The press accreditation went smooth. It took about 1 minute, much faster than expected. The congress centre is huge and there are many exhibitors around. According to the Brau Beviale website they host about 1400 exhibitors, 40% of them are international. 34.000 visitors are expected to visit the biggest European beer production and beer marketing fair in 2010. Even the regional newspaper was reporting about the Brau Beviale writing on the other hand that beer is getting more expensive because of risen barley prices.

Most of the companies I had to meet where in hall no. 7. The hall no. 7 is about machines and assets. (Hallplan) There are many suppliers for micro breweries as well as industry scale manufacturers. It took some time to get around and as I was told later: “You need good shoes here.”

I had the first interview with Volker Rothbauer from Brumas. He is the inventor of the BrauEule, an automatic home brewing machine. I had to explain what Lautering.net is about and gave him some of the Lautering postcards. After the interview (The interview will be available soon) I went for lunch and coffee. By the way: coffee is on the raise where beer consume is declining – even in Germany and UK.

The second interview was with Julius Stampfer from JS Maschinen GBR. Mr Stampfer is the senior CEO of JS Maschinen. They produce small scale fillers and some other machines especially for the needs of micro breweries. I had a great time talking with Mr. Stampfer. We both agreed on the importance of consulting our customers. Once the interview was finished I went to the press centre, checked some mails and had a tea.

Later on I found Coolershop in hall no. 7a. They produce isolating neoprene bottle coatings. Melanie Fuest, she’s the owner of Coolershop, told me about the press releases available at the press centre. I collected it, had a tea and started writing down the thoughts.

Walking back from 7a to the press centre gave me time to get some fresh air. I came across two former fellow students which didn’t recognise me anymore.

The Brau Beviale is huge and one day is not enough to see everything. I focused on companies delivering micro scale breweries or other assets necessary for nano- and micro breweries. Next time I’ll try to stay one more day. The interviews with Volker Rothbauer and Julius Stampfer will follow soon.