15,000 visitors, more than 700 exhibitions, 79 seminars, and 8,100 beers at the World Beer Cup – a brief overview of the most recent Craft Brewers Conference / BrewExpo America®, which took place in Nashville, Tennessee, in early May. As always, VLB Berlin was there.

2,500 audience members listening to an hour-long presentation about yeast management – such a thing is most likely only possible at the Craft Brewers Conference in the U.S. Roughly 5,000 visitors attended the three VLB presentations by Dr. Deniz Bilge and graduate brewmaster Kurt Marshall as part of the conference’s seminar schedule. There were also plenty of interesting conversations with customers, members, alumni, and other conference-goers at the VLB booth at the BrewExpo.

What started in 2011 at the Craft Brewers Conference has now become a tradition: the VLB Alumni, Members, and Friends Gathering. The meetup took place that year at the Mantra Artisan Ales Brewery in Franklin, located about a half hour away by bus. Founder and brewmaster Chad Frost completed the Certified Brewmaster Course at VLB in 2014. Together with his partners, he then established Mantra Artisan Ales. Featuring a taproom, the brewery produces about 12,000 hectoliters per year – and has now reached its capacity limit. But a solution is already in the works: Construction for a new brewery at a new amusement park in the area has already begun.

The next VLB Gathering is expected to take place in Denver, Colorado, in April 2019.

The VLB team on-site

Kurt Marshall speaking in front of 2,500 auditorium about yeast propagation

Fun and great beers at the VLB Gathering at Mantra Artisan Ales in Franklin, Tennessee