Welcome

Dear colleagues in malting and brewing,

On behalf of the Organizing and Scientific Committees, it is our great pleasure to invite you to the 15^th edition of the International Malting and Brewing Symposium ‘Trends in Brewing’, from 2^nd to 6^th April 2023 at the KU Leuven, Campus Ghent, situated near the renowned historical city centre of Ghent in Belgium. Trends in Brewing is jointly organized by KU Leuven (Belgium), Technical University Berlin (Germany), University of Nottingham (United Kingdom), Oregon State University (United States of America), University of Ghent (Belgium) and the Italian Brewing Research Centre (CERB, University of Perugia).

The world as we knew underwent dramatic changes, with a pandemic and –especially in Europe – with the ongoing war in Ukraine. Additionally, the recent scarcity of energy, water, grains and various utilities and process aids is unprecedented for the brewing industry. This causes maltsters, brewers, and suppliers more than ever to look for process and product innovations for premium quality beers (within a wide palette of alcohol contents) showing both pleasant and novel flavour profiles. Therefore, “Brewing in a challenging world – Producing quality and affordable beers in a world with scarcity” was selected as the central theme of the 15^th Trends in Brewing. The major topics comprising these challenges are both analytical and process-based: breeding in brewing, hops, alternative sources of extract and emerging grains, useful microorganisms in malting and fermentation technology, NABLAB’s, innovative processing in malting, brewing, and packaging, energy savings, valorisation of by-products. Clearly, whereas the aim is to explore and identify an array of opportunities in different areas of malting and brewing, ‘moving science into practical solutions’ (i.e. searching for workable solutions for problems encountered in daily practice) remains the major objective of the symposium, in accordance with previous editions of Trends in Brewing.

The congress is aimed to bring together malting and brewing researchers, scientists, and technologists from universities, companies and institutes, providing them a unique international platform for sharing of new ideas and discovering promising trends and developments in malt and beer production. Scientific findings and technological advances will be presented through invited lectures, peer-reviewed presentations and posters, in combination with an extensive technical exhibition. The symposium will also allow to visit local industrial breweries, and, evidently, to discover the fascinating richness of Belgian beer culture.

By combining the scientific program with a variety of social events, we are convinced that the 15^th Trends in Brewing – similar to previous editions with more than 400 attendants – will be a unique opportunity for the exchange of ideas, establishing new contacts, and to consolidate our continuous efforts for innovation in malting and brewing.

We are very much looking forward to meet you!

Gert De Rouck

Chair of the Symposium