The Great American Beer Festival just concluded. And what can we say about it? Well, it was nothing short of a resounding success! With 60,000 people sampling 3,500 different beers, the GBAF was the largest showcase of US craft beer. 275 medals were awarded and a total of 242 breweries from all over took some hardware home, according to the GABF website.
The GBAF was held in Denver and 38 breweries from Colorado took home medals, Biz Journals reported. Popular breweries from here whose products were recognized were Coors Banquet which has consistently won in the light lager category, Elk Mountain Brewing Co. with their Wild Wapati Wheat in South-German style Hefeweizen category, AC Golden Brewing Co. of Golden with their Ctayt for the wood-and-barrel-aged stout, and Wiley Roots Brewing Co. of Greeley with their Super 77 wheat, an American-style wheat beer.
Of course, some previous winners came up empty-handed at the conclusion of the GBAF. This is not to say that their beers are inferior. Not in the least! The number of breweries included has almost doubled and this has provided very stiff competition-and a whirlwind of tastes for happy festival goers.
People's choice breweries were obvious with their consistently long lines. It must be noted that breweries had their beers in pitchers and served them in 1 ounce cups, Fortune reported. That meant that nobody had to wait in line for more than five minutes. And for breweries like Dogfish Head, Cigar City, and Avery Brewery, they had lines 50 people deep at any given time!
Lawson's Sip of Sunshine has risen in popularity in the past couple of years and was clearly a crowd favorite. Many sours also emerged as favorites. The Rare Barrel had a non-stop line going for their Ensorcelled, a dark sour aged in oak barrels with raspberries, and Impossible Soul, a golden sour aged with cherries. The brewery ran out of beer long before the festival even concluded.
Upland Brewing Co's sour beers also got lines 60 people deep and Dad and Dude's Breweria, makers of CBD-infused beer, got overwhelmed with curious beer lovers who wanted to sample the cannabis-beer mashup. Samuel Adams also had a constant line for their Utopias, an uncarbonated beer with ABV of 29% and is priced at $190 per bottle.
See the complete list of GBAF winners here. How about you? How do you like your beer? Hit share to let other beer lovers know!
