Equally, the EBC congress is recognised globally as a significant meeting event for the world's brewing, malting and beer fermentation scientists and technologists, taking place every two years.
[1] The European Brewery Convention was founded in 1946 as a direct result of the critical situation concerning raw material supply (specifically malted barley and hops) which had arisen due to World War II.
Its mission was largely focused on two areas of collaboration amongst brewers in Europe; namely, to strengthen their collective bargaining power in terms of securing adequate malting barley in both quantity and quality, as well as to encourage the leading brewing nations, which had seen their industry being ravaged by the war, to re-engage in scientific exchange leading to the increased implementation of modern brewing and fermentation techniques.
The aim was to expand both organisations' mutual knowledge base and explore the synergies afforded by a largely shared membership, the national brewing trade associations operating in most European countries.
The merger documents were signed in November 2006 and, following the retirement of the EBC Secretary General Marjolein van Wijngaarden at the end of 2007, the organisation moved from its former headquarters in Zoeterwoude, The Netherlands to Brussels, Belgium.
EBC maintains limited autonomy in budgetary matters whilst in most other respects has transformed itself into an integrated part of The Brewers of Europe aisbl.
Critical to the success of this was the initiative by the EBC President Christian von der Heide and the Secretary General of The Brewers of Europe, Pierre-Olivier Bergeron, to harmonise the respective associations for more effectiveness.
The Analysis Group's central function is the maintenance and updating of the Analytica-EBC, a compendium of laboratory methods for the malting and brewing industry.
Fruitful contacts are maintained with the American Society of Brewing Chemists (ASBC) and the Mitteleuropäische Brautechnische Analysenkommission (MEBAK), both organisations well known for issuing their own analytical methods to the beer industry.
The Brewing Science Group organises a technical meeting every two years where members have the opportunity of presenting their latest findings within an atmosphere of collegiality and confidentiality.
BSG meetings are open to professionals in the service of allied traders (industry suppliers) upon application; however, independent brewing consultants are excluded from membership.
The network was founded, together with EBC's sister association Euromalt, to develop a comparative platform for malting barley variety data across Europe.
The 19th EBC congress (London, 1983) holds the record for the highest number of attendees: A total of 1607 delegates (including accompanying persons) attended.
The Thursday is reserved for technical tours: Breweries, malting plants and sometimes brewing engineering and construction firms are on the destination list.
The 2014 EBC Symposium was held at the Ottakringer Brauerei Events Location in Vienna / Austria, from 7–9 September, on the topic of "Sensory and technology of beer mix beverages".
In 2018, two EBC symposia were organised: One in conjunction with the Brewers Forum, the other one a collaborative symposium hosted together with Hopsteiner and other sponsors, on the latest advances in hop science (venue Nürnberg and Spalt).
No EBC Symposium could be arranged for 2020 due to the Corona pandemic; an invitation by the Italian brewers association Assobirra to host the meeting in Rome in 2023 is in planning.