Once again, nearly 170 craft breweries and thousands of brewers, beer geeks and beverage industry folks will be invading our shores as the Californian Craft Beer Summit, hosted by the California Craft Brewers Association, and its accompanying beer festival come to Long Beach for the second time, Sept. 9 through 11, 2020.

“The 2019 summit was a huge success for the association,” said Associate Executive Director Leia Bailey. “There was an exciting outpouring of love for craft beer and many beer lovers traveled from all over the greater L.A. region to experience this event. We were very excited that the majority of the beer lovers at the Summit Beer Festival were excited to return again in 2020.”

Historically held in Sacramento, the move to Long Beach last year and again this year is for two reasons: the Sacramento convention space the summit typically occupies will be under renovation, forcing the summit to find a temporary new home. Secondly, it is fitting to have the summit visit another place in California—especially Long Beach, whose history in independent beer is both rich and lengthy—considering the state and all its various regions have ultimately led the country’s independent beer renaissance.

Attendance and revenue for the 2019 summit was higher than expected, creating even more buzz for how to make 2020’s summit more engaging.

“We will be taking an even more interactive approach at the Long Beach Convention Center, building opportunities for attendees to get hands-on in their experiences within the beer industry,” Bailey said. “Everything from food pairings to off-flavor training to sharing a special release beer with an industry leader to style-specific beer tastings and trainings.”

The full schedule for the 2020 summit will be released in early May prior to the early bird ticket sale, which takes place on May 19.

If past summits and festivals are any indication, there will be a bit of everything for everyone across the beer spectrum. For the industry folks, direct conversations with bottlers, distributors and marketers take place. For the brewers, there will be face-to-face interactions with not only other brewers but folks who are masters in their own gastronomical fields like chefs and sommeliers.

And for the drinkers, there is a festival that will provide four hours of unlimited pours from a huge portion of the country’s best breweries, including our very own Beachwood Brewing and Beachwood Blendery, which will now have the comfort of moving their product across the street for this event rather than up the coast.

The California Craft Beer Summit will take place Sept. 9 through 11 in 2020 and will take place at the Long Beach Convention Center. More information on specifics will be released in May of 2020.

Brian Addison is a columnist and editor for the Long Beach Post. Reach him at [email protected] or on social media at FacebookTwitterInstagram, and LinkedIn.