Bottoms Up

Good evening blog readers and posters… I’m sitting at Gate 26 and Oakland International, waiting for my flight to Denver and the Great American Beer Festival.  The first session is actually getting underway as I write this and runs until 10 p.m. MDT (9 p.m.  here on the West Coast).   But I’m not terribly worried. Julie Herz, who handles media for the Brewers Association, the Boulder, CO.-based craft beer trade group that sponsors the GABF, says there are going to be nearly 2.000 beers being poured from about a thousand breweries from every state in the U.S.

And for this long weekend,  Denver is definitely beertown. I’ll be hitting lots of places and posting every chance I get.  Comments are welcome and anyone who wants to can email me at whatsontap@sbcglobal.net.

If you’re already in Denver or headed there and have tickets, one of our regular posters, makes these suggestions:

I read this blog on a daily basis but have never responded to someone’s post.  However, I have been going to the GABF every other year since 1995 so I thought I would offer my input for whatever its worth.  You are absolutely right.  The GABF can be beer and sensory overload at times if you do not choose your consumption wisely.

1)My suggestion is that you make a large list of specific beers you want to consume or specific breweries you want to try before you show up to the festival. A good source for these would be to look at the lists of prior GABF medal winners for the past 5-10 years.  Those lists can be found on the official GABF website.  You will see that there are dozens and dozens of beers that have consistently won medals. The lists will also show that a host of breweries repeatedly win medals year after year for their beers.  You can search out those beers and breweries when you first get to the tasting session and make sure that you try them when you can ensure optimal tasting.  You may also want to look at websites like beeradvocate.com which also contain lists of highly reviewed beers that you can search out.

Another way to attack the GABF floor is by regions. If you have been to the GABF before then you probably know that all of the breweries are divided and sequestered according to their geographic regions. I usually go for three sessions (I know that is a lot).  I personally try to steer clear of the Pacific Northwest and West region breweries the first couple nights because those are the breweries and beers I most often consume.  Instead, I will head over to the South or the East regions or Mid-West and try some of the breweries that I don’t have access to here in California.  I will then do the Northwest on the last session.

Another thing I highly recommend is to attend the Saturday afternoon Connossieur session.  It is more expensive I know but it is less crowded and much better because this is when the medals are awarded.  Once the medals have been awarded you can go from brewery to brewery and see if they have any medals attached to any of their beers (the beers on the board will actually show a medal.  I just skip the ones that dont have any medals and try to get to as many medalled beers as possible.  Hope this is helpful.

Other suggestions for GABF:

1)definitely go to the Falling Rock Taphouse near the conclusion of one of the tasting sessions. I would suggest leaving the session like 30 minutes before it finishes and then taxi or walk over there.  It gets really crowded and you will never get a seat or table if you wait until after the session ends and then head over there with the rest of the masses.  Great beer selection.

2)go to the Great Divide brewery in Denver for a tasting during the day before one of the sessions.  Excellent, high octane beers and the staff and owner are extremely friendly and knowledgeable.  We went a couple years back and basically drank for free for 1-2 hours.  Not sure if that is still the situation but definitely worth a visit even if you have to pay the beers.

3)Denver also has a number of other worthy brewpubs in the area of Coors Field including Breckenridge brewpub and Sandlot Brewery. I would make a visit to these during the day if you can stomach it.  I wouldn’t personally recommend the Wynkoop Brewery as I had a bad experience there and the beer is mediocre. The staff was extremely obnoxious and it felt more like a dance club after one of the sessions.

3)If you have an open day go up to Fort Collins for a daytrip and go to their many breweries including New Belgium or head up to Boulder which is beautiful and also has a number of breweries worth seeking out.

Also if you want to get a solid base for your beer consumption try a steak lunch at the Chophouse and Brewery near Coors Field.  They have good hearty food along with a number of barrel-aged beers including a whisky stout last time i was there.  The food in the actual festival can range from average to simply awful so make sure to eat beforehand.

Anyway those are my thoughts.  Have fun.