It’s an exciting time to be involved in the craft beer industry. Year after year of double-digit growth, constant invention, creativity, and the surging number of new breweries is awe-inspiring. This “Golden Age,” which many people are calling it, is not just limited to beer. The cider, spirits, mead and wine industry are also growing rapidly, and there’s a lot they can learn from each other as they develop and look to the future.

So it makes perfectly good sense for an event called the Craft Beverage Expo to emerge and offer:

“A comprehensive conference tailored specifically to suppliers of craft wine, beer and spirits. Celebrating collaboration, highlighting innovation and showcasing the best and next practices across all segments, this event is designed to help participants compete in a marketplace filled with high volume, low-cost options.”

The conference will take place May 6-8, 2014, in San Jose, CA. It will focus exclusively on post-production activities and strategies like marketing, labeling, branding, distribution, customer engagement, and more.

I was honored to join the conference advisory panel earlier this summer and help organizers develop their program with my knowledge, expertise and point of view. The Craft Beverage Expo will be a valuable educational opportunity for new and seasoned craft beverage professionals. If you fall into that category I highly suggest you attend.