“According to the Guinness Book of World Records®, there is no other place on earth where a beer aficionado can find more beers on tap.” – Great American Beer Festival FAQ
The first thing to know about the Great American Beer Festival is that it is not exactly a beer festival. Of course it technically is, but it has about as much in common with your standard metropolitan beer festival as the Philadelphia Auto show has with your neighborhood Ford dealer. The GABF is an industry event, first and foremost, and while there are plenty of people there to get drunk on delicious and new beer, the vast majority of people there have some ulterior motive, from finding new beers to increase their profile on Ratebeer to corralling new breweries to join their art exhibit (like yours truly). The crowd of 49,000 people is almost all “beer people.” One GABF vet I talked to said that he believes the down economy has trimmed even more of the people looking to get drunk, and that made sense to me.
So you’re in a giant room with thousands of people who work, live, or play in the craft beer industry.
There are more beers there – 2,000 – than you could ever hope to try. Seriously. Even if you got tickets to all four sessions, each of which lasts about five hours, you’d have to have one sample 100 beers every hour to try them all, and even if that were anatomically possible, it’s definitely not logistically possible. Certain breweries (e.g. Dogfish Head, New Glarus) have lines that top 20 minutes to get your 1 oz tasting.
So you have to pick and choose, and you have to get comfortable with the idea that you will never try all of the beer.
The event is always in Denver, and it is not inexpensive to send beer out, so the event has a definite West-Coast bias. That’s exciting for those of us from the East Coast, because that means there’s lots of beer we can’t get at home. It also means there are a lot of breweries you’ve never heard of, and will never be able to find again.
So, to recap: You’re in an enormous room, surrounded by all of the beer you’ve never had, and know only that you can’t try all of it.
Still, after three sessions and a lot of talking to various people both at the festival and in the surrounding events, it’s possible to get a good sense of the breweries and what’s generating the most conversation.
Golden Hills Brewery is basically one guy, Graydon Brown, in Avery Heights, WA. He came and poured two light beers that I would never have tried had I not met him. I can say with confidence that his light beers have the best body and finish of any low-abv beers I’ve ever had. It’s not even right to call them light, but one was an amber lager and the other was a pilsner. The thing Brown is doing differently is that he is competing on process. People haven’t changed much about brewing methods in the past 5,000 years or so, but Brown says he has a proprietary patent-pending process that not only changes the character of the beer, but allows it to age in one-third the time. He also says he would never sell it to a macrobrewery unless he was sure it would be employed. The business side of me remains deeply skeptical that the deep pockets of A-B/Inbev, MillerCoors, et al. will let a truly revolutionary process stay in the hands of a small brewer, but I hope I’m wrong. Whatever the process, its result is the most distinctive light beer you will ever have, and is worth seeking out if you can find it.
Cambridge Brewing Co. makes normal beer, but they did not bring any of them to GABF. Instead, they brought five ridiculously interesting brews, all of which were complex, different, and delicious. I would have rated four of the beers five-star, with the other one being four stars. Also, they had great names: Arquebus (“summer barleywine”), Sgt. Pepper’s (a blonde with four types of peppercorns), The Wind Cried Mary (“heather ale”) and Benevolence (a rich dark beer with dates and spices). It was the best booth I hit in the three days of the festival, and it’s in relatively nearby Cambridge, Mass.
Barley Brothers in Lake Havasu, AZ, roped me into trying something called the “Tripppleberrry Wheat,” which does not sound like something that is my speed. With a nose full of fruit followed by a bone-dry taste with a soft triple mouthfeel, it was one of the few beers I recommended everyone try. Interestingly, their White Ale – which was also surprisingly dry and flavorful – was one of the most interesting whites I’d ever had.
The Sandlot, Blue Moon’s brewery at Coors Field, is a beautiful facility where they are making some really good and interesting beer.
Three things that were ubiquitous at GABF:
Sour Ales, which is great for those of us that love a good geuze.
Brettanomyces, or Bretts, the wild yeast that gives everything that Belgian flavor. I love it and all, but even a great song can be overplayed.
Falling Rock Tap House is the unofficial HQ of the festival, with all sorts of taps and fantastic beer and people. The funniest thing is that, for all of Falling Rock’s taps, there are many times when a bystander could think Chris (the owner) only installed one: Every one of the hundreds of beer people there will be drinking Russian River’s Pliny the Elder.
The complete winners list is available online but here are the Local Winners (PA, NJ and DE):
Erie Brewing Co. (Erie, PA) won a Gold for their Railbender Ale (Scottish Style Ale), a strong beer that everyone can love.
Beau Baden, brewmaster at my local Allentown & Bethlehem Brew Works (Allentown and Bethlehem, PA) won two medals: A Silver for BagPiper's Scotch Ale (Scotch Ale) and a Bronze for their Christmas Beer, Rude Elf's Reserve (Herb and Spice or Chocolate Beer). For visual representation, the picture at left is me and my friend Jim with the lovely and enthusiastic volunteers at the Brew Works booth.
McKenzie Brew House (Malvern, PA) won a Gold for their Saison Vautour (French and Belgian Style Saison).
Gordon Grubb at the Nodding Head Brewing Co. on Sansom St. won two medals: a Silver for his George's Fault (Specialty Honey Beer) and a Bronze for his Phruit Phunk (Wood and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer).
Triumph Brewing Co. won two medals, as well, and both were Golds. The New Hope branch won for their Hefeweizen (German-Style Wheat Ale), and the Philadelphia branch won for their Kinder Pils (Session Beer).
Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant also won two medals, a Gold for their Schwarzbier and a Silver for their Raspberry Torte (American-Style Sour Ale).
Carol and Ed Stoudt at Stoudts Brewing Co. (Adamstown, PA) won a Bronze for their Stoudts Kölsch.
Troegs Brewing Co. (Harrisburg, PA) was a big winner with three medals. The Troegenator won a Gold (Bock), the Dead Reckoning a Silver (American-Style Stout), and the Sunshine Pils a Bronze (German-Style Pilsener). You may notice that the Troegenator and Dead Reckoning are in categories one might not expect (the Reckoning is marketed as a Porter, for example), which goes to show you how important categories are when entering beer.
Flying Fish Brewing Co. (Cherry Hill, NJ) won two medals, a Gold for their Exit 4 (American-Belgo-Style Ale) and a Bronze for their Hopfish (Classic English Style Pale Ale).
Long Valley Pub and Brewery (Long Valley, NJ) won a Silver for their Lazy Jake Porter (Brown Porter).
And lastly, in hardly a surprise, Dogfish Head’s extreme beers continued to rack up medals. The Chateau Jiahu (Specialty Beer) won a Gold, the Palo Santo Marron (Specialty/Wood Beer) won a Silver, and the Midas Touch (Specialty/Honey Beer) won a Bronze.
Things I Learned Brewing My Own Beer for my recent Halloween Wedding Festival.
