The GABF 2007 - Beer & Foaming in Denver

Do you remember the film Risky Business? After eluding Guido, the killer pimp, in his father’s posh sport car, Joel – played by the pre couch jumping/scientology infected Tom Cruise - turning to his mates coolly proclaimed, “Porsche, there is no substitute.” While sporting a less impressive 0 to 60 time, the Great American Beer Festival can make the very same claim; there is no substitute.

It is hard to believe that this call to Mecca like event for brewers and hopheads is in its 26th year. It all started rather humbly in a Boulder Colorado hotel and soon mushroomed to become one of the most important happenings in the world of adult beverages. Year after year the festival grew and out-grew venues until finally compelled to book the biggest room in town, the Colorado Convention Center in Denver, filling all 584,000 square feet of exhibition space.

The judging portion of the event takes place a few blocks away at downtown hotel. There a group of experienced brewers are sequestered (a call for turbo ventilation please) and forced to muddle through some 2,400 beers from 449 breweries – all hoping that gold medals are in their future.
On the exhibition floor some 1,800 beers where tapped and offered to the surging mass of the sell-out crowds. In previous years the GABF became a Guinness World Record Holder for most beers tapped in one location. This year, they broke their own record. The 42,000 attendees, over the three-day festival, would walk away with the 18,000 gallons of suds cleverly concealed in their bellies. Considering that the beers are offered to the guests in one-ounce portions, there are a lot of brewery staff with carpal-tonal issues this week for sure.

The GABF, after all, is a consumer event – or is it? A not too tricky argument could be made that it is a show for the brewer. Brewers treat the GABF as a giant homecoming – a family reunion without the awkward encounters and rehearsed affability. They cavort with old chums and sample each other’s efforts. It is fair to say that many brewers gain inspiration from the work of their colleagues. The daytime hours – okay, the hours subsequent to the last breakfast call – are spent in careful preparation for the GABF by meeting at local taverns. Most notable is the Falling Rock Tap House that offers a new keg of specialty brew being tapped every half hour on GABF afternoons. A grand time is had by all and remarkably – with few exceptions – all are at their post when the crowds surge through the convention center’s turnstiles at 5:30 sharp.

The mob is generally well behaved with a handful of obligatory stumblers, public urinators, and few suffering from gastro-reverse flow syndrome in the streets of Denver. There are always going to be those who feel that once the ticket price is paid, they must get every penny’s worth. A suitable surrogate can be witnessed at any American buffet.

In the end, it’s an event like no other and while the Brewers Association is still making hay about the prestige and popularity of wine versus beer… the wine and spirits industry is truly envious of what transpires in Denver each October. Kudos – I promise not to wait another dozen years before I reemerge at the GABF.