Brewers Association

Here's to American Craft Beer Week, and something wet in every cup

Here's to American Craft Beer Week (which began Monday), the annual salute to small independent brewers that the Boulder-based Brewers Association (with help from Congress!) created seven years ago to increase awareness of craft beer. Of course, in Colorado, as some people say, every week is craft b ... More >>

Beer calendar: Renegades, superheroes and American Craft Beer Week

Did you know that Italy has a thriving craft-beer scene? Neither did I. But Brian Jansing and Paul Vismara, two longtime suds slingers at the Falling Rock Taphouse, did, and they've traveled all over Italy, researching the movement as it grew from fewer than twenty craft breweries in 1996 to nearly ... More >>

Colorado's beer festivals are becoming victims of their own success

Colorado breweries stay steady on the list of the nation's biggest craft brewers

Colorado craft breweries have remained steady on the Boulder-based Brewers Association's annual list of the top fifty craft-beer makers in the country. New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins is still the third-largest craft brewer in the nation, while Longmont's Oskar Blues rose from 29th on the list ... More >>

The Craft Brewers Conference wraps up with an award for New Belgium

It's been quiet out there in the craft beer world this week -- primarily because most of the movers and shakers from around the country are in Washington, D.C. for the annual Craft Brewers Conference, and industry-only event hosted by the Brewers Association. This year's version -- the thirtieth on ... More >>

The brewers at Prost and the Sandlot will team up on a new German-style lager

Two breweries -- one locally owned and the other managed by a big corporation -- will test the definition of "craft beer" next week when they collaborate on a new brew. Tom Hail, who has worked at Blue Moon Brewing Company @ the Sandlot since it opened in 1995, and Bill Eye, who left Dry Dock in 20 ... More >>

Beer calendar: Try spruce tips, sushi rice and malted milk in your beer this week

As the birthplace of Colorado's craft beer revolution, Boulder has had a love affair with bubbly brews since the late 1970s that continues today: The city is home to the Brewers Association, a national trade group; the American Homebrewers Association; the second-oldest brewery to have formed after ... More >>

Third Shift lager, a new MillerCoors beer, got its medal-winning start at Denver's Sandlot

Tom Hail loves beer. He loves lagers especially, which is why he stays very late on a lot of nights to work on his passion projects. One of these is a traditional German-style marzen -- a recipe that he's been tinkering with on and off for eighteen years. It's a tasty beer -- so tasty that Hail, on ... More >>

Ten biggest Colorado craft beer stories in 2012

Colorado craft breweries and their many fans enjoyed a spectacular year in 2012, as the options for consuming locally made beer continued to grow and fill our tastebuds with joy. If the state's 160-plus breweries weren't expanding, then they were adding new beers or welcoming friendly competitors. A ... More >>

Reader: GABF should get rid of Ticketmaster instead of BudMillerCoors

Is that beer craft or "crafty"? Last week the Boulder-based Brewers Association -- which puts on the Great American Beer Festival -- blasted the nation's two largest beer makers for not labeling some of their smaller brands with the names "MillerCoors" or "Anheuser-Busch." But the big boys have take ... More >>

Coors, Miller, Bud will keep sponsoring GABF, despite craft vs. crafty controversy

When the Brewers Association blasted the nation's two largest beer makers last week for not labeling some of their smaller brands with the names "MillerCoors" or "Anheuser-Busch," the Boulder organization risked losing a lot of money. After all, the two companies kick in at least $20,000 annually to ... More >>

Is Colorado the center of the "crafty" beer universe?

Colorado -- home to the Great American Beer Festival, the Brewers Association and 161 breweries -- is the center of the universe when it comes to craft beer. But is it also the center of the "crafty" beer universe? On Thursday, the Brewers Association, which represents small brewers nationwide, fi ... More >>

"Stand your ground and pour": How Brooklyn Brewery's Garrett Oliver saved GABF

Aisle after aisle, table after table, there was one thing about the 2012 Great American Beer Festival that was different from the event in previous years: There were brewery reps, brewers and, in many cases, brewery owners themselves staffing their booths, hanging out and answering questions. It was ... More >>

Thursday at the Great American Beer Fest: five sneaky-cool things to check out

The Great American Beer Festival, which starts tonight and runs through Saturday, is a river of beer -- and a river of people -- but there are some things that don't always meet the eye: secret fishing holes, swirling eddies, rapids. Here are a couple of things to do that may not be on your radar, b ... More >>

Beer lovers will turn this town inside out during GABF week

Denver began welcoming beer fans from near and far yesterday as the city girded its liver for the annual Great American Beer Festival, which starts tomorrow. More people poured into town today as the Brewers Association opened registration for all of the breweries, vendors and media. Here is a bri ... More >>

