Alabama beer and beverage trade show to connect breweries with retailers, restaurants and bars

Alabama’s largest craft beer distributor, AlaBev, is connecting breweries with retailers, restaurants and bars across Alabama with the inaugural AlaBev Trade Show on May 9 at Regions Field. Breweries from around the world will fill the Regions Field Banquet Hall to interact, educate and showcase their brand and products available for sale throughout Auburn, Birmingham, Huntsville, Montgomery and Tuscaloosa.

“AlaBev is expanding the limits of great taste by bringing together key industry personnel from each tier of the beer industry with the goal of exchanging information on opportunities, strategies and techniques beneficial to all,” stated Harry Kampakis, president of AlaBev. “The AlaBev Trade Show will be a unique event offering value to all sides of the three tier system in Alabama. It is important for manufacturers, distributors, retailers, government and, ultimately, consumers to understand the value of our businesses, and how each contributes. This is most evident in the rapid growth of the craft beer category in Alabama. Because of their distributors, smaller breweries with smaller budgets are able to compete on the shelves next to multibillion dollar global corporations. Providing access to market is just one of the mission critical services we provide.”

The trade show will consist of three components, maximizing the exposure for breweries and providing retailers additional tools to increase their bottom line:

• The Exhibition Hall will host local, regional and national breweries as they showcase their newest products and bring in brewmasters and experts to talk about their brand.
• The educational seminars will focus on courses such as Category and Shelf Management, Understanding Draft Beer: Systems, Techniques, and Profitability, among others.
• A live demo and showcase area will host local celebrity chefs educating attendees on unique food and craft beer pairings.

The trade show will culminate with a celebration at the first annual AlaBev Guitar-Beer-Que in the Regions Field Club Lounge starting at 5 p.m. This event will be open to the general public with tickets starting at $25 each. To kick off the fun, AlaBev will unveil exclusive beer offerings brought in by the breweries attending the Trade Show. These brews are only available at Guitar-Beer-Que with limited quantities being served. In addition to the unique brews coming in, local music will keep the crowd celebrating through the night.

To find out more about AlaBev’s Trade Show or AlaBev’s Guitar-Beer-Que, contact Matt Kilpatrick at (205) 516-3122 or visit www.alabev.com.