Brewing Leaders at Alltech REBELation Symposium

A star-studded cast of brewing and distilling experts will step out from their tasting rooms across the country to share their entrepreneurial stories of success at the upcoming Alltech REBELation Brewing and Distilling symposium on May 18-19. The symposium will examine how craft beer has exploded into a global phenomenon, the importance of a good distributor and the economics of returning moonshine to the mountains and boosting the eastern Kentucky economy.
 
Plus, the craft beer and spirits will flow freely at the second annual Alltech Craft Brews & Food Fest May 16 that will feature craft brews, spirits, and artisan foods from around the globe. Speakers at the symposium will include:
 
Bill Samuels, Jr. of Maker’s Mark, Loretto, Kentucky – Samuels is a bourbon industry icon, as former president of Maker’s Mark, where he took a little-known regional bourbon and made it one of the world’s most well-known and popular brands. Samuels hails from a family that has been distilling since the 1800s and is a seventh generation bourbon distiller. 
 
Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head Brewery, Milton, Delaware – Calagione is credited with bringing culinary-inspired, “left-of-center beers” to the American market during a time when few were doing so. He opened Dogfish Head in 1995 as one of the smallest commercial U.S. breweries. Today, the brewery has grown into a 200-person company with a restaurant/brewery/distillery in Rehoboth Beach, a beer-themed hotel on the harbor in Lewes, and a production brewery in Milton, Delaware, selling beer in 31 states. Fast Company Magazine named Calagione one of The 100 Most Creative People in Business in 2011.
 
Greg Koch of Stone Brewing Co., Escondido, California – Koch is a legend in the craft brewing industry, brewing hoppy, high-alcohol beers such as its flagship Stone IPA before IPAs became the heralded beer style of the craft brewing industry. Stone Brewing was the 10th largest craft brewery in the United States in 2013 and has been on the “5,000 Fastest-Growing Private Companies” Inc. 5000 list for ten years.  
 
“We are living in a historic chapter of American brewing, with a new craft brewery opening every 16 hours in this country,” said Dr. Pearse Lyons, president and founder of Alltech. “New distilleries are appearing everywhere too, as domestic whiskey sales have soared by 40 percent in the past five years. This clearly is a brave new world for brewers and distillers, one in which the opportunities are everywhere for entrepreneurs willing to seize them. The Alltech REBELation is a celebration of this, and we can’t wait to have these entrepreneurs with us to share their experiences. ”
 
More topics that will be explored include:
 
    •    A Sleepy Local Phenomenon Goes National and Global – Dr. Pearse Lyons
    •    The Crucial Element. The Crucial Partnership – Your Distributor – George Fisher, Cavalier Distributing
    •    Eastern Kentucky: How entrepreneurship can catalyze economic progress – Donovan Blackburn, City Manager of Pikeville, Kentucky
    •    The China Opportunity – Patrick Lin, beer consultant, China
    •    Brewing and Distilling Education
 
This special symposium is part of Alltech REBELation, an event exploring innovation, inspiration and world-changing ideas in Lexington, Ky., USA, from May 17-20. The Brewing and Distilling symposium begins on May 18.
 
Pre-conference events include an opportunity to savor the best in brews from across the Bluegrass and around the world at the second annual Alltech Craft Brews and Food Fest on May 16, and tours of Kentucky’s horse farms, bourbon distilleries and other sites are offered on Sunday, May 17, along with an international welcome dinner for all conference attendees.
 
Registration for the Alltech REBELation is open now for a discounted rate until May 2 at 11:59 p.m. EDT. One-day access passes are available, as are special partner rates. Delegates who are members of ARPAS and AAVSB can also earn CEUs.