6:30-8:00pm Retailer hospitality event at Old Burdick’s
      Local promotions featuring Michigan beer

Thursday, January 15th
      10:00-11:15am Advanced hop products: not just for the majors presented by Mike Babb from Kalsec
      11:15am-12:15pm Gluten free beer presented by Bob Hanson from Briess Industries
      Lunch
      1:30-2:30pm Creative in house marketing presented by Marty Jones from Oskar Blues Brewing Company
      2:45-3:45pm 10 ways to ruin your stainless presented by Ashton Lewis from Paul Mueller Company
      4:00-6:00pm Brewers Guild meeting and elections
      7:30-10:00pm Reception and Dinner
      Local promotions featuring Michigan beer

Friday, January 16th
      Breakfast
      9:00-10:00am Sustainability applications in the restaurant presented by Ed Granchi and Matt Roman from
                                 the new sustainable, organic restaurant Mind, Body, & Spirits
      10:15-11:15am Improving the quality of draught beer dispensed in bars and restaurants presented by
                                 Jim Joyce of Miller Brewing Company and the Brewers Association’s Draught Quality
                                  Standards Committee
      11:30am-12:15pm Sensory Evaluation Workshop presented by Polly Barrett from Kalsec
      Lunch
      1:30-2:30pm Selling to distributors (we are working on filling a speaker cancellation)
      2:45-4:00pm Bottle conditioning and flavor stability presented by Dan Carey from New Glarus Brewing
                               Company
      4:30-5:30pm MBAA-District Michigan meeting
      Straggler hospitality

As you can see, we have a great line up of quality industry professionals scheduled to speak on a variety of relevant and timely topics again this year. The sensory evaluation workshop will feature beer spiked with different hop aromas and Polly will also address key considerations in establishing a sensory panel. I am excited about the dinner this year as the Executive Chef at the Radisson is very interested in the opportunity to work with Michigan beer and food and he has an interactive demonstration planned as part of the dinner.

I am hoping that the Wednesday pre-conference activities will be well attended. This is a great opportunity to get up to speed on the details of a busy year with our Government Affairs Committee and to discuss your ideas relating to public policy issues that impact your brewery or brewpub. If you are interested in the Bell’s tour please RSVP directly to Ken Belau so they can plan appropriately for tour guests. Ken can be contacted via email at KBelau@bellsbeer.com or by phone at 269.382.2338. The retailer hospitality scheduled for Wednesday evening is new this year. We want to take advantage of the expanded draught beer selection on hand at the hotel bar and promote Michigan beer to local key accounts. We are working with the local distributors Imperial Beverage and Paw Paw Wines to support the event and to get a good turnout from local key accounts. This will be an invitation only hospitality event for retailers. If you are currently marketing your beer in the south west Michigan area or if you would just like to be part of the event you are encouraged to attend. I hope this event is successful and becomes a part of the conference going forward and it will be great to have a good turn out from brewery representatives.

The Kalamazoo Radisson Plaza Hotel is a very nice facility and it is well suited to meet our needs and expectations. The special rate for the conference is $120 for Thursday night and if you add Wednesday and/or Friday to your Thursday reservation the additional day(s) will be just $99 each. Parking is $5 per day in the adjacent parking structure and there is an additional charge if you valet park. There is a covered walkway from the parking structure to the hotel. You can make your reservations online at http://www.radissonkz.com/. From this point you will want to click on the "more search options" link under the "check rates and availability" heading. This will take you to another page where you can enter your stay dates. Below that you will find the "search for special rates" header which will have an area to enter your "promotional code" (0901MI). Please hit enter to see the available group rates. You can also make reservations by calling the hotel directly at 269.343.3333 and mentioning the Michigan Brewers Guild conference. January 2nd is when the special room rate will close.

This year’s conference format is slightly different than in recent years and the dinner is scheduled for Thursday evening and is included in conference registration. Please note that you must add the sensory evaluation workshop to your conference registration if you are planning to participate. The cost of the conference is only $145 for Guild or MBAA member if you register by January 2nd. The sensory evaluation workshop is an additional $10 and you may add a dinner guest for $55. Slightly higher rates apply to non members or late registrations. This is a great value and the Guild is proud to offer this as a service to our industry. On line registration is preferred but please feel free to print the registration form if you like. See you in January!