Great American Beer Festival returns to Colorado this week

Oct. 3—One of the biggest parties in downtown Denver returns this week as the Great American Beer Festival starts Thursday at the Colorado Convention Center, marking the 40th anniversary from its 1982 debut.

But the week-long celebration of all things craft beer here actually kicked off Saturday with Denver Beer Week.

Visit Denver officials are tracking more than 100 beer-related events in metro Denver this week, as well as releasing its 2022-23 Denver Beer Trail map with 48 area breweries.

"GABF is unique because it attracts locals, regional attendees and a national audience as well which is exciting for our hotel and restaurants," Rachel Benedick, executive vice president of Sales & Services for Visit Denver, said via email. "It's a mainstay. It's a signature event that takes place annually which makes it very important to the entire hospitality community."

The economic impact to the area is estimated at $15 million, she said.

The festival, organized by the Brewers Association, will draw 40,000 attendees and takes more than 2,500 volunteers to run it, said Ann Obenchain, marketing and communications director for the Association. Three of the four sessions from Thursday through Saturday night were sold out as of late Friday — but a few tickets for opening night remained.

"It's like when you have a large party at your house, and you haven't done it since before COVID, and you're trying to remember where everything is," Obenchain said. "We're totally organized, but just shaking off a little dust not having done it for two years."

Beer lovers, many sporting pretzel necklaces and lederhosen, will sample from 500 breweries nationwide offering 2,000 beers. There's 41 new breweries this year. More than 230 judges have been sampling the 10,000 beers submitted for the competition. Winners will be announced Saturday morning on the greatamericanbeerfestival.com website.

While the breweries are usually grouped by geographic region, this year it's alphabetical. That means 10 Barrel Brewing Co. from Bend, Ore., is before the breweries that begin with "A" and The Post Brewery of Lafayette will be with the breweries that start with "T."

The festival and Beer Week activities put a national spotlight on the Mile High City for a week. Visit Denver officials said the area's craft brewing industry makes "Denver a top tourism destination with more than 100 breweries in the metro area." Statewide, the industry generates $3.1 billion in economic impact with 450 craft breweries employing more than 17,000 people.

The overall industry is doing well, with beer sales volume up 1% in 2021 and craft brew sales up 8 %, Obenchain said. The non-profit Association represents more than 5,600 U.S. breweries and more than 38,000 homebrewers.

"We had more than 9,000 breweries operating in 2020, so the closing rate (because of the pandemic) was low and most made it through," she said. "People are coming back out to the breweries to drink, instead of just at home, so it's exciting."

"Hundreds of millions of dollars in economic impact were lost due to cancellations, and GABF was one of those that the city certainly missed," Benedick said. "We're very excited to be welcoming them back in 2022."

"The Great American Beer Festival is an incredible asset to downtown Denver," said Kourtny Garrett, CEO of the Downtown Denver Partnership. "Seeing as how it's the 40th anniversary and it started downtown, it's really a signature event of our center city. It celebrates so much of what Denver is known for."

While some look to the festival as the biggest beer party imaginable, the Brewer's Association still considers it an educational event — the original intent of its founders.

"We realize everybody's coming to the festival with different expectations and different levels of beer knowledge and beer interest," Obenchain said. "Some people are coming as an evening out on a Friday night, or it could be a stop on their evening out. Others are coming to take notes and really learn more about beer.

"We want to make sure it's a good experience for everyone, and also to make sure it's a launchpad for that new beer lover to discover something and grow in their beer knowledge."

She reminded festival-goers it's a marathon, not a race, and to mix plenty of water and food in with the beer. Using public transportation or ride services for after-event transportation is smart, too.

"We're back and so excited," Oberchain said. "It's going to be great."