Hello everyone, December marks the our first anniversary here at hereforthebeer.com. We want to thank all of the wonderful people that we had the opportunity to meet this year. We hope that you enjoy our montage (the first good use of the song as far as we are concerned)! We look forward to an even more interesting and exciting 2010 on here for the beer … Cheers!

Related Posts:

• 2009 Great American Beer Festival in Denver, CO
• Day 4 in Denver for the 2009 GABF
• Craft Brewers Conference – Boston, MA
• I am (not) a craft brewer – but they are…
• Slow Fest – A Celebration of Session Beer

All About Beer Magazine and Beer Advocate hosted The Inaugural Denver Rare Beer Tasting at the 2009 Great American Beer Festival in Denver, CO as a fundraiser for Pints for Prostates.  This amazing event required a special ticket and was held at the Wynkoop Brewing Company.  This fundraiser had and “A list” of Breweries large and small.  Not only was there access to rare beers from some our favorite breweries, but many of the big name brewers and owners of these breweries were there to pour their brews.   Overall it was a great event for an even better cause.

Check out the list below of all the great breweries and beers we had a chance to sample:

Alaskan Brewing Co – ’99 & ’08 Alaskan Smoked Porter
Allagash Brewing Co – Allagash Fluxus 2009
Avery Brewing Co – Voltron Barrel Aged Sour Ale
Boston Beer Co – Samuel Adams Utopias 2009
Bison Brewing Co – Bison Reunion ’09 Double White Ale
Brooklyn Brewery – Brooklyn Wild 1
Deschutes Brewing Co – Double Black Butte Porter XXI
Dogfish Head Craft Brewery – Raison D’Extra 2006
Foothills Brewing Co – Barrel Aged Total Eclipse Stout
Great Divide Brewing Co – Old Ruffian Barley Wine 2008
Harpoon Brewery – Glacier Harvest ’09 Wet Hop Ale
Highland Brewing Co – Big Butte Smoked Porter
Jolly Pumpkin – Bier de Mars Grand Reserve ’06/’07
Lost Abbey – The Angel’s Share ’09 Brandy Barrel Finish
Michelob Brewing Co – Mich Brett
New Belgium Brewing/Elysian Brewing – Trip II
New Glarus Brewing Co – New Glarus Golden Ale
Odell Brewing Co – Odell Crimson Shenanigans
Oksar Blues Wet-hopped Whiskey Barrel-aged Gordon
Rogue Ales – Rogue John John Hazelnut
Saranac Brewing Co – Saranac Imperial IPA
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co – Barrel Aged Scotch Ale
Stoudts Brewing Co – Stoudts Old Abominable Barleywine ’07
Stone Brewing Co – Stone ’08 Old Guardian Barley Wine
Wynkoop Brewing Co – Wynkoop Barrel Aged Berserker Mead

(thanks to Dave at Fermentedly Challenged for typing up the list!)

We hope you enjoy our video as much as we enjoyed meeting the many brewers and other participants.  Be sure to check out our other videos and blog posts from the Great American Beer Festival including 2009 Great American Beer Festival in Denver, CO, Day 1 in Denver for the 2009 GABF, Day 2 in Denver at the 2009 GABF, Day 3 in Denver for the 2009 GABF, Day 4 in Denver for the 2009 GABF, 2009 Samuel Adams Longshot American Homebrew Contest, Farm to Table, and Best Dressed of the GABF.  We will see you next time on here for the beer.

Related Posts:

• 2009 Here for the Beer – Year in Review
• 2009 Great American Beer Festival in Denver, CO
• Day 4 in Denver for the 2009 GABF
• Day 1 in Denver for the 2009 GABF

This video is an overview of the 2009 Great American Beer Festival.  This 28th Annual Great American Beer Festival in Denver, CO was an amazing and well organized event.  With over 49,000 attendees this year, surprisingly the floor never felt all that crowded.  This was our first time at the GABF, but we are guessing that the 46% more space added this year helped to create a more comfortable venue.

The Brewers Association estimates that there was 18,000 gallons of beer at this event, which meant that on the showroom floor you could sample 2,100 different beers from 495 breweries across the country.   Although even at 1oz per sample, it would be impossible to try them all (2,100 1oz samples = 132 pints).   51 of the breweries were attending for the first time, which is a testament to the growth of craft beer.

There were 78 categories being judged this year by a panel of 132 judges from 10 different countries.  A whopping 3,308 beers were entered in to the Great American Beer Festival Competition this year, each vying for a medal in their category.  Unlike many wine events, where a particular score awards you a medal; at the Great American Beer Festival there is only one Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medal per category.  This means that each of the three winning beers in each category represent one of the best examples of that beer style in the United States.  Congratulations out there to all of the Medal winners of the 2009 GABF!

This well structured event also included 8 educational areas.  We had a chance to try the “You Be the Judge” seminar, where we got to try our hand at judging a few beers.  In addition there were dozens of other events around Denver, both tied to the Great American Beer Festival and Denver Beer Week.  We encourage you to check out some of our other coverage of the GABF including the Farm to Table event, Pints for Prostates event, Samuel Adams Longshot Competition, our posts about Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 and Day 4, and our Best Dressed of the GABF segment.

