Sunday, July 7, 2013

Beer Blogger's Conference EU 2013 and I'm not going

BBClogoThe Beer Blogger's Conference has been something I've lapped my lids at more then a few times, holding back tears of isolated jealousy.

Dog's balls and bloddy, stubbed toes! Once again, I'm going to miss another effing beer blogging event. Boo hoo, in the most sincere way. This time I'm peering over the pond from France to Scotland. Hey guys, how is the whiskey cask ale? Oh, I can't hear you, that's nice...

It is like watching all the festivals that people in Canada and across the US get to bramble over to. Then there is Australia with Melbourne good beer week, New Zealand's Beervana and countless other sloppy, sloshy, beer drinker hand shaking events that I get to read all about. I'm a team player and a bit of voyeur, so I have no problem living through all my beer blogging companions, but I'm jonesing for some skin on skin with like minded froth fans.

I'm stuck in France until I pan out my visa- another month or so, hopefully less.

Oktoberfest?! Pilsen?! (Although I don't like lagers much, I appreciate the effort and hear that Germans do beer in a beautiful way. There are places in Pilsen where a weary beer traveling lady can soak her body in a tob of warmed beer. Yum, sign me up.) Maybe make some plans for a bicycle tour of the Belgian monistaries? Amsterdam?! Copenhagen! (And) of course London.

I have a list as soon as the visa paperwork clears. Until then- I sit like a pervert in a tree, just scoping all the sweet love festivals in neighborhood net earth.

Beer Blogger's Conference activities layout is lean with some bits more chewy then others:


Keynote Speaker
Garrett Oliver of Brooklyn Brewery  will provide the keynote address. Garret spoke at BBC12 in Indianapolis and was a hit. Please see the blog post announcing Garrett for details.

Yee for keynote speakers.


History of Brewing in Scotland
Get insights into Scotland’s brewing past, and learn about the history of Scottish beer and what makes it different from (or similar to) other regional brews. Our speaker is extremely well qualified: John Martin is president of the Scottish Brewing Archive Association.

Yaa for brewing in Scotland.


Whisky Barrel Aged Beers
Harviestoun brewmaster Stuart Cail will present this short seminar on aging beers in whiskey barrels, providing a brief history of the process and taking us through a tasting of various beers so we can taste the effects of the wood.

Now we are talking- and tasting!


Beer Blogging Around the Globe
Learn about the similarities and differences in beer blogging through Europe and from farther abroad. Reuben Gray from the blog Tale of Ale in Ireland will moderate this panel as we hear from some of your fellow attendees who have traveled from far away to attend EBBC.

I'd love to meet Reuben Gray outside the web and am sure this discussion will hash out some interesting convo.


Drinks Writing: When Every Word Counts
When the liquid is only part of the story, how do you engage your reader? Veteran drinks writer Susanna Forbes shares her top 10 tips from her experience writing and editing for trade and consumer titles as well as setting up DrinkBritain.com.

Sounds like a useful whip up of information.


BrewDog does Social Media
Sarah Warman, who manages social media for BrewDog, will be sharing insights and her maverick marketing know-how with beer bloggers. BrewDog on a macro scale has employed many social media tactics that a beer blogger can learn from and apply on a micro scale to effectively grow your readership, reach, and influence.

Meh. BrewDog, you cunning macro crafters you. How I'd love to hear your devilish marketing tactics.


Becoming a Beer Sommelier
Find out if you have what it takes to become a Beer Academy Sommelier and learn about the differences between beer sommeliers in the UK and US. Learn from Sophie Atherton, the first woman in the UK to be accredited as a Beer Sommelier.

It irks me that Sophie Atherton from FemAleView is always followed by that moniker of 'the first women in the UK to be accredited as a Beer Sommelier.' First of all, why is beer capitalized? I get heavy with the pro noun capitalizations as well when I'm feeling snotty, but does the term Sommelier hold so much water that it can bump up the status of the word before it? Most of all, I'm tired of hearing the talented Ms. Atherton being remembered as merely the first female to do something. As if that is all it takes to make in the world- do something in the male dominated genre, first. Ick. I'm sure her session will be fantastic and she has more to offer than being a trail blazing female.


