Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Tuesday Brewsday - The Great American Beer Festival

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The Great American Beer Festival (GABF) is held annually in Denver, Colorado. It began in 1982 by Charlie Papazian, a nuclear engineer, homebrewer, and current president of the Brewers Association who hosts the Great American Beer Festival.

This year's event was held September 24th through September 26th featuring 495 breweries with over 3,300 beers competing in 78 different style categories, however only 2,100 different beers were served in the hall. I know only two thousand different beers to choose from, so sad.


The GABF is the benchmark for American brewing. It is really one of the few ways that most regional brewers are to recieve critique of their beers from a national audience. Since most brewers only supply their brewpub or at best, local establishments, almost all of their beer is never sampled by a larger crowd.

Here is the entire event from set-up, all four sessions, and the tear down all within one minute. Check it out.



Here are are the top brewery awards handed out at this year's festival: (taken from the GABF website.)

2009 GABF Brewery of the Year Awards

Winners are determined based on the results of the competitive beer judging held at the Great American Beer Festival. Breweries are awarded points based on medals won, and these points are tabulated to arrive at the results. The following criteria used to rank breweries and break ties by awarding points. See Beer Competition for more information.

Small Brewpub and Small Brewpub Brewer of the Year
Sponsored by Briess Malt & Ingredients Co.
Chuckanut Brewery, Bellingham, WA
Will Kemper 


Large Brewpub and Large Brewpub Brewer of the Year

Sponsored by Brewers Supply Group
Pizza Port Carlsbad, Carlsbad, CA
Pizza Port Brew Guys 

Small Brewing Company and Small Brewing Company Brewer of the Year
Sponsored by Microstar Keg Management
Dry Dock Brewing Company, Aurora, CO
Dry Dock Brewing Team 

Mid-Size Brewing Company and Mid-Size Brewing Company Brewer of the Year
Sponsored by Crosby & Baker Ltd.
Flying Dog Brewery, Frederick, MD
Robert Malone 

Large Brewing Company and Large Brewing Company Brewer of the Year
Coors Brewing Company, Golden, CO
Dr. David Ryder


Other notable winners at this year's festival were:
 
Belgian-Style Witbier - Silver Medal
Belgian White - Big Dog Brewing Company, Las Vegas, NV

American-Style India Pale Ale - Bronze Medal
Blind Pig IPA - Russian River Brewing Company, Santa Rosa, CA

Belgian-Style Lambic or Sour Ale - Bronze Medal
Supplication - Russian River Brewing Company, Santa Rosa, CA

American-Style Stout
Stonefly Oatmeal Stout - Third Street Aleworks, Santa Rosa, CA

American-Style Lager or Premium Lager
Totally Naked - New Glarus Brewing Co., New Glarus, WI

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