The Great American Beer Festival, the second largest beer festival in the world took place last month and I had the good fortune of attending this year’s festivities.  Celebrating their 30th anniversary this year, the GABF tickets sold out in record time, clocking in with 49,000 attendees.  There were 466 breweries at the festival, serving 2,375 different beers, and 238 medals were awarded, including 18 to breweries entering the competition for the first time.  In a word, it was EPIC.

In addition to the festival itself, there are dozens of ancillary events at beer bars and breweries around town.  From beer releases to beer dinners to lectures and tastings, it was a week of non-stop beer love. I attended a few extra events, including a beer tasting class with BJCP judge Gwen Conley, and a midnight beer dinner with Avery Brewing at Euclid Hall. My point being that the week surrounding the Great American Beer Festival was a jam-packed week of awesome events, amazing beer, and crazy people. I didn’t take a single picture (who has time for cameras when you have a beer in your hand?), but I did take notes.  They’re more like scribbles vaguely resembling words, but for the purposes of this article, they’ll have to do. So without further ado, I give you some of my favorite beers from this week’s festival

1. Short’s Brewing – This Michigan-based brewery received permission to distribute their beer in Colorado for the week surrounding GABF, something that had never been done before.  So in addition to trying their stuff at the festival, I was also able to pick up some of their six packs.  If you can, find the Bellaire Brown Ale (a year-round release) and their Woodmaster, a high gravity brown ale fermented with maple syrup and toasted pecans.

2. Bull & Bush Pub and Brewery – In spite of their ridiculous name and even more absurd costumes (disco balls on top of construction hats?), Bull & Bush turned out one of my favorite beers of the festival: Turnip the Beets.  Honestly, I don’t remember in what stage of brewing the beets were used, but I do remember the lovely balance between the malty and earthy flavors of this stellar ale.

3. Ignite Denver –  Think lecture series meets speed dating, in which beer industry big-wigs are given 5 minutes to talk about their role in the beer industry, while their powerpoint slides are advanced automatically every 15 seconds.  Wild, crazy, hilarious, and surprisingly informative. Also, unlimited beer. Only downside: Greg Koch of Stone Brewing wearing a t-shirt with his own face on it.

4. Avery Brabant - Served at the Euclid Hall Midnight Brunch event, Avery’s Brabant is a wild ale aged for 8 months in Zinfandel barrels with brettanomyces. Sour. Dark. Delicious.

5. Right Brain Brewing’s Lavender Wheat Beer - Every lavender-flavored beverage I’ve ever had (including my own lavender pale ale) has inevitably tasted like soap.  That was until I tried Right Brain Brewing’s Lavender wheat beer. Clean and floral, balanced with a light caramel malt flavor.  Perfect amount of lavender.  Well done Right Brain.

6.  Pints for Prostates’ Rare Beer Tasting - 30 different hard to find beers from some of the best breweries in the country. My favorite: Lost Abbey’s Deliverance, a blend of brandy barrel-aged Angel’s Share and bourbon barrel aged Serpent’s Stout, packaged in 2010.  This smooth and well-balanced ale offered a subtle boozy heat with notes of caramel, vanilla, and raisins. Least favorite: Sam Adams’ Utopias.  This 27% ABV  beer was overly boozy, syrupy, and completely unbalanced. Generally just not worth my time.

I could go on and on and on about all of the amazing things that happened during the week surrounding GABF.  But in reality, the Great American Beer Festival is something that needs to be experienced in person, because no words can actually describe the enormity of this event.  People come from all across the states to be a part of  the magic that the craft beer industry has created. It’s a beautiful time for discovery and exploration of all those beers you can’t find in your city, and trying everything you can until your palate can’t take it anymore.  With every passing year, the festival gets bigger and bigger, so I suggest you mark your calendars and book your tickets for next year’s fest.  You can thank me later.

Today’s post comes to us courtesy of Beeriety’s Denver correspondent Rachel Dipalma. Thanks Rachel!

The Great American Beer Fest (GABF) sloshed its way through Denver from September 24th to the 26th. The GABF is really an incredible experience, but like any epic undertaking it does not benefit from going into it blind-eyed. A four hour session can fly by if you go in unprepared. The best place for me to do research was on Twitter, where searching for #GABF would yield tons of tweets from Thursday’s session about everything from the beers to try, the overrated brews not worth waiting for, to the lines in the bathroom. You can also prepare in the admission line, because it’s one of the longest ones you’ll ever stand in. Hopefully you’ve already made your pretzel necklace by now (to ward off the beer belly-ache, of course) so you can focus your hour-plus stand in line to map out where to go first, what not to miss, etc.

Once I was inside I took a deep breath and a good look around. A massive showroom floor is in front of me, with thousands of happy people representing 450 breweries waiting to serve over 2,000 beers. Thankfully, the groupings of tables are broken up by geographic region, which makes it easier to prioritize. I had the benefit of going with three GABF virgins who all had different goals and tastes- one wanted milk stouts, another wanted sour styles, and another went into it like I did- asking the brewers and reps (if they’re around) what their favorite is. Truthfully, it’s damn near impossible to try every single beer on your wish list, so for me, going with a recommendation is the best way to handle a new brewery.

Photo: Jason E. Kaplan

Some highlights for all of us were beers from Lost Abbey, Duck-Rabbit, Brugges Brasserie, Alesmiths, and the always-charming Brooklyn Brewery. I tried some excellent beer made with Yerba Mate tea (from MateVeza Brewers out of Ukiah, California,) and got a chance to say hi to the brewers from Olde Saratoga/Mendocino brewery, whom are among the East Coast establishments I miss dearly. I think the most important part for me was to spend time with good friends drinking and talking about beer.

Another surprising highlight was the amount of amateur events going on. We got to try the three Sam Adams Long-Shot competitors, Sam Adams’ homebrew competition. They were all great- Lemon Pepper Saison? YES PLEASE! We also spent some serious time at the GABF Pro-Am tables. 25 or so of the nation’s most creative and delicious small batch brews were served up, conceptualized by Average Joes and sponsored by their local breweries to be there. It really speaks to the purpose of GABF itself- a gathering to encourage and inspire people to do what they love, and do it well. The Pro-Am standout for me was a golden ale made with elderflowers- the flavor was so crisp that it made an impression on my beer-burnt out tongue.

Alas, taste bud fatigue is the demise of many a GABF-er, and the only remedy for that is, obviously, a late-night snack. Thankfully, we know the perfect place for that. The Vine St. Pub in Denver’s Uptown neighborhood serves up organic bar food and a late-night happy hour full of microbrews from their mother brewpub in Boulder, as well as several carefully selected guest brews. This place is definitely a laid-back spot, and is always a great way to end a blurry evening.