GABF volunteer coordinator Carol Hiller on over-pouring, comfortable shoes and Guinness

This is the first in a series of Q&As with beer-minded folks who have jobs to do during the Great American Beer Festival. Volunteers at the Great American Beer Festival are sometimes maligned, usually busy and always -- always -- needed. After all, there are going to be 2,700 different beers at thi ... More >>

Five new things to look for at the 2012 Great American Beer Festival

The Great American Beer Festival doesn't change much from year to year. It is always a massive draw, a tourism magnet and the place to be seen for breweries and beer lovers alike. But the Boulder-based Brewers Association, which hosts the festival, October 11-13, does like to keep it relevant, so it ... More >>

The Colorado Brewers Guild is whipping up special beer for #GABF award winners

Award-winning brewers at the Great American Beer Festival will bring home something in addition to their medals this year: a bottle of a special beer made collaboratively just for the occasion by members of the Colorado Brewers Guild. The 22-ounce bottle of Porter's Pride, an imperial porter brewed ... More >>

The 2012 #GABF will have a stunning 114 more breweries than last year

You can't drink them all. Don't even try. The Great American Beer Festival, which runs October 11-13, will feature more breweries this year than ever before, and not just by one or two. See also -Great American Beer Festival scalpers drive us to drink -A GABF ticket for $50,000? The guy behind the ... More >>

Denver's toughest tickets: Did Mumford, Book of Mormon or GABF make the list?

Bruce Springsteen tickets go on sale Monday, August 13 at 10 a.m. They'll be gone within minutes, if not seconds -- only to reappear shortly thereafter on eBay, StubHub and other aftermarket ticket sites for two, three or even four times their original cost. It's nothing new. But it sure gets old. ... More >>

A GABF ticket for $50,000? The guy behind the eBay listing explains

A day after 49,000 tickets to the Great American Beer Festival were snapped up within minutes of going on sale -- leaving a lot of angry beer fans out there -- a Boulder homebrewer listed one of those tickets on eBay for $50,000. Does he really expect someone to buy it? Of course not. But the twent ... More >>

Great American Beer Festival scalpers drive us to drink

It's hard to know who to be angry at for what many people are calling #GABFail -- the ticketing fiasco that has marred the upcoming Great American Beer Festival. The Boulder-based Brewers Association put 49,000 tickets up for grabs beginning at 10 a.m. on August 2. But within two minutes, at least t ... More >>

Twelve new breweries and 87 total will represent Colorado at GABF

There will be 87 Colorado breweries pouring their stuff at the Great American Beer Festival this year, according to a full list of attending breweries released today by the Boulder-based Brewers Association. Amazingly, that roster includes a dozen brand-new breweries that either didn't exist at this ... More >>

A Toast to Beer

Left Hand named a top fifty U.S. brewer; Oskar Blues is second in Colorado

Longmont won big today when the Brewers Association, based just down the road in Boulder, released its annual list of the top fifty biggest craft brewers in the United States. Left Hand Brewing, which was founded in Longmont in 1993, cracked the list for the first time, logging in at number 49. The ... More >>

Colorado beer calendar: IPApril at Rackhouse Pub; barrel-aged beers at Hops & Pie

Craft brewers sold $8.7 billion worth of beer in 2011, up more than 9 percent over the previous year, according to the Boulder-based Brewers Association. That's a lot of suds. The total amount of beer they made rose 13 percent, or roughly 1.3 million barrels, to nearly 11.5 million barrels. The num ... More >>

Pro tips: ten suggestions for doing the Great American Beer Festival right

Is this your first rodeo? If so, then you won't be alone. The Boulder-based Brewers Association sold 55,000 tickets to this year's Great American Beer Festival -- and you'll feel like every one of those people is in line with you. Maybe it's not your first time, in which case you're probably going o ... More >>

Five ways to freshen up the Great American Beer Festival

​What's that you say? How can you mess with perfection? Easily. The Great American Beer Festival, which takes place September 29 to October 1, is the biggest consumer beerstravaganza in the world. It's on the life to-do list for beer lovers all over the globe, and it brings more cachet to Colo ... More >>

The Great American Beer Festival sells out in record time

​The Great American Beer Festival sold out -- all 55,000 or so tickets -- in an amazing seven days this year, or roughly twelve weeks before the world's biggest beerapalooza begins on September 29. Last year's fest sold out about five weeks before the event, while the 2009 festival didn't fill ... More >>

