Central Europe’s
Craft Beer Conference

Budapest, January 24-26, 2024

A chance to work ON your business instead of IN your business.

A chance to work ON your business instead of IN your business.

The Central European Craft Brewers Conference (CEBC) is an annual conference and trade show representing the craft beer industry in Central Europe.

The conference is a trade-only event open to any craft brewery or supplier and will provide an opportunity to network in a community of great brewers from the region.

Evan Rail

We are pleased to announce that Evan Rail, award winning journalist will once again lead us through a series of seminars and round table discussions from industry leading presenters.

He is a regular contributor of articles about European beer for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Beer Advocate, All About Beer, Imbibe, Saveur, Good Beer Hunting and other publications.

Seminar Topic: Building a Better Beer Culture

American craft beer has ignited a global resurgence in small-scale brewing. Yet certain regions have produced more successful breweries, more interest in beer, and cultures that truly support brewing — through good times and bad. How did Southern California, Central Colorado, and Western Oregon build such deep beer cultures, and what lessons do these examples contain for other places?
Keynote Speaker Jeff Alworth has been writing about beer and brewing for over 25 years and is the award-winning author of several books, including The Beer Bible and The Secrets of Master Brewers. He has taught university courses about beer and the brewing business, and regularly leads educational tastings and events. In addition to his books, Jeff writes articles, maintains his long-running website Beervana, and co-hosts the Beervana Podcast with university economist Patrick Emerson.

Seminar Topic: Brand storytelling: A way to own a unique voice in a noisy market.
Don’t put the cart before your horse: First you need a good beer. Then you need a great brand. Then you need an even greater Brand Story. Storytelling is a powerful way to engage consumers of all kinds and all demographics because it is evoking emotions which is a shortest and most memorable way of connecting humans. Great brands are always great storytellers too. There are number of ways you can use storytelling to capture the imagination, and open the wallet of your consumers, and I will try to show you how.

Andrea Dickinson has an undergraduate degree in Communications and Media Science and an MBA. She has twenty years of experience including working at BBC TV London and as CEO of the Ogilvy Group Budapest. Her focus has been on helping companies to differentiate themselves by building their brand as the driver of growth.

Seminar Topic: The best practices in Content Creation for Beer Brands
Any craft brewery seeking to connect, resonate, and build loyalty amongst younger generations must have the ability to continuously create content for audiences that crave authenticity and inspiring engagement. This seminar will outline the best practices in content creation for beer brands and why this is essential for success in the future.

Kevin Jackson has been an entrepreneur for more than two decades that includes ventures in augmented reality, virtual reality, and online education. In 2017, he began teaching at Corvinus University and at the ESSCA School of Management and his latest courses include Consumer Behavior, Services Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Data Analytics and Market Insight.

Seminar Topic: Funding opportunities for breweries and how to structure your business to get them

The Hungarian experts of global auditor and consulting company PwC are well aware of the current financial/economic struggles and difficulties of SME’s in the EU. Based on their experience gathered in similar cases and projects, they will hold a session covering the following topics:
– Opportunities of EU and/or private funding for SME’s to counterbalance financial difficulties
– Financial administration goals and structural steps to be taken to achieve reliability and efficiency.
– Preparing for investments: consolidation of internal processes and controls from an investor perspective.

Dávid Szilágyi is a Senior Manager working as the head of PwC Hungary’s Strategy & Operations Consulting team. During his career he was mainly involved in business transformation (business and operating model design: governance model, organization- and process design, implementation planning) and operational efficiency projects. He has worked with several startups to support the consolidation of their operations and solidify their business case, he consulted them on business models, financial planning, go-to-market strategy, and pitching. In his own words “He is also quite into the magical combination of water, malt, hops and yeast.”

Gábor Benedek is a certified economist who leads the PwC European Union and International Development Policies team. He participated in several SME development, economic development, green finance, and international development projects. He also participated in the Fit for Export USA project as project manager and expert, which prepared Hungarian SMEs to enter the US market.

Vivien Roka is a senior manager of the Valuation team within PwC’s Financial Advisory Department. She has ten years of professional experience in business valuation, financial analysis, modelling, business plan preparation and review, and M&A project management. During her recent projects, Vivien participated in the valuation, preparation and review of business plans, valuation of intangible assets, feasibility studies and financing advice.

Seminar Topic: Grodziskie: History, Revival, and Brewing Tips

Marek Kamiński is a brewer and beer expert, co-founder and brewmaster of Polish craft brewery Browar Kingpin. He is well-travelled international beer, cider and mead judge with experience at the European Beer Star, Brussels Beer Challenge, Birra dell’ Anno, International Beer Cup Japan, Concurso Brasileiro de Cervejas and many other competitions.

Marek is a co-founder and president of Polish Craft Brewers Association, organiser, proctor and grader for BJCP Beer, Cider and Mead Judge certification, BJCP EMEA Regional Director, contributor to periodicals, and runs beer education classes and regular tasting events.
Seminar Topic: Design Great Beers with a focus on efficiency and cost savings!
The seminar offers actionable insights on optimizing the brewing process for enhanced efficiency and cost savings. Central to the seminar is the strategy of optimizing malt usage, which can significantly reduce expenses. Key highlights of the seminar include the importance of proper malt milling and precise control of mashing temperatures. Special attention is given to understanding gelatinization temperatures for malt, a critical factor for ensuring the effective conversion of starches into fermentable sugars.

