By the time GABF rolls around October 10-12, there will be dozens -- if not hundreds -- of other beer tappings, dinners, tours, pairings, classes, mini-festivals and events where you can try new or rare beers and meet brewers and fellow beer lovers. Some of them will be wrapped up into Visit Denver's all-encompassing Denver Beer FEst.
Here are two that we know about so far, but stay tuned to Cafe Society, because we'll have more info on other events in the weeks leading up to the mayhem.
See also: - Great American Beer Festival tickets: gone in a flash - Brewers Association apologizes for continuing GABF ticketing snafus - Great American Beer Festival tickets go on sale today and tomorrow
Wednesday, October 9
Sample some "freakishly exotic rare beer from your favorite Colorado breweries" at the Rackhouse Pub's 2013 Colorado Rare Beer Tasting, an event it has been holding since 2011. Last year's tasting featuring rare beers from more than twenty breweries and this one should be the same (the details are TBA). Tickets, $35, entitle you to unlimited samples, a buffet and a chance to win prizes. The tasting runs from 6 to 9 p.m.
Thursday, October 10
Euclid Hall and Avery Brewing have hosted one of the hottest events of GABF week for the past two years, and they're bringing back the Midnight Breakfast at Euclid Hall for a third go-round this year -- but with a slight twist. The epic nine-course, late-night beer breakfast/pairing will be a sit-down event so that attendees don't have to fight one another for food and beer. Chef Jorel Piece is planning a menu that includes Hog Head Benedict, a Bloody Joe cocktail, Bad Apple, Fresh Fruit Ambrosia, Smoked Loch Duart gravlax, Caraway Bagel Holes, Lyonnaise potatoes, Braised Eggs and Brown Butter Shortbread, while Avery will be bringing some of its rarest beers, including Ross's's' Melange, Momi Hiwa, Tweak and the unreleased Thensaurum, a sour ale aged in rum barrels. Doors open at 10:45, following the end of the Thursday night GABF session, and the breakfast gets underway at 11. Tickets are $100 per person (tax and gratuity included) and are available at Brown Paper Tickets.
Friday, October 11
Back in March, Durango's Ska Brewing headed to Washington, D.C. to put together a collaboration beer with DC Brau and DC Ska band, The Pietasters. This month, DC Brau will travel to Durango to brew a second collaborative effort that will be tapped on October 11 during a party and concert with the Pietasters at the Marquis Theater in Denver. Taster's Choice is a doppelbock made with coffee from a Durango roaster. Both Ska and DC Brau beers will be pouring from multiple taps, and the beer will be available in cans for a short time only in Colorado.
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