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A Visit to the Great American Beer Festival
Great American Beer Festival began rather humbly in 1982 as a
friendly beer gathering at the Harvest House Hotel, in Boulder, Colo.
The event featured 40 beers, roughly the number of beers offered today
at a respectable neighborhood pub, from 22 breweries.
In short order, the GABF moved to Denver where it grew, steadily
bursting the seams of venue after venue until finally taking over the
biggest room in town, the Colorado Convention Center, filling all
584,000 square feet of exhibition space.
The 2007 edition of the GABF last month was bigger still. It
featured more beers to be judged (2,410) and more beers tapped and
served on the festival floor (1,800). Previous incarnations of the GABF
were recognized with a Guinness World Record for the most beers tapped
in one location. Now they must be content with breaking their own
records each year.
Craft Gathering
Certainly, the GABG is a consumer event with its three evening
sessions being open to all adults of legal drinking age willing to pay
the $45, per evening, ticket price. Willing they were, as the GABF for
the first time sold out in advance of the show.
Consumer exuberance aside, the GABF is just as much, if not more,
for the brewers. It’s a giant homecoming for brewers who use the
occasion of the annual festival to meet old friends and colleagues.
Nico Freccia, co-owner and manager of San Francisco’s 21st
Amendment Brewery, calls the GABF “a giant family reunion.” Freccia’s
brewery has been coming to the GABF for six straight years (the brewery
has been open for seven years) and wouldn’t think of missing it.
“The GABF is clearly the biggest and most important gathering of craft brewers in the country,” he says.
The GABF is also a place where place brewers come to get inspired by the
efforts and results of their brethren. New styles are constantly emerging from
the creativity and imagination of the
craft brewers.
The Bootleg GABF
For the brewers, the evening sessions of the GABF were only half of
the story, as Denver graciously became the craft beer capital, hosting
official, and unofficial, events throughout the city. I attended four
unique brewer- and beer-related gatherings in downtown Denver Friday
(October 12).
Each was vibrant and cheerful but none seemed to compare to the
fervor at the Falling Rock Tap House. Here brewers gathered with kegs
of some of their more rare and exotic brews with a new beer being
tapped every half hour. The crowds filled the pub and the outdoor patio
from mid-day until the GABF kicked off each night
at 5:30. One brewer referred to the gathering as “the bootleg GABF,” which captured the mood perfectly.
While all of the brewers and breweries with whom I spoke made
mention of the benefits of being able to rub elbows with colleagues for
the long weekend, all were in attendance to serve marketing concerns
both large and small. Medals won at the GABF have influence on
consumers and craft beer distributors alike. Breweries who attend GABF,
more often than not, return each year without fail.
Front Street Brewery, Wilmington, N.C., has been brewing for a
dozen years. 2007 was Front Street’s first arrival in Denver but far
from the first GABF for head brewer Kevin Kozak, who had attended the
festival several times while working at Capital City Brewery in
Virginia.
“I knew how important GABF is to brewers,” Kozak says.
Hoppin’ Frog Brewery of Akron, Ohio, was making its first trip “on
paper” while in reality, owner/brewer Fred Karm was anything but a GABF
rookie.
“While we didn’t walk away with a medal, we still won, having signed up
all important distributors,” Karm said. Hoppin’ Frog presently is sold
in four states while it is aiming for 12.
For those craft brewers hoping for bigger things, success stories
such as Blue Moon, a little local brew that hit the big-time, were
present at this year’s GABF as examples of how far a craft can go. Of
course, the little guys don’t necessarily have the resources that the
Coors organization has put behind Blue Moon, but relationships and
contacts with distributors at GABF definitely help brewers have
voice. NCB
Sean Ludford is the creator of BeverageExperts.com and a quarterly magazine, The Aperitif, which is delivered electronically.
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