Lotte Peplow, the Brewers Association’s American craft beer ambassador for Europe, reviews her experience at the Great American Beer Festival.
Mind-blowing, memorable, and unique best describes the Great American Beer Festival, organised by the Brewers Association, the not-for-profit trade association for small and independent American craft brewers.
A beer lover’s paradise, it’s the largest public beer tasting event in America and has been dubbed by Thrillist as “the one beer festival to try before you die”. This year’s event took place from 21st to 23rd September at the cavernous
Colorado Convention Centre, in Denver. It attracted 40,000 attendees, who came to sample 1,800 beers from 500 breweries. Compare today’s figures to the original numbers of 24 breweries pouring 47 beers attended by 800 people back in 1982.
The Great American Beer Festival competition took place just before the festival and attracted 9,300 beers from 2,033 breweries, judged over three days by 250 beer experts. There were 303 medals awarded in total, to 263 breweries. Winning beers are poured at the festival and create a huge buzz as attendees seek them out after the winners’ announcement.
It was great to see US craft breweries who export winning medals because they are more likely to be obtainable by us humble beer lovers in the UK and Europe. These included beers from Alesmith Brewing Co, Allagash Brewing Co, Belching Beaver Brewery, Breakside Brewery, Deschutes Brewery, Fifty Fifty Brewing Co, Firestone Walker Brewing Co, Hoppin’ Frog Brewing Co, Left Hand Brewing Co, Modern Times Beer, Oskar Blues Brewery, Port City Brewing Co, and Reubens Brews.
In order to stay fresh and relevant, the Great American Beer Festival is constantly re-inventing itself, with new additions, new experiences, and innovations. For the first time, this year, the festival featured an international pavilion pouring 16 beers from five familiar European breweries from Germany, Belgium, and Iceland.
Also new was the National Black Brewers Association, comprising four black-owned breweries pouring 12 different beers, while the Gluten-Free Garden offered 24 gluten-free beers in one section.
There was a slew of ciders and hard seltzers for those seeking a change from beer, and a Non-Alcoholic Oasis included 32 no-/low-alcohol offerings and hop water, adding a creative new dimension to the beverage choices.
But the star of the show is undoubtedly the beer range. Pours are only 1oz or 30ml, to ensure ‘sampling’ rather than chugging back as much beer as possible. Despite a multitude of 1oz pours, after four sessions at the festival I had barely scratched the surface. Here are my survival suggestions, which include sampling only…
One style per hour
My plan was to start light with lagers, blonde ales, and session ales, then work my way up to the big hitters, thus sampling as wide a range as possibleof beer styles on offer. However, while my strategy should have worked in theory, it was easy to get distracted by something rare and amazing, and I often found myself sidetracked by a beguiling, rare, unmissable beer, eg a double IPA aged in Oloroso sherry barrels at 15.4% ABV (it was incredible!).
Beers with the longest queues indicate a ‘hype’ beer or limited-edition release
Breweries advertise when a beer is being tapped, and the queue starts building hours in advance. For instance, Samuel Adams poured Utopias, a 28% ABV strong ale specially blended with cacao nibs and orange peel at 8.23pm on Saturday night, and hundreds of people waited patiently for their 1oz sample. While this strategy ensures you’ll taste the hype beers, you’ll spend a lot of time queueing and less time sampling. If you wish to pursue this option, it’s best navigated with a buddy who can stand in the queue while you sample something nearby, and vice versa.
Medal-winning beers
You’ll spend a lot of time at the Heavy Medal booth, where gold medal winners from past Great American Beer Festivals and World Beer Cups are poured, but it’s totally worth it. Then, as soon as the winners are announced prior to the start of the Saturday session, be ready to seek out the winning beers (and be quick — they go fast!).
Beers with witty, creative, or entertaining names
Such as Chai Ai Captain, gold medal winner in the herb and spice category, the dark lager Flek Me??? No Fleck You!!, or rye beer Steamy Wonder. The list is endless, but requires dedication and planning!
Experimental beers
Such as Belching Beaver Brewery’s Tropical Terps, brewed with terpenes — aromatic compounds naturally found in citrus fruits, pine trees, hops, and cannabis (although the terpenes used in this beer were not derived from cannabis!).
It’s always fascinating to discover how American craft brewers are pushing the boundaries of creativity and experimentation.
Alternatively…
Don’t have a plan and simply go with the flow!
After three days of judging the Great American Beer Festival competition, and three days at the festival, it was an honour and a privilege to sample some of the best American craft beers on offer. Should you find them in your market, be sure to try them!
In the UK, American craft beer is available from online retailers such as Athletic Brewing, the Sierra Nevada shop, Beers of Europe, Beer Merchants.com, selected bottle shops, off-licences, online subscription services, supermarkets, and many pubs and bars.
The Brewers Association publishes a wealth of resources to understand and enjoy craft beer. These are downloadable, free of charge, from brewersassociation.org.
Brewers are invited to register for the World Beer Cup 2024. Registration opens in November. More details at
worldbeercup.org.
About the author
Lotte Peplow is the American craft beer ambassador for Europe for the Brewers Association, and is based in London. She is a certified cicerone, BDI-accredited beer sommelier, beer writer, author, beer communicator, international beer
judge, homebrewer, and beer lover.
