It’s one of the highlights of my beer year. This year’s Beer Bloggers Conference will be my 3rd in a row and takes us to Boston, MA, home of a great beer culture. The conference has become a family reunion of sorts with friends and beer bloggers from around the country gathering together to geek out over beer. Nirvana for the beer geek, if you will.

If you’ve enjoyed Missoula Craft Beer Week the past two years, you can thank (in part) the Beer Bloggers Conference.  The session content is always good and the beer is outstanding and plentiful.  But it’s the connections with friends and fellow beer bloggers that remains the best benefit of taking part.  A chance conversation on a bus ride during the 2011 conference in Portland, OR, sparked my interest to pursue the idea and, combined with the hard work of friend and blogger/writer Ryan Newhouse, Missoula Craft Beer Week sprang to life.

This year’s conference starts in the other Portland – the one in Maine – which has an impressive beer culture of its own.  A beer and cheese paring at Cabot Creamery is followed by a beer pairing dinner at Sebago Brewing Co and capped off with a reception at the Thirsty Pig beer bar courtesy of the Patriot Craft Alliance. And hey, that’s just the first night.

Following a lunch the next day at Portsmouth Brewing Co. in Portsmouth, NH, we’ll pull into Boston for three days of conference content and general beer fun.  Highlights include:

• Update on the status of craft beer from Julia Herz of the Brewers Association.
• Keynote speech from Jim Koch, founder of Boston Beer Co. (Sam Adams) along with tours and tastings.
• Heavy Seas Brewing Co. sponsored beer fun.
• Live beer blogging session with 14 New England breweries.
• Tour, tasting and beer dinner with Harpoon Brewing Co.
• Keynote speech from Ran Daniels, author of Designing Great Beers and founder of the Cicerone Certification Program.
• A live beer social broadcast on Google + with the likes of Rogue Ales, Dogfish Head, Sierra Nevada, Karl Strauss, Sam Adams, Lagunitas and more.

We’ll have some live updates and other posts from our beer fun, so be sure and tune in.  Follow us on twitter (@GrowlerFills) and facebook to keep up with all the sights and sounds.