Three Days at the 2007 Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colorado

When people hear the words 'beer festival' many may think of Munich and Oktoberfest. But, there is a another ....

The Great American Beer Festival, an event arranged by the Brewer's Association, is held annually in Denver, Colorado. For three days, forty thousand or more people flock to this wintry city to imbibe the world's greatest libation. This year, there were over four hundred breweries that submitted nearly three thousand beers for competition. And I was able to attend for the first time. Incredible is the word that kept stumbling through my mind, and even that is a weak descriptor.

Homebrewer's across the country have read about the icons of brewing: Michael Jackson, Charlie Papazian, Jim Koch, Steve Hindy, Randy Mosher and so the list goes on. At the Great American Beer Festival, we actually get to see them, hear them, maybe even meet them. This is like the Oscar's for beer people. Unlike the Academy Awards, this huge party does not disappoint.

Even if the celebrities of brewing were absent, there would still be beer and that's what we all come for. They were laid out before us, table after table, pitcher after pitcher, like a feast at Valhalla. The breweries were put together by region: South, Mountain, Northeast, Midwest, etc. So, pick your region and go drink their beers, right?

Well, my first day was basically spent wandering in a stupor - not from the alcohol, mind you - no, a stupor derived from an infinite amount of choices. Now, when I was a kid Star Wars was the biggest deal on the planet. Like so many other kids, I spent a long time collecting the action figures. One day my parents took me to a store running a clearance on those beauties. The shelves were packed with them. Jubilant, I picked through each and every one intent on grabbing my favorite characters. That was nearly twenty-five years ago. I still remember it, that's how excited I was then.

That was nothing. Not after this. I was just as jubilant as I tried to collect beer samples. I decided to try beers in regions that are not easily accessible where I live - which would include virtually the entire country. So that first day, when I saw a table and a brewery I didn't know, well, I was in line right away. One of the first I tried is still one of my favorite of the festival: a rauchbier called Smokejumper. It was black, nice tan head, it looked like a decent, innocent porter. After a quaff, though, it was evident this beer was anything but innocent. Obviously, it had set fire to a huge piece of woodland somewhere and captured all the smoke and transfused that into the malt. Even after a few more beers from that brewery, the charcoal residue lingered on the tongue. It was absolutely beautiful.

So the first day was spent in wide-eyed childish glee, wandering from table to table, holding out my official tasting cup and having it filled to the official one ounce line with whatever beer sounded good.

I managed to find a guide to the festival that first day, so for day two there was a game plan. The morning of the second session, I wrote down a huge list of the breweries I wanted to visit and made note of their location. With notebook in hand, the assault began. Four hours, over forty breweries - sure it sounded simple enough on paper. But, nope, didn't make it. A beer and food pairing derailed the campaign a bit. Of course, that was completely worth it. I learned about cheeses I'd never had before and the complimentary beers. It was presented by Garret Oliver from Brooklyn Brewery.

So, the breweries missed on day two got put on the list for the next day. Of course, the third session was the awards ceremony which yielded yet more beers to be investigated.

The fourth session provided another beer and food pairing and another session with a certified beer judge from Miller Brewing. Even with such distractions, the list was finally completed. That's not to say I got every beer I wanted from the great list. No, some of the award winning beers were either all consumed by the time I made it to the table or else the brewer had only brought enough for the competition. There were even some breweries that could not be found on the floor.
Some of the most outstanding beers - for me, at least - were the Belgian sour ales. Iron Hill Brewery had two I enjoyed immensely. One was called FRED. It had a sublime acidic tartness at the outset and finished like a pint of lush vinegar. Their Kriek de Hill was similarly sour, though possibly without the lushness. Port Brewing had Cuvee de Tomme, which was an award winning sour. There were so many other beers, justice cannot possibly be done them in a brief article.

But there are a few that stand out. Here's a brief mention: New Glarus and Russian River had a perpetual lines; Dogfish Head had some huge beers; Boston Beer was offering Utopia, a brandy of a beer; there was O'Dell and Bull and Bush and Sierra Nevada and Elysian Brewing. For those of us in Arizona, there were representatives: Rock Bottom made an appearance and showed off their superb hefeweizen's; Beaver Street Brewery from Flagstaff is always worth a stop; there was also B.J.'s Restaurant and Oak Creek.

If you love beer and are interested in what brewer's in the U.S. are creating, the Great American Beer Festival is one of the premiere destinations. Don't miss it next year.