A central feature is Saturday’s Walk-Around Grand Tasting at the Greater Richmond Convention Center. At least 150 beers will be offered, and Papajohn has told all three participating distributors — Brown, Loveland and Specialty Beverage — to be ready to up the number, depending on ticket sales.

In terms of overall attendance, Papajohn would like to attract 7,000 to 8,000 people this year but believes 5,000 to 6,000 is more realistic. The Virginia Wine Expo drew about 9,000 people to this year’s event, the strongest turnout yet.

Like the wine festival, the National Beer Expo will take time to grow. “Quality is more important than quantity to us. It takes a long time to build a durable, high-quality show that’s a national destination event,” Papajohn said.

Out-of-towners might be surprised at Richmond’s blossoming scene. “I think it’s an extremely exciting time. Richmond is building its own indigenous craft beer industry,” Papajohn said. “And the food scene — that’s growing very rapidly. There are a lot of notable chefs here; there are a lot of farm-to-table artisan restaurants.”

And as someone who grew up in a food-loving family — his parents ran a hotel in Delaware and his father began educating Papajohn’s palate at an early age — Papajohn all but drools at the expo’s events.

“This might sound a little selfish, but the events you see on that schedule, all of those events I would die to go to myself,” he said. “The event schedule reflects my passions and my interests and tastes, and I’m crossing my fingers that a lot of craft beer lovers share my tastes, too.”