This year’s Great American Beer Festival promises to have a foray of events. But not all will be centered on the Convention Center and that’s a good thing since tickets sold out in less than 15 minutes. Many events will be attended by brewers, writers, sales reps, industry goers and fans at several peripheries such as breweries, brewpubs and tap houses. The Falling Rock Tap House, a long time hub for event goers and beer fans alike will be packing in it in with several hundred beers being tapped this week, many of which are no longer in existence or are very rare. With some 4,000 breweries statewide, and 300 alone in Denver, you can imagine the party will be grand. The beer will be flowing and if you consider a packed house in each location pouring one pint a minute you’re talking about some 24 million pints an hour. That doesn’t include the Convention Center, the epicenter of this week’s festival.
Beer History 101
The Great American Beer Festival was started by the Brewer’s Association, an association stated by one of the most recognized names in craft beer, Charlie Papazian. Papazian’s book, The Complete Joy of Homebrewing has been the bible for home brewers for nearly half a century. With the start of his magazine, Zymurgy, he launched a movement from his small house in Boulder, Colorado. The move has snowballed over the decades as the Great American Beer Festival was created. Modeled in many ways by the Great British Beer Festival in England there would be one great exception: the GABF would be a place not for competing, but a place for craft brewers to come together. This event could be more considered a family reunion than a competition. True, metals are given, but there is more connectivity than anything else. Papazian brought this point through with his motto: A rising tide floats all boats; a motto that echoes across the world as more nations birth their own craft beer scenes.
This year, the added breweries will create a scene never felt or experienced in craft beer history. You can find more information on what each brewery is doing at the unofficial guide from the Denver Post’s beer writer, Eric Gorski.
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