Revised Thoughts on the Beer Bloggers Conference in Indianapolis

About a month ago I offered up some constructive suggestions about shortcomings in the agenda for the 2012 Beer Bloggers Conference. Comments left on that article promised improvements to that agenda, and yesterday an updated schedule reached my inbox.

1) While Chicago is certainly a fantastic beer city, Goose Island is a fantastic brewery, and the visit to both Goose and the second (yet to be determined) brewery are listed as per-conference events, we can't help but feel that this time could be better spent in our Indiana breweries.

I'm happy to say that the folks behind BBC12 have addressed some of the Indiana issue with a lunchtime visit to Lafayette Brewing Company on the way to Indianapolis. As one of Indiana's oldest breweries (established in 1993), and a direct descendant of the Broad Ripple Brewpub (Indiana's oldest), Greg Emig's brewpub is an ideal example of our Indiana brewing roots. In addition to lunch at LBC, Friday's BBC12 schedule makes a dinner stop at Tomlinson Tap Room, where 16 Indiana taps await conference attendees.

2) I know that none of these details are final, but I can't help but wonder why any beer blogger could visit a city throwing the state's largest beer festival (the Indiana Microbrewer's Festival in Opti Park) and spend the day not at that festival, but instead listening to a talk about monetizing their blog (and best of luck with that!).

The good news is that the monetizing your blog portion of BBC12 seems to have been eliminated. The even better news is that in its place is a visit to the Indiana Microbrewer's Festival. As the centerpiece of the Brewers of Indiana Guild calendar, Microbrewer's is Indiana's can't miss most-to-all brewery event. We'll be glad to see bloggers from all over the country in attendance, hopefully spreading the good word about Indiana beer.

A better agenda with an Indiana influence was what we were hoping for from BBC12. While some might consider the event far from perfect, it appears that the organizers of BBC12 have kept Indiana in mind. That's certainly a solid start.