The 2025 edition of Brew Asia wrapped up in Bangkok last week, reinforcing its position as a key event for brewing professionals from across the region.
The theme this year was “Optimize, Innovate, & Grow” and the two-day conference and trade fair proved to be a busy, high-energy event. It showed an industry that is now focused on professionalism, efficiency, and the creation of high-quality craft beer.
World-class education from science to strategy
The educational program was led by two industry legends – John Palmer, author of “How To Brew” and Fal Allen, head of R&D at California’s Anderson Valley Brewing Co., who both gave insightful keynote speeches. Palmer spoke about the practical side of brewing efficiency and it’s necessity for a successful business, while Allen gave an important history lesson on the successes and failures of 50 years of innovation.
With a growing, but challenging, marketplace this balance of science and business was a key part of the conference as a whole with major highlights including technical instruction from the World Brewing Academy (WBA) and distribution and export insights from LevelHeads Advisory co-founder and seasoned beer distributor Chris Roberts. With the growth in production of light lagers across the region Brewmaster Michael Eder’s WBA sessions on lager production, brewing with adjuncts, and packaging proved extremely popular. These practical talks helped address real issues faced by brewers across the region on a daily basis.
Innovation in tech and branding
The ‘innovate’ theme was to the fore in many of the sessions, most notably during Spencer Jemelka (Redpoint Brewing Co.) and Pulkit Agrawal’s (Beer 30 by The 5th Ingredient) sessions. Spencer’s workshop on using AI agents in the brewery provided a glimpse into the future and Pulkit’s session on using production data showed a clear way to turn numbers into profit in the here and now.
On the business side, Mathijs Aliet of branding agency Square44’s two-part series on branding challenged old ideas and made attendees rethink how they connect with customers.
Keynote presenter John Palmer addresses the audience at Brew Asia 2025 [Photo: Asia Brewers Network]
Hands-on learning: hops, yeast & sake
Possibly the busiest hall at Brew Asia was the Joe White Malting’s Workshop room. Among others, this hosted full house sensory sessions from hop supplier and conference Gold Sponsor Barth Haas, and yeast producers Fermentis and Lallemand Brewing. The workshops were all hands-on and provided attendees insights into global hop varieties where brewers were able to ‘rub & sniff’ fresh cones from Australia, Europe and America as well as experience and learn how to remedy flavour faults common in lager production.
The workshop hall even hosted the Asia launch of a brand new lager yeast strain, SafLager SH-45, from leading global supplier Fermentis.
The workshop hall wrapped up the conference on the second day with it’s traditional “Beyond the Brewhouse” session. This year master sake brewer Josh Hembree led a tasting and instructional workshop in ‘The World of Sake’, a fantastic opportunity for brewers to learn about a whole new side of the world of fermentation.
The Trade Fair: a hub for networking & tech
The high energy generated by the conference was also felt across the Trade Fair floor. It was more than just a place to see products; it was the main hub for networking. This high level of engagement translated into valuable conversations between brewers and suppliers.
The return of the Innovation Zone also proved popular, with live demonstrations from Rotech featuring their keg line monitoring system, ABB showcasing their latest BeerMaker software and Totally Natural Solutions engaging with a display of their latest liquid hop extracts.
“We are thrilled with the growth of the Trade Fair this year” observed Brew Asia founder Charles Guerrier “In 2025 we welcomed more global industry leaders than ever before, cementing the show as the key platform for suppliers to connect with the Asian market. The high level of engagement and the valuable conversations happening across the floor prove that this is where serious business gets done.”
The Trade Fair proved a great place for manufacturers to introduce their innovations to brewers from across the region [Photo: Asia Brewers Network]
Community, celebration, and the Asia Beer Championship
Of course, Brew Asia is also about community, not just business. The Social Calendar was a big success, with the Welcome Event in partnership with Gold Sponsor Fermentis at Burbrit’s Bangkok taproom providing a perfect, relaxed start to the show. With the wider regional brewing community only coming together once a year the evening events which flowed through Thursday and Friday once the show doors were closed proved a great catalyst to connect brewers from across the region.
This year’s show ended with the week’s big finale: the Asia Beer Championship Awards Presentation. The winners showcased the amazing increase in the quality of craft beer being produced across Asia. The climax of the ceremony was the crowing of Vietnam’s 7 Bridges Brewing Company’s “Heritage Super Dry” rice lager as the Champion Beer of Asia.
The Road Ahead: Vietnam 2026
Brew Asia 2025 witnessed an industry moving to a new level of professionalism. Brewers from as far afield as India, China, Japan and South Korea joined their Southeast Asian counterparts with a desire to upgrade their brewing skills and sharpen their business acumen.
“This year’s show truly brought our ‘Optimize, Innovate, & Grow’ theme to life. The energy in the hall was fantastic. From the packed technical workshops to the high-level business discussions, it’s clear the entire industry is focused on the next level of professionalism” reflected Charles Guerrier.
With the show over for another year brewers and owners have returned to their businesses with a renewed energy and the skills to face the challenges ahead. All eyes now turn to Vietnam where the next Brew Asia will be hosted in October 2026 in the nation’s brewing hub of Ho Chi Minh City.
