The Great American Beer Festival
Great beer and great festival, in the USA's beer capital: Denver
Mar 12, 2007
The Great American Beer Festival is the biggest event in the American beer year. And Denver is undoubtedly America's beer capital, the Napa Valley of beer. Denver is home to Coors, the largest single brewery in the world, home to ground-breaking brewpubs like the Wynkoop, and it brews more beer than any other city, with over 80 different brews being made here. Colorado also brews more beer than any other state in the nation. It's the logical home for the Great American Beer Festival.
From October 11-13, 2007, over 40,000 lovers of good beer will gather in Denver for three days devoted to good beer. Well, mostly good beer, though even the most devoted beer drinker might have doubts about beers made from pineapple, watermelon and a few other odd choices. Mostly, though, it is a competition to find the best beers in America, which naturally involves drinking as many of them as possible.
In 2006 over 41,000 people attended the three days of beer events, compared to 29,500 in 2005. Three of the 2006 sessions were sold out, so book ahead. You'll need to book your accommodation too, especially as 2007 will be a big beer year. It's the 25th anniversary of the Great American Beer Festival, which began in 1982.
At the 2006 Great American Beer Festival there were 382 breweries represented on the festival floor, with over 1650 different kinds of beers available to sample. 2402 beers were entered in the competitions which are part of the Beer Festival, beating the 2335 entries in 2005. The American beer business is booming, and with it the Great American Beer Festival.
In 2006 there were 69 different categories of beer in the competition, which gives you some idea of the bewildering range of beers on offer. Categories include the obvious ones like American-Style Wheat Beer, Scottish-Style Ale and American-Style Pale Ale, to less obvious categories such as Herb and Spice Beer, Coffee-Flavored Beer and Experimental Beer.
In addition to just tasting the beers, there's music, food, brewery tours and brewery cruises. The Beer and Food Pairing Demonstrations are always popular, and fascinating. Wine and cheese? Forget about it – they just don't go together. Your taste buds will tell you.
So anyone with a love of and an interest in beer ought to be thinking now of getting themselves to Denver for October 11-13, 2007. The Great American Beer Festival takes place at Denver's Colorado Convention Center.
Visit the official website for the Great American Beer Festival by clicking here.
Read about the Brown Palace Hotel and its historic Ship Tavern by clicking here.
Read about the Hotel Teatro, a short walk from the Convention Center, by clicking here.
For information on Denver, the Mile High City, call (800) 2-DENVER or visit www.denver.org.