Great American Beer Festival tickets on sale now

​Great American Beer Festival tickets went on sale today (here), and although they are $5 more this year, $60 is still worth the price of admission. After all, there will be 450 breweries serving 2,200 different beers at the fest, which runs September 29 through October 1. What else is new at ... More >>

Fill up on Big Shikes

Beer calendar: American Craft Beer Week edition

Jonathan ShikesSka Brewing's malted goodness.​American Craft Beer Week is a beer drinker's paradise, a week that celebrates small (and a few not-so-small) independent brewers around the country. There are a huge number of events going on this year in the Denver/Boulder area -- not to mention ... More >>

Beer calendar for the week ahead: Colorado Beer Week; home brew; Odell gets busy

Kate LevyA recent Great Divide release party.​Do you sense something? Is that...could it be...summer in the air? Actually, no. But it is spring, and that means spring beer releases. What's on tap this month? How about Odell Double Pilsner, Left Hand Good JuJu, Ska's Mexican Logger and three b ... More >>

Beer calendar for the week ahead: Find firkins at Hops&Pie, City, O'City and Cheeky Monk

Wynkoop BrewingWynkoop brewers know hops.​You won't find many of Colorado's brewers around Colorado this week as most of them have taken off for the annual Craft Brewers Conference, taking place in San Francisco. But that doesn't mean you can't toast them -- and the industry as a whole -- whi ... More >>

Learn everything you ever wanted to know about beer tomorrow night in Boulder

Care to know more?​If you're anything like us, all you need to know about beer is that it's good for filling the void of existential desperation and it makes driving a car way funner. But if you're one of these hoity-toity "liberals," you probably also want to know a bunch of worthless facts a ... More >>

Next year's Great American Beer Festival will welcome U.S. territories

​The organizers of the Great American Beer Festival will make two changes for next year's big show, which will mark the thirtieth anniversary of world's largest commercial beer extravaganza. For starters, GABF -- which drew 49,000 attendees and 3,523 different beers -- will return to a later ... More >>

If Coors won big at the Great American Beer Festival, who lost out?

​Four of Colorado's biggest and best-known craft brewers, Avery, Breckenridge, Odell and Oskar Blues, were shut out of last month's Great American Beer Festival awards ceremony, while several other major brewers in the state barely made the cut. In fact, of the 41 medals awarded to Colorado b ... More >>

Great American Beer Festival: 25 things I learned in 2010

​1) No matter how prepared you are for GABF, it is still overwhelming. 2) San Diego County makes more amazing beers than some entire regions of the country. 3) Maui Brewing's CoConut Porter was one of the most heavenly beers I have ever tried. Even better, sources say they'll begin distribut ... More >>

Great American Beer Festival brew is ready and waiting to be judged -- in a Bud warehouse

This is what we imagine the warehouse looks like.​A refrigerated Budweiser warehouse isn't normally the kind of thing that would make a hop-headed craft beer geek salivate, but for the next couple of weeks, the facility at 62nd Avenue and Franklin Street in Denver is every beer geeks dream. I ... More >>

The Great American Beer Festival: Five new things in 2010

​There is nothing like the Great American Beer Festival anywhere on earth. Featuring 2,000 beers from more than 450 breweries, it is the largest craft beer fest in the world, and a trip to Denver is on the life lists of every beer lover in the United States. But it can also be a bit of a frat ... More >>

Do you have your Great American Beer Festival tix yet?

​If you haven't already bought tickets to the Great American Beer Festival - which will make Denver the center of the beer universe September 16-18 - there is still time. But not much. Tickets went on sale Monday - at $55 a pop - and the Boulder-based Brewers Association, which puts on the f ... More >>

Mayor Hickenlooper's cruisin' for brews

​Is Mayor John Hickenlooper's tour around Colorado as he campaigns for governor really just an excuse for the former brewer to try out local beers? Campaign spokesman George Merritt denies it: "We certainly try to end up in local restaurants when we travel, and several times it has been a bre ... More >>

A Reason for Cheer

Foam on the Range

Craft breweries are on a roll

​With the Great American Beer Festival (September 24-26) and the first ever Denver Beer Fest (September 18-27) both around the corner, the craft beer industry's major trade group has released some mid-year statistics on what's been brewing nationwide. The Brewers Association reports that craf ... More >>

An American Revolution

Craft Beer Week celebrates beer independence.

Beer today, gone tomorrow

At 6 p.m. tonight, April 16, "Beer Wars Live," a live simulcast, will present the founders of Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, New Century Brewing Company and Stone Brewing Company, as well as Charlie Papazian, the president of the Boulder-based Brewers Association, in a discussion led by Ben Stein; the ... More >>

The reason for the season: beer