Recap: Craft business discussed at new AlaBev trade show

Alabama’s largest craft beer distributor, AlaBev, hosted its first annual trade show, connecting 32 breweries with over 400 retailers, restaurants and bars from across Alabama on May 9 at Regions Field. Breweries from around the world filled the Regions Field Banquet Hall interacting, educating and showcasing their brand and products available for sale through AlaBev.

The trade show consisted of three main components, maximizing the exposure for breweries and providing retailers additional tools to increase their bottom line.

The Exhibition Hall hosted local, regional and national breweries as they showcased their newest products and brought in brewmasters and experts to talk about their brand.

The Educational Seminars focused on courses such as Category and Shelf Management, Understanding Draft Beer: Systems, Techniques, and Profitability with MicroMatic, as well as Food and Beer pairings with Scott Kerkmans.

A Live Demo and Showcase Area hosted Chef Phillip Drennan as he educated attendees on food and craft beer pairings and a mixologist on hand to provide unique beer cocktails.

The trade show culminated with a celebration at the first annual AlaBev Guitar-Beer-Que in the Regions Field Club Lounge, where brewers, retailers and the general public celebrated the announcement of Birmingham Beverage rebranding to AlaBev. Samples of AlaBev’s exclusive beer offerings brought in by the breweries attending the trade show were unveiled as guest were able to expand the limits of great taste with some of the world’s most rare beers. These brews were ONLY available at Guitar-Beer-Que with limited quantities being served.

Local breweries, Good People, Avondale, Straight to Ale, Yellowhammer and BluePants provide cask conditioned firkins with fan favorite classics to keep the party going. In addition to the unique brews coming in, local music from Stuart McNair and The Negotiators kept the crowd celebrating through the night.