Excuse me if I have that "Kid in the Candy Store" look in my eye over the next few weeks. There is a legitimate reason: The Great American Beer Festival in Denver kicks off just four weeks from today.
From Sept. 28-30 the Colorado Convention Center will become the center of the known beer universe. The Brewers Association is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the event, which got its start as a small gathering in nearby Boulder, Colo. They expect to pour 1,600 of the nation's best beers from over 380 American breweries for about 30,000 attendees during four sessions spread across three days. This will be the largest selection of American beers ever gathered together in one place. Among the beers will be the GABF 25th Year Commemorative Beer from Boulder Beer and a collectible GABF can from Oskar Blues Brewery.
Also during the event more than 100 professional beer judges from the United States and abroad will evaluate more than 2,300 beers entered by more than 450 domestic breweries. Gold, silver and bronze medals in 69 beer-style categories will be awarded on the final day of the festival. The GABF medals mean something from a marketing standpoint for the winning brewers and they mean something to consumers. These are legitimate awards -- only 8.8 percent of the beers entered last year took home a medal. These are truly the best of the best when it comes to American beer.
If you cannot make it to Denver, I feel sorry for you, but we'll try to keep you posted on the sights, sounds and flavors of the festival. Lyke2Drink will be filing reports on a daily basis directly from the GABF. In addition to coverage of the GABF, you can expect reports from a number of the brewer sponsored events around Denver and visits to local brewpubs, distilleries and watering holes. It should be a fantastic event.
For more details and for ticket information visit www.beertown.org.
2 comments:
I'm green with envy...I've wanted to attend the GABF for several years now. Hopefully I can make it out sometime soon. It's every beer geek's dream!
Craiger:
This will be my fourth GABF and I cannot wait. I know there are tons of beer fans who cannot make it to Denver for the event. That's one of the reasons I'll be blogging from the GABF each day. It is one of those things, like going to Cooperstown in you are a baseball fan, that you must do at least once. I hope you make it out next year!
Rick
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