The Great American Beer Festival

The Great American Beer Festival is a craft beer connoisseur's dream! We were thrilled to attend the Great American Beer Festival this year, as it was the 40th anniversary. It was so much fun to taste beers from breweries across the nation, but impossible to try them all. To be completely honest, it was a bit overwhelming with so many people, so many breweries, so many beers...but a whole lot of fun.

How the Great American Beer Festival came to be...

The craft beer culture in the United States as we know it today kicked off in 1978, when President Jimmy Carter signed a bill (H.R. 1337) legalizing homebrewing.

In the early 1970s, Charlie Papazian, a teacher and homebrewer living in Boulder, Colorado started teaching homebrewing from his home. Soon after, in 1978, Charlie founded the American Homebrewers Association (AHA), a national organization devoted to supporting amateur brewers. At the 4th annual American Homebrewers Association annual conference in 1982, the first Great American Beer Festival was held at the Harvest House in Boulder, Colorado. Charlie Papazian, also author of “The Complete Joy of Homebrewing,” clearly had a longer term plan for the now nationally recognized beer festival.

The first Great American Beer Festival hosted 24 breweries and provided tastings of 47 beers. Approximately 800 people attended the first Great American Beer Festival which was run by approximately 50 volunteers. The first judging occurred in 1987 with 99 beers being judged by 7 judges. Today, and now held in Denver, over 500 breweries share their over 2000 beers. Over 1000 beers have been judged and craft brewing has been celebrated for 40 years.

Some of the original breweries from 1982 are still brewing and are still participating in the Great American Beer Festival! Boulder Beer Company and Sierra Nevada Brewing Co are small, independent brewing companies that participated in the 1982 festival and are still participating today. Additionally, some of the beers served at that first festival are still available today, including Anchor Steam, Anchor Porter, Rolling Rock, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Sierra Nevada Stout, Leinenkugel’s and Killian’s Irish Red Ale.

The GREAT AMERICAN BEER FESTIVAL 2022

In 2022, 100s of breweries - from all over the country, large and small breweries, well known and lesser known breweries - participated in the Great American Beer Festival. The huge, 3 day beer festival was held at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver and general admission tickets sold for $95 ($75 or $85 for members).

There was more than just beer tasting....live music, silent disco, karaoke, lawn games, beer & food pairings (tickets sold separately), food trucks, costumes, exhibitors, merchandise and at the end of the festival this was a competition with an award ceremony. This truly was the GREAT AMERICAN BEER FESTIVAL!

The GREAT AMERICAN BEER FESTIVAL EXPERIENCE

We had SOO much fun at the beer festival! Since we live in Colorado and have been to many craft breweries in Colorado, we decided to focus on breweries from other states. We enjoyed tasting IPAs, stouts, sours, wheat beers, pilsners... from all over the US. Some of our favorites were beers that won medals in the 2021 competition.

Another favorite pastime of ours at events like this is people watching! Everyone was having so much fun...some dressed up like the ghost busters or the Yellowstone characters or a bright purple octopus. But most were just laughing, smiling, visiting with friends...and drinking beer of course. The risk takers were singing karaoke..... often off key, but still having fun. We watched with amusement, sipping on our beer, as people danced with headphones on, in what appeared to be in silence.

A fan favorite was when Sam Adams tapped their rare Utopia beer! Oh my! The crowd gathered, the crowd counted down, the crowd cheered! At 28%, Sam Adams' Utopia blurs the lines between beer and spirits. This barrel aged beer is on every beer lover's bucket list - and Sam Adams came to play. At $499.99 for a 24 oz gorgeous bottle, this one ounce pour should NOT be dumped! Worth waiting in line for 10 minutes to sip!

Preparing for the GREAT AMERICAN BEER FESTIVAL

If you love craft beer and enjoy tasting different beers from a variety of location, you must experience the Great American Beer Festival. This is a huge event in downtown Denver, therefore, we encourage you to plan ahead. Here are some things to do that will make this the most enjoyable, and safe, experience...

Tickets:

Check out the Great American Beer Festival website for tickets. Purchase them early, as they get sold out reasonably quickly.

Insiders hint: Join the American Homebrewers Association (AHA) for discounted tickets and exclusive Saturday afternoon session tickets.

Prepare:

Eat a filling meal before you arrive, or plan on purchasing some food from one of the food trucks.
Bring a pretzel necklace - or better yet a chips and pretzel necklace. No outside food is allowed - except around your neck!
Hydrate! Bring an empty, clear bottle to fill with water. Another tip is to drink your rinse water - rinse out your glass before each new tasting and drink the water.
Don't be afraid to dump your beer - there are so many options and it really is worth tasting many of them!

Beer Week in Denver

Denver has over 150 breweries, many within walking distance from the Convention center! If you are traveling to Denver from out of state, plan to stay a few days and visit some of our wonderful craft breweries down town. If you live in the area, take advantage of the fun deals and opportunities this week and check out a new (or well visited) brewery or two.

We have written a few additional blogs sharing some easy and tasty self-guided brewery tours in Denver -- check them out at: