2010 Great American Beer Festival: What to Expect in Denver

Going to the 29th Annual Great American Beer Festival (GABF) from September 16th through the 18th, or just wish you were since it's already sold out and you haven't bought tickets yet? Here is a who's who, what's what and how to get around in and around the festival.

The Great American Beer Festival (site): A massive competition and beer tasting extravaganza hosting more than 450 breweries for a total of 2,200 different brews; the largest collective of American brews in one place, ever.

Started in 1982, the Great American Beer Festival has always been held in Colorado (skipping from Boulder to Denver over the years), one of America's tastiest hotbed for microbreweries. This year you'll be experiencing (or would have experienced) the madness from the Colorado Convention Center.

Traveling There: If you're driving or renting a vehicle, allow for extra time to and from the Colorado Convention Center. Near Speer Boulevard and Colfax Avenue city planners fumbled the ball by squishing the Convention Center and all of Denver's major stadiums close enough together to create San Francisco gridlock on I-25, Colfax, Speer, Colorado Blvd or any of the major thoroughfares surrounding the Convention Center.

Places to Stay: Hotels? Two things. First, if you haven't already reserved your spot at one of the big name hotels (remembering to mention to the customer service rep that you're attending the GABF), then you're probably out of luck. Second, I'm a cheapskate and wouldn't be caught dead paying $200 a night for some hard bed that smells like an old lady.

Hostels, however, cost tons less, are almost always available, and the accommodations are similar to, if not better than hotels (because who ever has time to spend lounging at a hotel pool anyway?). There are several hostels in the Denver area. The AAE 11th Avenue Hostel has private rooms for less than $50 and will give you all sorts of info on what you can do when you're not actually in the Convention Center.

Other Things To Do: The GABF is only in the afternoon and evenings. That leaves at least three mornings and mid-afternoons to find yourself bored.

16th Street Mall: Awesome strip of shops from tourist shops to an ESPN and a Hard Rock Cafe. Its a clean strip designed for walking or taking the free trolleys that dart from one end to the other. Street performers are almost always out and about during the summer months as well.

Tokyo Joe's (site): The best darn Americanized Japanese stir-fry fast food you can get in a bowl. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. It can get pricey for fast food, but you will never leave hungry and the service is never below amazing. And, though they are only in Denver and its suburbs, there're as common in the city as Starbucks.

Denver Zoo (site)or Botanic Gardens (site): Again, I'm cheap. But if you've got about $12 bucks per person burning a hole in your beer-soaked jeans, you have to go to either or both of these hot spots. Family oriented of course. The Denver Zoo is one of the better. I've been to Denver, Milwaukee, and Chicago to name just a few, Denver Zoo's set up is fun and easy to get around. The Botanic Gardens are not as cool as Milwaukee's Conservatory Domes and twice as expensive, but serene and beautiful all its own.

Beers To Be On the Look Out For: Anything from New Belgium. If you're lucky enough to live in a state that gets Fat Tire, lucky you. If not, move! Fort Collins Brewery has never put out a bad brew. Lefthand Brewery's Milk Stout and Blackjack Porter are by far my favorite thick beers.

Pumpkin Beer is one of many new categories. Look to Lakefront to probably walk home with this award. Their Pumpkin is not only legendary, its distilled by Great Lakes Distillery into the distillery's fastest selling flavored malt whisky.

A disappointing absence is Estes Park Brewing. They do the only Blueberry Wheat beer that I've found and actually tastes like real blueberry.

Whether you're enjoying a cold one at home wondering what your next brew should be or whether you're standing in the cornucopia of beers at the GABF coming up, the beer is bound to be fantastic and the the winners out of this world. Welcome to Denver!