Brewers' Association gathers in Baltimore

Modern Brewery Age, Oct 9, 2000

Editor's Note: We will include a full presentation of Mr. Weinberg's address in a future magazine issue, complete with associated charts.)

During the second general session, noted e-commerce consultant Harry Schuhmacher held forth for over an hour on the various e-commerce models now arising. Mr. Schuhmacher explicated the various B2C and B2B models and explained their costs and benefits. At the close of Mr. Schuhmacher's presentation, one attendee was heard to remark, "This may be the most important information that has been provided at this conference." (Editor's Note: We plan full coverage of Mr. Schuhmacher's presentation in a coming issue).

During the lunch break of the second general session, Ben Cohen, cofounder of Ben & Jerry's, used his time at the mike to encourage socially-responsible business practices and to deplore large U.S. expenditures on military hardware. Mr. Cohen brought several props to the stage, including a large stack of Oreo cookies. He proceeded to build a tall stack of Oreos, with each cookie intended to represent $10 billion of U.S. spending on arms. He then compared U.S. spending on arms with that of Russia, China and the world's rogue states, noting that our spending surpasses those of our potential enemies by a wide margin. Mr. Cohen asserted that a modest transfer of funding from military programs would allow the U.S. to dramatically increase educational funding and fully fund the Head Start program.

Mr. Cohen then brought ajar with 10,000 BBs to the podium. He asked the audience to think of each BB as symbolizing one Hiroshima-size nuclear weapon. He then poured the BBs into a large metal canister. This took some time. Mr. Cohen said that this demonstration was intended to show that the United States possesses many nuclear weapons, far too many in Mr. Cohen's opinion. While Mr. Cohen was applauded for his effective presentation, some in the audience were bemused by the chosen subject.

The afternoon concluded with a panel discussion on managing growth. Panelists included Kim Jordan of the New Belgium Brewing Co.; Ken Grossman of the Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.; Rich Doyle of the Mass. Bay Brewing Co. and Gary Fish of the Deschutes Brewery. We will publish a full transcript of this panel discussion in an upcoming issue.

The convention concluded on the evening of October 3rd with the annual Brewer's Banquet and Award ceremony. Results of the awards ceremony were not available at press-time.