Post Great American Beer Festival

[Apendecto]

My lady and I just got done with our two day GABF and this is my thoughts on how it was, what I learned and tips for anyone who wants to go.

We got tickets for two days since I figured I'd be all beer'ed out after 5 hours or so of drinking and we could get the lay of the land for the second day.

Friday had a line a mile long but moved quickly once the doors opened. Saturday we came a little bit after the doors opened and walked right in. No need to get there early, in my opinion. While we waited, I checked out the beers that would be there.

Our plan was to hit up Utopias right off the bat (which we couldn't until 7pm) and when did try it, we found it was not worth the hype. Vokda + brown sugar.

The line for the men's room were long but quick and there were much fewer women on Friday than Saturday.

Beer was grouped in region, which is nice because you could target brews far away from home and avoid the close ones.

I was a little surprised to see some of my favorite breweries (Founders) not there and was disappointed that Surly wasn't there either. I heard it was $250 a keg to enter + shipping + who knows what. So I can't blame them, but wouldn't you enter great beer for the medals?

Saturday had tons of beer that was depleted. Friday night we studied the beer list for stuff we wanted to try and sadly, most of it was gone by Saturday. Go as soon as you can for more options.

Overall it was fun, but I couldn't believe how drunk and stupid people were. Obviously, there is beer to drink but I saw all sorts of mini-fights, angry people, vomit, etc. that I never saw at Oktoberfest in Germany.

The pro-am table was the highlight of both days. The best beer I tried was here. IPA's, Black IPA's, porters, etc. Awesome. If you go, do not miss this table.

We sampled Jamil's Heretic brews and we thought they were terrible. How disappointing. On the flip side, I did shake Charlie Papazian's hand and thank him for everything.

Pizza Port knocked our socks off. Anything they made was awesome and the medals they earned are well deserved. Maybe I should move...

Overall, go the earliest day you can, check out the pro-am, eat first, and try some amazing brews.

 

[Dogphish]

sounds terrible. i would not got unless i lived nearby and could figure out all the "tricks" to enjoying it and avoiding the B.S.

 

[davefleck]

Fyi, A brewery can enter the comp without hosting a booth.

 

[Airborneguy]

Never heard about fights before. That really sucks. I'd avoid it for that reason alone. I have a hard time ignoring when someone starts a fight with me.

 

[Apendecto]

Never heard about fights before. That really sucks. I'd avoid it for that reason alone. I have a hard time ignoring when someone starts a fight with me.

Nothing huge or anything. But it reminded me of 2 am at a dive bar. It wasn't too distracting or everywhere but it did happen and I just thought this event would be to try beer and taste stuff you can't normally-not get as much beer down you for $60.

 

[Apendecto]

Fyi, A brewery can enter the comp without hosting a booth.

Good to know.

 

[Turner5]

If you want to avoid the BS the Saturday afternoon members only session is a good one to go to (Saturday evening is probably the worst). It's pretty cool because you get to meet a lot of the brewmasters and owners at that one.

Overall, I think the pros to going to the GABF far outweigh any of the cons. I've been going for about 10 years and have personally never seen a fight.

 

[postal_penguin]

Overall, I think the pros to going to the GABF far outweigh any of the cons. I've been going for about 10 years and have personally never seen a fight.

Plus, Denver is an amazing city and right next to some amazing mountains. Having just moved here this city is great. An hour long drive and you are in the middle of the mountains and away from it all. And the elevation means you can feel the effects of alcohol quicker...

 

[pdxal]

If you want to avoid the BS the Saturday afternoon members only session is a good one to go to (Saturday evening is probably the worst). It's pretty cool because you get to meet a lot of the brewmasters and owners at that one.

Overall, I think the pros to going to the GABF far outweigh any of the cons. I've been going for about 10 years and have personally never seen a fight.

What if you had to fly in, rent a hotel room and rental car, plus pay for admission/parking?
I think that's what a lot of people are weighing when deciding whether to attend.
Would you still have gone the last 10 years if it cost $1000 more each time?

 

[wonderbread23]

I had a great time. Was there Thursday, Friday, and Sat Members Session. As far as fights, I did have one drunk dude stumble into me and then do some posturing... lame. Highlights for me were the Bruery Black Tuesday and Oude Tart, FW Parabola, Allagash Mattina Rossa and Coolship Resurgam, Alpine Nelson, Heretic Evil Cousin, Destihl's sours beers, Lost Abbey Veritas 008, Framboise de Amorosa, Red Poppy, Angel's Share and many of the folks I can't get at home --- Captain Lawrence, Shorts, Ska, New Glarus. I had a beer in the pro-am which unfortunately didn't win. Also went to the Pints for Prostate Rare Beer tasting at Wyncoop --- amazing.

