Q4 2026 Export Development Program News

London Craft Beer Festival

The Brewers Association's 2026 U.K. trade mission again featured the London Craft Beer Festival as its centerpiece, delivering excellent exposure for participating member breweries. The event took place July 18-19 at the new Southwark Park venue, which improved logistics, booth visibility, and operational efficiency, making it one of the strongest U.K. activations in recent years. The festival welcomed approximately 16,000 attendees across four sessions, including a trade-only session that enabled productive meetings with importers, retailers, distributors, and other industry stakeholders.

The Brewers Association's redesigned booth held pole position and attracted a steady stream of visitors. The BA offering showcased 16 American craft breweries and 40 different beers, with consumers clamoring for fresh American IPAs, fruit-forward and lighter styles, along with a variety of stouts and barrel-aged beers. Three brewery-led tasting sessions complemented the presence of American craft beer at the BA booth, delivering deeper understanding and appreciation for attending breweries to a diverse trade audience.

Beyond the festival, the annual media lunch featured a robust guest list of journalists, content creators, and influencers. This cadre of craft beer and lifestyle attendees highlighted the East-meets-West theme of the lunch through their ensuing posts and articles, touting the expertly paired Japanese- and French-inspired dishes with EDP member beers. EDP-organized photography and videography strengthened the reach of this content, maximizing its impact.

Taken together, the London Craft Beer Festival trade mission remains essential to the EDP's work advancing member breweries' interests in the U.K., which ranked as the third-largest export destination in 2025. Owing in part to consumers' familiarity with beer and affinity for American craft's distinctive styles and quality, the trade mission is a crucial opportunity to fuel that appreciation and maintain positive perceptions of American craft beer. In 2027, the EDP plans to return to Southwark Park, where it will look to expand partnerships with the U.K. trade and stimulate lasting demand on behalf of its members.

Bangkok Trade Mission

From August 12-15, the EDP and its in-market representative partners at Beer Asia led a four-day trade mission to Bangkok, Thailand, the first of its kind in this new Southeast Asia market. The trip combined a packed itinerary focusing on market immersion, trade engagement, and a mini consumer beer festival to introduce American craft beer in this key Southeast Asian craft beer market. The trade mission began with retail visits to Gourmet Market, Villa Market, Tops Food Hall, Brewave, and Craft on 23, all of which provided firsthand insight into imported and premium beer positioning in Bangkok. The following day, a USDA/FAS Bangkok briefing covered the Thai beverage alcohol trade environment, consumer profile, and route-to-market considerations.

Following the market briefing, the program transitioned to an importer happy hour and American craft beer and Thai food pairing dinner at Err Urban Rustic Thai. Partnering with co-founder Dylan Jones, also of the Michelin-starred Bo.lan, the EDP developed a menu featuring American craft beer paired with Thai cuisine. The dinner drew 29 attendees, including nine U.S. brewery delegates and seven importers or importer-influencers from Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia, collectively creating valuable opportunities to discuss product fit and commercial partnerships.

Last, the mission closed with a ten-hour American Craft Beer Experience at the high-end EmQuartier mall and cultural hub. The EDP's first edition beer festival was very well received. The EDP partnered with three established Thai importers who, in addition to a new-to-market EDP booth, represented American craft breweries to a diverse range of consumers and craft beer fans alike. The event was popular enough that all three importers needed to return to their warehouses to replenish stocks of beer.

While the EDP team does not miss the heat and humidity of Bangkok in August, it does look forward to building on the strength of this inaugural program. The EDP plans to deepen relationships with Thai and regional importers and will look to elevate the Thailand trade mission as a key area of focus in the broader Southeast Asia region.

Kuala Lumpur American Craft Beer Experience

On August 21-22, the EDP returned to Malaysia for the second annual KL American Craft Beer Experience at Pickle Park at Flour, Fire & Stone in Petaling Jaya. Expanding on 2025's one-day debut, the two-day program combined a dedicated B2B trade session with a public consumer activation and drew approximately 800 attendees, up from more than 500 in 2025. The August 21 trade session, focusing on guided tastings and direct market discussions with EDP representatives, brought together 35 importers, distributors, retailers, bar and restaurant buyers, and other F&B operators from across Kuala Lumpur and throughout Malaysia.

Media and influencer engagement was also strong, with at least 15 media representatives and influencers generating coverage from outlets including SAYS, The Rakyat Post, WeirdKaya, ExpatGo, and EatDrink, including a pre-event feature in SAYS' popular Instagram weekend guide. These programs are especially important in new and developing markets like Malaysia, which do not have a longstanding cultural adoption of craft beer consumption.

Consumer turnout exceeded expectations, and the EDP will work to sustain this momentum as it looks to future programming in the region.

Caribbean Market Research Reports

The EDP has organized additional market intelligence for the Caribbean region. This latest round of market research focuses on an updated importer directory, along with market insights for the cruise line and resort industries in the region. The research assessed importers, distributors, retailers, and producers across more than twenty markets through email, phone, and trade referrals.

The research identified promising leads, including distributor and retailer interest, tourist-driven demand for premium products, and possible regulatory or trade-agreement improvements.

The EDP views the Caribbean as a long-term development opportunity rather than a near-term scalable channel. Accordingly, the EDP will continue to prioritize updating importer and trade contacts, along with periodically engaging industry representatives as opportunities arise. Looking further ahead, the EDP remains on the lookout for events in the region that could support a U.S. craft beer trade mission. This initial research informs that opportunity. Stay tuned for more details!

MAP Application

The EDP is pleased to report it submitted another grant application through USDA's Market Access Program (MAP), the longstanding core of EDP grant funding. This funding enables the EDP to operate its robust slate of trade missions, events, competitions, and more in support of craft beer exports around the world. Importantly, the MAP funding pool for 2027 and beyond is roughly double that of 2026 and prior, meaning the EDP will be able to sustain expanded activity for years to come.

Though the deadline for the MAP application fell at 4am Bangkok time, while the team was on the trade mission in Thailand, the end result was another strong application that will support a lasting presence for EDP members in target markets around the world.

2027 Calendar Preview

As we head into the final months of the year, the EDP has a busy calendar of competitions and trade missions ahead, and we hope you'll join us. All events for 2026 are now closed for registration. We are hard at work on the 2027 calendar-here are a few sneak peek dates:

Please reach out to Adam Dulye with any questions. Thank you for another productive year of helping to promote U.S. craft beer on the global stage. We're looking forward to another exciting year of EDP programming in 2027, and we hope to see you there!