An Update from the Board of Craft Beer Limited to the Australian Craft Beer Industry

LOTS GOING ON

To say there is a lot going on in craft beer at the moment would be an understatement. We’ve seen some very successful beer events invade the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival, there’s the bulging Good Beer Week program that has just been released highlighting just how far and wide you can stretch the definition of a beer event, there are brewers all over the country busily and creatively brewing their beers for GABS, there was a real buzz around the release of this year’s Critics’ Choice and the dominance of craft beers in the list, and there was the very successful Craft Brewers Forum as part of the IBD Convention. And, there’s more to come, with Good Beer Week just around the corner, and the AIBA judging kicking off this week.

It’s certainly a great time be actively involved in craft beer!

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

As most people would know, almost a year ago we started work on developing a national craft beer association and spent months under the working title of “Australian Craft Brewers Association” as we moved towards launch. When we were ready to launch we went to register the name with ASIC and were surprised to find someone had reserved the name days beforehand. We didn’t want this to hold us up so, on the run, we launched under the name Craft Beer Limited as a short term solution until we were able to acquire a name that best represented the association.

Now that we are up and running and gaining members and support as a true industry association we have changed our name to the Craft Beer Industry Association (CBIA), a name that simply describes who we are.

VAMI SUPPORT

We are very pleased to announce that the committee of the Victorian Association of Microbreweries Inc (VAMi) has voted to support and subsidise it’s members in becoming members of CBIA and have endorsed it as the national body.

In a statement to it’s members the VAMi committee said, “It has become the opinion of the VAMI Committee that CBL offers the best opportunity for the industry to achieve its objectives and build on what the many VAMi members have achieved over the years. Additionally, the committee feels that CBL offers the best financial stability for a long term national association, and with that would come a stable base to get real achievements at a national level.”

We look forward to welcoming the remaining VAMi members to CBIA, and congratulate the members and committee members who have done so much for craft beer in Victoria over many years.

MEMBERSHIP UPDATE

Members continue to join the association and we now have over twenty brewer members of CBIA representing a good spread from all member categories. We look forward to that number growing as we move ahead. Check the website for a full listing of brewer members. For those who want to join membership forms are available from the link here.

MEMBERSHIP FEE PAYMENTS

For those of you who have filled out and submitted a membership form, you can now pay your fees for the 2011/2012 year by EFT. Note that we are only calling for fees based on the April – June period of this year (25% of the full year fees). Although some members have submitted credit card details with their membership forms, we would now like you to pay your fees via EFT.

Note: These fees need to be paid prior to you nominating and or voting at the AGM.

NEW MEMBER CATEGORY

In response to feedback from the industry we have added an extra member category for brewers that currently don’t operate a brewery. This will add a fifth member category of Contract Brewer to our membership structure. The fees for members within this category will be payable on a sliding volume scale as per the other member categories. Note this category is for brewers who currently don’t hold an excise licence, and like other member categories will have at least one member from that category represent them on the board.

MEMBERS MEETING AND AGM

We would like to announce that we will be holding the Inaugural CBIA AGM on Wednesday the 16th of May (1.30 to 4.30pm) in Melbourne (during Good Beer Week) with the venue TBC. Whilst the meeting will be open to anyone with an interest in craft beer, we will also be holding a ballot (see nomination and voting process below) to elect the Inaugural CBIA Board.

The founding interim board will present the objectives of CBIA and the key elements and framework for achieving category growth before handing over the responsibilities to the freshly elected, operating board of the association.

CALLING FOR NOMINATIONS

We now call for authorised representatives of fully paid members to nominate for positions on the CBIA Board. We have some well qualified and experienced people in our industry and our aim is get the best people to represent us. We are looking for people who have broad industry knowledge, who have the ability to facilitate positive outcomes, and are open and inclusive in their approach. Importantly they need to have a track record in getting things done and have the time to be both engaged and active in the workings of CBIA. Although the board will be supported by various sub-committees and state chapters they will need to play an active role in the achievement of CBIA’s objectives. It’s not just a case of attending the occasional meeting.

To be eligible for election, nominations need be to submitted via email to email@craftbeer.org.au by the 27th of April.

Nomination forms should be requested by sending an email to the above email, and will include a consent from the nominee, confirmation they are the authorised representative of the Member, and the support of an authorised representative of another fully paid member from the same member category that the nominee is from. The nominee should also need to include a note to members (maximum one page) detailing their credentials for the position on the board. These notes will be circulated to members along with the ballot forms prior to the AGM.

BOARD STRUCTURE AND POSITIONS

There will be seven seats on the CBIA Board, one from each of the five member categories (Pub and Nano Brewers, Microbrewers, Contract Brewers, Regional Craft Brewers and National Craft Brewers) and two other positions from any of these categories (see election process below).

Once the board has been elected their first task will be to appoint the formal positions of Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer etc.

ELECTION PROCESS

Ballot papers will be sent out to all fully paid members on the 4th May. The ballot paper, to be filled out by the authorised representative from each member, will have the nominees listed under each category with a check box beside their name. All members will vote for one candidate per category (they will place a vote for each category, not just the category they as members fall into).

Completed ballots will be submitted on arrival at the AGM (or if you are not attending they can be emailed prior). The votes will be counted at the AGM. The candidate with the highest number of votes in each category will be appointed to the board to represent that category, the other two positions will be filled by the two candidates with the highest votes after the votes of the other category representatives are removed.

CRAFT BREWERS FORUM

Last week the Institute of Brewing & Distilling held their Asia Pacific Convention with the Sunday being devoted to a Craft Brewers Forum. The day was co-ordinated by Brad Rogers from Stone & Wood and included a range of technical presentations from key brewing suppliers and craft brewers on the evolving materials and equipment available to the industry, the importance of quality and getting the word out there. It was a very successful day with over 180 people attending and it reinforced the need for CBIA to continue to support industry education through these types of activities.

Once again if you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact any of the interim board below.

Cheers,

Brad, Brendan, Bruce, Dave, Owen, Jamie, Miles & Adam

Craft Beer Industry Association