 

[Turner5]

What if you had to fly in, rent a hotel room and rental car, plus pay for admission/parking?
I think that's what a lot of people are weighing when deciding whether to attend.
Would you still have gone the last 10 years if it cost $1000 more each time?

yes or at least 7-8 times. It's still pretty damn fun.

 

[moti_mo]

I had a great time. Was there Thursday, Friday, and Sat Members Session. As far as fights, I did have one drunk dude stumble into me and then do some posturing... lame. Highlights for me were the Bruery Black Tuesday and Oude Tart, FW Parabola, Allagash Mattina Rossa and Coolship Resurgam, Alpine Nelson, Heretic Evil Cousin, Destihl's sours beers, Lost Abbey Veritas 008, Framboise de Amorosa, Red Poppy, Angel's Share and many of the folks I can't get at home --- Captain Lawrence, Shorts, Ska, New Glarus. I had a beer in the pro-am which unfortunately didn't win. Also went to the Pints for Prostate Rare Beer tasting at Wyncoop --- amazing.

I wholeheartedly agree on Destihl's sour beers. Holy moley were those good, I had never had any of those before so we camped out there Sat. afternoon for a good bit.

Which beer was yours in the pro-am? Was it pouring Sat. afternoon or evening? Mine was #11 on Sat. afternoon and evening - the saison from Funkwerks. Didn't win either, but it was a blast to taste my own beer at the GABF and chat with all the other pro-am brewers.

 

[ArtVandelay]

I went for the first time and have to say that Russian River supplication (or any of their other beers) is/are out of this world. The lady serving at RR had to cut us off after a while because we kept getting back in line.

Saturday was most definitely a **** show but did you know that just outside there is pretty much an infinite line of portapotties? I never waited in line the entire time.

 

[scottland]

I went to the Thursday session with my girlfriend and two other friends. We flew into Denver Thursday morning, rented a car, and stayed at a hotel downtown. Definitely worth going. Denver is a blast everytime I go.

-Thursday afternoon we drove up to Boulder, went to Avery brewing. Awesome beers, great food. They had some special release beers for the GABF, and everything I tried was very good. Great double IPA called Dugana. Then we went over to Boulder brewery (right down the road.) Had a few beers and then headed back to Denver to the GABF.

-GABF: My one complaint (well I have two, but the second is petty), there's only one entrance. You have to walk about 20 minutes around the entire building to get to the start of the line, and then walk 20 minutes back. Very annoying. This issue could be easily solved by hiring about 5 more people, and open a second entrance. My second complaint was the bright orange carpet and tungsten lighting created some funky photo taking light, LOL. But that's not really a big issue.

-The Festival itself was a blast. People were very well behaved on Thursday. Some people were getting pretty drunk, but no one was out of hand. I think I only saw the police walk one person out because he passed out on a couch.

-Russian River's beers were fantastic. My first time trying Damnation, supplication, and Pliny. Excellent. Props to Sam at dogfish, he was one of the few brewery owners that were at the table pouring beers and shaking hands. I can't tell you how frustrating it was walking up to an unknown brewery, asking which beers they liked, and some volunteer who knows nothing about the brewery shrugs their shoulders because they don't know.

-The lines for RR, Dogfish, New Glarus, Firestone walker, and Cigar City were all very long.

- The west coast(Pacific, PNW, Colorado, etc) had better beers overall. Much better. There were definitely some great breweries from the south and the east, but the west coast breweries just rocked overall.

-Stick to one beer style. Your palate is toast after drinking IPAs all night, if you try a lightly hopped pale ale, you'll never taste the subtleties.

-The beers at the Pro-am table all ROCKED. I could have spent all night trying the Pro-am beers.

-We went to Falling rock on Friday. If you go to falling rock, get there early because it gets packed after people make their way over from the GABF. It sure was nice to drink fresh Pliny all night though.

 

[Apendecto]

I went to the Thursday session with my girlfriend and two other friends. We flew into Denver Thursday morning, rented a car, and stayed at a hotel downtown. Definitely worth going. Denver is a blast everytime I go.

