It was a great time to be had by all. In addition to the Friday night and Saturday afternoon sessions, I also took in some new and familiar places in Denver and Fort Collins. Check out some of the photos I posted on our Facebook page (open to public viewing, even if you don’t have a Facebook account).
First off, I had another fantastic tour at New Belgium on Thursday morning. I met up with the folks from the South Omaha Brewers (SOBs) and we were treated to their reception lounge and a brewer-level tour. Great beer and food in the lounge and a fantastic tour with the head of brewing operations.
After New Belgium, our group heading to Choice City for some Pliny the Elder and lunch. If you haven’t visited this place, you need to. Amazing deli food and about 25 taps of top-shelf beer.
My last place before heading back to Denver was The Mayor of Old Town. This tap house just opened and has 100 beers on tap. Each beer is severed with proper glassware, so none of those cheap pint-sized tumblers. I had a Hofbräu Märzen in a beautifully etched glass from the brewery itself.
Once back in Denver I went to dinner with my buddy at Hops and Pie. As the name suggests, pizza and beer was in effect. Great pizza and a really good selection of craft beer.
On Friday I went to the Cheeky Monk for lunch to check out their Stone tapping party. They had somewhere in the neighborhood of nine rare, Stone beers on tap. This place also has amazing food and beer specials. During lunch, beers on tap are half off and the lunch menu is very reasonable too.
Friday night was the first GABF session I attended on the trip. We arrived 20 minutes after the beginning to allow for the line to clear, but it hadn’t yet. However, it moved very quickly and we were inside in about 5 minutes. Once inside we decided to avoid the long lines and hit the lesser-known breweries from around the country. A diamond-in-the-rough, which also turned out to be my favorites, was the Pro-Am table. They featured homebrewers from around the country, who were awarded with brewing their winning recipes at a sponsoring brewery. You could spend a good hour here and there’s never a line.
On Saturday I went to the afternoon GABF session for American Homebrewers Association (AHA) members. This was a great session. The crowd was more mature and relaxed, which added to the overall experience. Again, I did my best to hit the smaller and lesser-known breweries, which proved to be a good strategy as I found some new favorites. I also found myself at the Pro-Am table again, as they had different beers than the day before.
Also during the Saturday afternoon session, was the awards ceremony. Nebraska Brewing Company was awarded a bronze for their EOS Hefeweizen in the South German-Style Hefeweizen category, and a gold for Melange a Trois in the Wood and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer category. Congratulations guys and keep up the good work!
I had a great time and look forward to possibly doing it again next year. Colorado is a ‘mecca’ for craft beer lovers. But, not to worry fellow Nebraskans. As I have heard, on more than one occasion, the Omaha beer scene is similar to what Denver was like 10-15 years ago. If that’s true, we are in store for a wonderful craft beer evolution. We just have to be persistent with requiring tap houses, bars, restaurants, and other establishments to carry something other than the norm. Then, before you know it, this will have a trickle-down effect…more craft beer in small towns and rural areas, more educated beer drinkers willing to try something new and different, and more in-state breweries (which we are seeing some already).
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