Artur Kamiński – Viking Malt Sales Manager responsible for developing the sales network in the craft brewery sector in Poland and south-central Europe. Certified Beer Judge with 10 years of experience and a passionate homebrewer.

Seminar Topic: Cost savings in the brewing process from the yeast side.
2022 and 2023 have been challenging years, with rising costs in beer production as well as a reduction in consumer purchasing power. As we approach 2024, now is the moment to examine how to improve your breweries’ output as much as possible while protecting the essence of your brewing project. We recommend a few steps to analyse and find how to optimize your production processes, safeguard the quality of your beers, and ultimately conserve energy during this technical presentation.

Carlos De La Barra has a BSc. Natural and Exact Sciences (Chile) and MSc. Food And Biotechnology (Austria) and has been working in the wine and beer industry for 20 years, gaining experience by working and living in France, New Zealand, USA, and Sweden. He previously held the role of Technical Brewing Manager for Omnipollo, before joining Lallemand as Technical Sales Manager

Seminar Topic: Sensory Training
Learn to identify off flavours in this seminar that includes tastings.
Cara Simpson with a degree in Politics from Goldsmith’s in London, Cara is an experienced beer taster who has judged in beer industry competitions in Europe, Mexico, Brazil & the US. Having joined the company in 2015, Cara currently provides technical support to professional beer taster panels all over the world. Cara has received more than 300 hours of beer taster training since joining Cara Technology. She has facilitated Craft Beer taster training courses in the UK and USA and currently supports more than 100 beer tasting panels in both small and large breweries.
Seminar Topic: How to manage hops in low and no alcohol beers
The market for low and no alcohol beers is growing and growing, attracting the interest and appreciation of many consumers. The management of the hops as well as the stability of the beer itself can be challenging, especially for a craft brewery. This seminar will explore some of those challenges and provide solutions for brewers interested in solving them.

Enrico Prenni is super passionate about hops and their flavours. His first degree is in environmental engineering which allowed him to survive for 15 years – while secretly home brewing in his garage. With a passion for beer, science, books and chemistry, he did his second degree in Brewing Technologies and focused on the field of aromas.

Seminar Topic: Innovative fermentation technologies to produce fresh Low and No Alcohol beer in your craft brewery

Gilles Goemaere Hailing from Belgium Gilles graduated from the Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve as a Bio-Engineer with a specialization in Malting and Brewing Sciences and has over ten years’ experience in the brewing industry. Firstly, as a Master Brewer in a microbrewery in Belgium and more recently as technical support for Fermentis where he has acquired a strong experience solving technical and microbiological issues in customers’ breweries.

European Craft Beer Cup

Your attendee ticket includes one beer for free in the competition.
The awards will be presented on Friday January 26th, 2024.

“I’m happy to report the award we won at the European Brewers Cup as a part of the CEBC has caught fire in Slovenia. Everyone is really excited about it. Cheers! ”

— Anita Lozar, Brewery at Pivovarna Pelicon Slovenia

January 24 - 26, 2024

at Central European University
Budapest, Nádor u. 15, 1051

We are very pleased to announce that our next Central European Brewers Conference will take place on January 24 – 26, 2024 Budapest.

The event is sponsored by

WHY SHOULD YOU ATTEND the next cebc?

Industry leading presenters from top regional brewers, Fermentis, BarthHaas X, Lallemand, New York Times craft beer journalist and many others.

Craft Beer Danube boat cruise to check out Budapest at night.

Seminars designed with the brewer in mind focusing on relevant business information that can help you grow your business.

Network with exhibitors that have products and services to meet your growing business needs.

“An event like this has been missing for a long time in Central Europe. Amazing organization, professional talks and great networking. A must visit for any brewer.”
— Marek Mahut, Brewer at JBM Brew Lab

became a sponsor or EXHIBITOR At the next CEBC

Are you interested in growing your sales to brewers in Central Europe?

Join us at the next Central European Brewers Conference (CEBC) where industry stalwarts and the next generation of dedicated artisans share their vision for the exciting world of European craft brewing. The CEBC looks to set itself apart by offering exhibitors the opportunity to engage with delegates, speakers and fellow exhibitors in a more intimate, focused forum to discuss our love of craft brewing as well as insightful business opportunities and challenges. 

We offer booths to fit your needs as well as all the amenities to showcase your contribution to the art. We hope you join us at our next conference to celebrate craft brewing while making valuable business connections.

Click on the images below for more information on our exhibitor and sponsor opportunities and floorplan.

For more details, contact Tony Prior at tony.prior@cebcexpo.eu or by phone: +36 20 911 9807.

SCHEDULE

Please click on the button for the detailed schedule of seminars and presenters.

“Many thanks for such an inspiring and interesting conference. Very professionally organized with a great mix of presenters and participants. We’d be happy to attend next year with a new class of brewing students from southern Sweden.”

— Jakob Thomsgård Lärare, Yrkeshögskolan Kristianstad Brewing School

See you in 2024!

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