-Thursday afternoon we drove up to Boulder, went to Avery brewing. Awesome beers, great food. They had some special release beers for the GABF, and everything I tried was very good. Great double IPA called Dugana. Then we went over to Boulder brewery (right down the road.) Had a few beers and then headed back to Denver to the GABF.

-GABF: My one complaint (well I have two, but the second is petty), there's only one entrance. You have to walk about 20 minutes around the entire building to get to the start of the line, and then walk 20 minutes back. Very annoying. This issue could be easily solved by hiring about 5 more people, and open a second entrance. My second complaint was the bright orange carpet and tungsten lighting created some funky photo taking light, LOL. But that's not really a big issue.

-The Festival itself was a blast. People were very well behaved on Thursday. Some people were getting pretty drunk, but no one was out of hand. I think I only saw the police walk one person out because he passed out on a couch.

-Russian River's beers were fantastic. My first time trying Damnation, supplication, and Pliny. Excellent. Props to Sam at dogfish, he was one of the few brewery owners that were at the table pouring beers and shaking hands. I can't tell you how frustrating it was walking up to an unknown brewery, asking which beers they liked, and some volunteer who knows nothing about the brewery shrugs their shoulders because they don't know.

-The lines for RR, Dogfish, New Glarus, Firestone walker, and Cigar City were all very long.

- The west coast(Pacific, PNW, Colorado, etc) had better beers overall. Much better. There were definitely some great breweries from the south and the east, but the west coast breweries just rocked overall.

-Stick to one beer style. Your palate is toast after drinking IPAs all night, if you try a lightly hopped pale ale, you'll never taste the subtleties.

-The beers at the Pro-am table all ROCKED. I could have spent all night trying the Pro-am beers.

-We went to Falling rock on Friday. If you go to falling rock, get there early because it gets packed after people make their way over from the GABF. It sure was nice to drink fresh Pliny all night though.

Couldn't agree more. Don't go to GABF on Saturday night and check out the city. Hell, you could probably skip the GABF all together and try an assload of beer. Great Divide, Oskar Blues, Odell, I could go on and on.

 

[nebben]

I saw no fights, no people being escorted out, and the lines for the urinals were long but very quick.

I also benefited from having priority entry on Thursday and Friday, which helped tremendously. When we walked around the building in one long snaking line before Saturday morning's session, I realized how good we had it on Thursday and Friday.

If you aren't an AHA member already, get an AHA membership if you go to this, and buy your tickets at the starting bell on the day they start selling them. I got everything I wanted, plus the priority entries. So smooth.

The event itself seems to be very well organized, and I never waited in any lines longer than 5 minutes. Even then, I found that Pliny (first beer tasted in the festival by myself) was a bit overrated. We went right over to Firestone Walker for the Double Jack and Velvet Merkin. Double Jack deserved the silver medal that it got, it was awesome compared to Pliny. I hit a bunch of beers I've had in the past, and a bunch of new ones. We did the Farm to Table thing on Thursday, and although I was skeptical that it would be worth the double-entry fee (standard entry ticket is required, plus the extra farm to table ticket), it turned out great. The food was incredible, the crowds thin, and easier access to brewers and their fantastic beers.

We were somewhat overwhelmed with all the beer on Thursday night, especially with all the upselling going on. So many volunteers tried to talk us out of lower ABV beers, even 6% ones, and insisted we try imperial reds, barley wines, stouts, and so on instead. I was more hungover on Friday morning than any other day, but this was to be expected since I didn't know how to pace it.

Friday night in the main hall was good too- we were on the search for sour beers since my brew buddy has 40 pounds of cherries he wants inspiration to use. We sought out Grand Cru, Berliner Weiss, Kriek, Goze, Lambic, and many others. If you want to taste an amazing beer, drink an IPA after you're satisfied with your sour beer evening. That first sip of malt and hops just makes you cry with joy.

Saturday morning was good too. I liked that they raised the bar somewhat by giving everyone actual glass taster cups, and raised the danger level. Sweet. The awards took a while, but I found that I could still read the screens from all the way back at Alaskan Brewing. They had three vintages of their smoked porter... so cool to try them all side by side.

I think I was in it about $1000 all said and done. We stayed downtown and it was an excellent place (it should be for $230 a night!), with close access to all sorts of stuff. I would consider doing this again, perhaps on Saturday morning, or Friday night with the priority entry. I talked to some volunteers, and it sounds like they had a pretty good gig- free beer and most of the benefits of buying the ticket.