Ignite Denver shook the rooftops last night and drained the kegs

There were dick jokes, poop jokes, discussions of anal sex, drinking games and fat guys. There was also fond (and not so fond) childhood memories, evangelical preaching and one thrown shoe hitting a guy in the head. A frat party? A Broadway street corner? No, it was Ignite Denver -- and one dedicated entirely to beer to celebrate the Great American Beer Festival, which starts today.

Beer lovers from Denver, as well as a big out-of-state contingent who were here for the fest showed up to watch fifteen courageous people present five minute slide shows (the slides automatically rotate every fifteen seconds) on any beery topic of their choice.

The speakers included plenty of locals, as well as a handful of beer celebrities like blogger Ashley "The Beer Wench" Routson and Stone Brewing's Greg Koch, and the topics covered everything from how beer can make you a better mommy to the history of Prohibition (in drinking game format). Suck it Prohibition!

The event was co-hosted by Ignite and the drinking blog Denver Off the Wagon, which brought in plenty of suds from local breweries to fuel the audience's fire. And there was plenty of fire, from cheering and heckling to that shoe (which was reportedly floppy enough not to leave any permanent damage to its victim).

Who's was the best? Only time -- and bootleg YouTube videos -- will tell. A for my own presentation, which covered the dangers of drinking high-alcohol beers, I can't remember it. After all, I was drinking a lot of high-alcohol beers.