Each year during the Great American Beer Festival, the city of Denver explodes with parties, special tappings, beer dinners, festivals, and tastings. It’s physically impossible to be in so many places at once—believe us, we’ve tried—so without further ado, Craft Beer & Brewing presents the Insider’s Guide to GABF Events.
Kick off the celebration early. Local events begin long before the actual festival does.
From now through the end of October, check out the BEER BOOM art exhibit at Wynkoop Brewing. Local photographer Relic Fine Art Studios has taken over the brewery’s billiards hall on the second floor with extra large black and white canvas prints of Colorado’s breweries. Made from the nineteenth century method of tintype photography, these are one-of-a-kind pieces that guests can peruse with beer in hand.
On Wednesday, October 1, a first-of-its-kind The Brew Night Show with Marty Jones will take place at Lannie’s Clocktower Cabaret. The night of music, laughter, and beer will feature interview guest Charlie Papazian of the Brewers Association. The evening will also include interviews with Green Flash brewer Chuck Silva and beer journalist/contrarian Stephen Beaumont, beers from Green Flash, Odell, Crazy Mountain, Wasatch, Squatters, and Dude’s Brews, and “brewlesque” performers.
GABF means collaborations . . . and more collaborations. Here are a few to seek out.
Chain Reaction Brewing, one of Denver’s newer breweries, is tapping a new collaboration beer every day beginning on Tuesday, September 30. They’ve teamed up with local Strange Craft Beer Co., Black Sky Brewery, and others on these beers, and plan to host a different Denver food truck each day as well.
On Wednesday October 1, at 4:00 p.m., head to Falling Rock Tap House for the Up 4 It Collaboration Tapping of a whole-cone hopped honey pale ale brewed by Upslope Brewing, Upland Brewing Company, Upstate Brewing Company, and Upright Brewing. With local hops from Oregon, Colorado, and Indiana, honey from New York, and 100 percent Colorado malt, each brewery brought something to the table for this collaboration.
In celebration of both of their 25th anniversaries, Odell Brewing Co. and Boulevard Brewing brewed a Class Of ’89 collaboration brew (an English Strong Ale) that will tap at Freshcraft on Friday, October 3 at 4:00 p.m.
Also on Friday, October 3, Denver Beer Co. will host the second annual Collaboration Celebration that will serve five beers created in partnership with five breweries from across the nation:
- NoLi Brewhouse (Washington): Double Rye IPA
- Green Bench Brewing (Florida): Citrus Session
- Saranac (New York): Double IPA
- Stem Ciders (Colorado): Apple Ale
- Jack’s Abby Brewing (Massachusetts): Smoked Baltic Porter
This event will also feature food trucks and live music. Admission is free and a percentage of each collaboration beer sold at the Collaboration Celebration will be donated to First Descents, an organization that provides outdoor opportunities to young adults fighting cancer.
2014 is the year of the GABF beer brunch.
On Friday, October 3, Chicago’s Pipeworks Brewing Company will host a 3-course beer brunch at City O’ City. One day later, Crooked Stave will host a 3-course beer brunch at Lou’s Food Bar, and on Sunday, October, 5, a new Denver brewery, Station 26 Brewing Co. (a fire station turned craft brewery and taproom), is putting on a bluegrass brunch with live music from the Hayward Strangers. You can enjoy doughnuts from Glazed & Confuzed, barbecue from Rolling Smoke BBQ, and ice cream from Milk Money.
Also on Saturday, October 4, The Cheeky Monk, a Belgian beer café, will host Breakfast with The Bruery (a boutique craft brewery located in Orange County, California, that specializes in experimental and barrel-aged beer). This annual event showcases beers by Patrick Rue at The Cheeky Monk’s Colfax location.
Count on GABF season to deliver one-of-a-kind festivals.
Barrel-aged, sour, and funky beers get the spotlight at the third installation of What The Funk? at the Exdo Event Center on Thursday, October 2. The event will include more than thirty local and national breweries, including Prairie Artisan Ales, Societe Brewing, De Garde Brewing, and Jester King.
Find beers made with foraged ingredients at Beers Made By Walking at Wynkoop Brewing on Friday, October 3. On tap will be more than thirty-two place-based and landscape-inspired beers, most of which were made specifically for this festival. You can enjoy such unique brews as Aspen Brewing’s Lady Bug IPA, made with wild hops from the Rio Grande Trail in Aspen, Odell’s Colorado State Tree Stout, made with spruce tips harvested from Brewer Johnny Benson’s family property near Horsetooth Reservoir in northern Colorado, and Strange Craft Beer’s Choke Cherry Trail Beer, a cream ale finished on chokecherries that were harvested off-trail on South Table Mesa near Golden.
Also on October 3, Pints For Prostates will put on its annual Rare Beer Tasting at the McNichols Civic Center Building. More than forty-five breweries from across the country will serve rare, exotic, and vintage beers at this fundraising event that includes a buffet lunch. Among others, you can taste Avery Brewing’s Thensaurum, Elysian Brewing’s The Gourdfather Pumpkin Barleywine, Green Flash’s Little Freak, Jester King’s Snörkel, Perennial Artisan Ale’s Barrel-Aged Sump, and Wormtown Brewing’s Tart Project Flanders Red.
Miscellaneous Must-Hits
Monkey Barrel will tap eight rare Stone beers, including hard-to-find Stochasticity Project Quadrotriticale and "The Tiger Cub" Saison on the last evening of GABF at Stone Invades Colorado. It will be the first time this bar has ever served out-of-state beers. The tapping, slated for Saturday, October 4, will take place from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
Head to the Colorado Brewers Guild booth at the festival to cast your vote in the Hop The Vote campaign. The Colorado State Senate brewed the Upper Chamber Fresh Hop Pale Ale at Aurora’s Dry Dock Brewing Co. and the Colorado House of Representatives brewed the Representative Saison at Denver Beer Co. for this friendly competition. Both beers will be on tap at the Colorado Brewers Guild (CBG) booth at each session of the 2014 Great American Beer Festival and guests are encouraged to vote for their favorite beer. The winning beer will be announced the evening of October 4.
On your way in or out of Denver, don’t miss Beer Flights at DIA, perhaps the first-ever airport beer festival in which eleven Colorado craft breweries will serve beer in the main terminal each day through October 4. More than 100 Colorado breweries are also included in an airport exhibit called Colorado On Tap that includes tap handles, glassware, growlers, crowlers, T-shirts, bottles and cans, stickers, hats, and beer making ingredients from craft breweries across the state.
Stay tuned to volume 2 of the Insider's Guide. It will feature GABF events outside of Denver.