Current State of Beer Blogging and Discussion of EBBC14
In March of this year Zephyr Adventures, organizers of the Beer Bloggers Conference, conducted a survey of beer bloggers worldwide. Cindy Molchany from Zephyr will present the results of this survey, allowing you to compare yourself to your peers. This will be followed by a discussion among the audience of possibilities for holding EBBC14.

'Current state of Beer blogging...' sounds like an environmental summit with great deliberations to be pondered. Likely not.


What is this survey of bloggers world wide? I dont want to compare myself to anyone else but I want to know if I'm being surveyed.


I'd drink heavily for this part, if I were there. The discussion at the end is likely to involve changing the country of the EBBC. I don't see any Frenchies on the attendance list. Come to eye it, I don't see much of anyone outside the UK attending other then maybe a Swede or two. Er rather, saying that it's an entire Europe conference is bit reaching, but seeing as how all three years has been in the UK, the king of the castle can be the queen if he wants.


Oh whoa is me. Anyone want to hold a Skype beer bloggers conference with Nitch 2013? You can wear whatever you want, drink whatever you want and we'll talk about important stuff- like what to do for next year's international beer blogger's Skype conference.


Meh. I'm grumpy.


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XOXO


7 comments:

  1. very grumpy! the talk is that next year it'll be in Ireland. As UK has the greatest number of beer blogs outside of the US it makes sense to have held the conference here and if you want to be picky its been in England twice and now in Scotland...different brewing histories!
    i'm looking forward to certain beers i know will be available for us and the evening meals. Shame you can't make it this year but there's always next year!

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  2. Oh, I'm just a selfish ol' harpy, Steve, I'd love nothing more then to be there for every individual beer related meeting on the globe. Being stuck in one region (a region relatively void of beer culture) is hard on the ol' beer loving bones.

    I savvy the UK localization bit, the place has a massive history in beer terms and a diverse spread of peoples who consume the nectar. It IS only year three, as it is and as you say, there are more beer bloggers in the UK. If it were merely a beer conference there would be growling about how Belgium and Germany have deeper roots- debatable anyhow.

    I'm looking forward to the beers I know will be available for you and the evening meal pictures. Promise me you'll give me some great write ups? I want gossip, now mind you, and all the comedic moments along with the speech highlights. But of course, we don't want you taking up all your time with photo taking and notes, so best enjoy yourself and next year when I'm there we can really sauce things up, eh. Bwahhaaha.

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  3. there should be some choice tidbits on the #EBBC13 hashtag, plus plenty of pictures appearing over the weekend! I'll try not to make you too jealous

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  4. Just you BEING there makes me jealous, Steve. Presence is enough, my friend, even if the event itself was lame (which I'm counting it will be because I'm not there) I'd still be grumpy because I'm here and you all are there.
    Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. I'll be drooling on my keyboard like a perv for this year, no big deal.

    XOXO

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  5. Sorry to read that you are stuck in France and unable to join us. It's always interesting to hear what things people "meh" in our agendas; it makes us work extra hard to ensure that the actual sessions are the anti of "meh" - that the conference overall rocks. :) Where ever we end up, we hope to see you in 2014!

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  6. It's Meh, because I'm not there and jealous as a all the fun- bitter wallflower. If there was a circle of lawn chairs under a tree, a blackboard and a few coolers full of craft beer, it would still be fun to those attending and I'd still be grumpy. 2014, Cindy, I'll be there!

    XOXO

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  7. […] When the European Beer Bloggers Conference 2013 rolled around this year, my bitch fest post “I’m not going” was inspired by my inability to host selfless joy in other people’s fun. So […]

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