We hope you enjoy our coverage of the GABF as much as we enjoyed attending this event.  Cheers from Here for the Beer, we hope to see you at the Great American Beer Festival next year.

Related Posts:

• 2009 Here for the Beer – Year in Review
• Day 4 in Denver for the 2009 GABF
• Day 3 in Denver for the 2009 GABF
• Day 1 in Denver for the 2009 GABF
• Day 2 in Denver at the 2009 GABF

Saturday was yet another awesome day. Starting with brunch at Marlow’s for the  announcement of the winners of the Samuel Adams Longshot American Homebrew Contest.   The winners were Michael Robinson’s Old Ale, Ben Miller’s Barelywine and Jeremy White’s Lemon Pepper Saison.  Try these winners beers in the Samuel Adam’s Longshot Six-Pack which will be available nationwide in April 2010.

Next it was back to the showroom floor for more beer and the announcement of the Great American Beer Festival Medal Winners. We are proud to say that our home state of Vermont took home three medals. Otter Creek Brewing took home the Gold Medal for their Vermont Lager in the Bohemian Style Pilsner Category and the Alchemist cleaned up in the Gluten Free Beer Category with a Gold Medal for their Celia Framboise and a Bronze Medal for their Celia IPA.   After the Medals were awarded we met up with Paul Gatza, Director of The Brewers Association, for a tour of the showroom floor to sample some of the 2009 Great American Beer Festival Award winning beers.

After the session and feeling some of the effects of our whirlwind morning and afternoon of award winning beers, we went in search of a hamburger in downtown Denver.  According to the “Google Gods” the number three best burger in Denver (and the only one of the top three places  in walking distance) was the Trinity Grill.  The place was empty (probably because the beers on draft were New Castle and Guinness) but we just wanted a lot of water and a good hamburger to prepare for another night of beer drinking.  The burger did not disappoint and we ended up meeting with fellow beer geeks Jeff, Steph and Tim who are planning to open a brewpub – sweet.

Back to the show floor for the infamous Saturday night session and let me tell you it was jam packed with all kinds of crazy characters.  Check out our best dressed of the GABF video coming soon.  After sampling many more award winning beers it was back to the hotel for a few hours of shut eye before getting up at 3am to catch our flight home.

It was sad to leave Denver, we met so many great people and enjoyed tons of great beers.  It was an education in styles, regions and ingredients that we will draw on for years to come.  Thanks to the Brewers Association for putting together this colossal event and to all of the brewers who participate in making it so incredible.  Thanks to the miles of walking (that place is HUGE) and the gallons of water (plentiful on the floor) we actually returned home feeling refreshed and rejuvenated and ready to jump back into the innkeeping scene at our Bed and Breakfast in Brattleboro, Vermont.   We hope you enjoy our upcoming videos from the GABF (if you haven’t already seen our other GABF posts, be sure to read about our adventures GABF day 1, GABF day 2 and GABF day 3) we look forward to seeing you all there next year!  Cheers from Here for the Beer!

Related Posts:

• 2009 Here for the Beer – Year in Review
• 2009 Great American Beer Festival in Denver, CO
• 2009 Samuel Adams Longshot American Homebrew Contest
• Day 3 in Denver for the 2009 GABF
• Day 1 in Denver for the 2009 GABF

After a very long day of travel we finally arrived in Denver.  The energy here is through the roof.  We started our adventure at the Wynkoop Brewing Company, where the GABF hosted a Welcome Gathering for Brewers.  We enjoyed wall to wall beer and food.  We had a chance to sample some great beers like:

The Bruery – Cuvee Jeune – Young Lambic

Dry Dock Brewing Co. – Brett-Soured Belgian Golden Aged in Oak – On Firkin

Redstone Meadery/New Belgium Brewing Co. – Black Folie – La Folllie Sour Brown mixed with Black Raspberry Mead

Cambridge Brewing Company – YouEnjoyMyStout – Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout

Mountain Sun Pub and Brewery – Nihilist – Cabernet Aged Imperial Stout

Kona Brewing Company – Coco Loco – Coconut Brown Nut

Deschutes Brewery – Portland Fresh Hop – Fresh Hop Beer

Snake River Brewing – OB-1 -Organic Brown Ale

Our favorite was the Black Folie made by Redstone Meadery/New Belgium Brewing Co.  On our way out the door we were handed a can of Wynkoop Brewing Company’s own Rail Yard.  With our can of Rail Yard we walked to the famous Falling Rocks Tap Room and enjoyed a few more pints, ending our evening with a La Biere des Collines Hercule Stout, soooo good. 

Enjoy this down and dirty (unedited) “Flip” video of our first day in Denver at the GABF and stay tuned for more “Flip” coverage over the next few days.    Of course, we will have more of our real videos and some great tours and interviews in the next few weeks.   Cheers!

Related Posts:

• 2009 Great American Beer Festival in Denver, CO
• Day 3 in Denver for the 2009 GABF
• 2009 Here for the Beer – Year in Review
• Day 4 in Denver for the 2009 GABF
• Day 2 in Denver at the 2009 GABF