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.
So after a crazy first night and an adventure filled second day, we trekked out for day 3 in Denver. Friday started out with another killer food and beer pairing luncheon, where we sampled dishes like Buffalo Carpaccio with Avacado Tile and Cajun BBQ Shrimp with Fresh Corn Grits, paired with great beers like Del Norte’s Manana Amber Lager (from Denver) and Oregon’s Bend Brewing Co.’s collaboration “Rocksy Stein Lager”. 6 courses and 7 beers, now that’s what I call a great lunch.
Next we hopped on a bus for a quick tour of Denver, stopping back at Falling Rock (ahh the memories) for a taste of some Oskar Blue’s and Breckenridge beers while packed in amongst the huge beer loving crowds (at 2 in the afternoon on a Friday mind you – got to love Denver!).
Then off to the Great Divide brewery for a quick tour with the owner and a taste of their beers, including the 15th Anniversary Wood Aged Double IPA, which may very well have been my favorite beer of the day.
We left Great Divide and headed to the Pints for Prostates Rare Beer Tasting, which will get it’s own post and video soon – a great event for an even better cause.
The Friday evening session at the GABF was more crowded than Thursday, but still far from uncomfortable. Cheers to the Brewers Association to spreading the event out in more space, leaving plenty of breathing room. The highlights of this session were our tour of the floor with Brewers Association Director Paul Gatza, trying some of his favorite brews (this will be in an upcoming video as well) and our “you be the judge” session, which was an informative and casual look at the challenge of being a beer judge at the Great American Beer Festival.
We wrapped up the night with some much needed pizza and yes, a beer, before crashing and “rebooting” for the tomorrow.
Keep an eye here or follow us on Twitter for all of the latest from the 2009 Great American Beer Festival in Denver Colorado!
A giant thirsty bear, desperate for a beer, stands outside the Colorado Convention Center watching the Great American Beer Festival.
Day 2 in Denver was full of adventure. The day started with some serious hydrating and resting from our first day in Denver. We took a stroll through the city, got registered with the Brewers Association and stopped at our first event hosted by Michelob at Earls Restaurant and Bar. This event was well executed with food stations paired with some Michelob beers. I must admit I had no idea that Michelob offered so many different varieties of beer. We sampled some of their test brews including a pear beer, double bock and the Rye-ters Block IPA. The pear beer was surprisingly well balanced not smack you in the face with pear. The bock was kind of syrupy, our least favorite. The Rye-ters Block IPA was the best beer at this event. The most impressive part of this event though had to be Earls. The location was great, right on the 16th Street mall. We were on the second floor which had a retractable wall, which was open on the great sunny afternoon. The decor was modern, all the waitresses were wearing sexy high heals and the food was really good. A great start to the evening. Thanks Michelob!
At 5:15pm they allowed us to enter the beer hall. More like a beer hanger. This place was HUGE. We took a quick walk around and found a line forming at New Glarus, so logically we got in line. After speaking to the folks waiting it was clear that their first priority was the New Glarus Red followed by their Raspberry. We got one of each and wow, it was easy to see what all of the fuss was about. We walked around, I must admit completely overwhelmed by the shear size of this event. Attendance of this event is about 49,000 with 2,100 beers to sample on the showroom floor. It was difficult to figure out where to start. We eventually found our groove and sampled many wonderful beers… The Bruery’s Black Tuesday Imperial Stout, Russian River Consecration, The Lost Abby Ten Commandments, Brewery Ommegang Adoration among several others…
At 7pm we headed into a new event for this year called “Farm to Table”. This was by far my favorite event of the day. This event brought farmers, ranchers, chefs and brewers together to create one of the best food and beer pairing I have yet to attend. The chefs had access to some incredibly fresh ingredients and worked with brewers to create some dishes that complimented the beers perfectly. Our favorite was Deschutes Brewery’s pairing with the Duck Confit, but the variety of food and beers was great. This even was ticket only and limited to only 250 attendee over two sessions. Just the right size to mingle and chat with the brewers, chefs and other attendees. Stay tuned for a video dedicated to the farm to table event.
After farm to table we wrapped up the night with a few big beers on our way out the door to rest up for day 3 – where we are taking a tour of some of the area breweries and hitting the rare beer tasting, which promises to be one of the highlights of the trip. Not that any part of this event has been a let down – if you aren’t here this year, be sure to start planning for 2010 now! And stay tuned for our full videos and more coverage of the Great American Beer Festival in Denver Colorado from Here for the Beer! Cheers!
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!
