The Great American Beer Festival is upon us. It comes like a storm engulfing everything around the city of Denver. For over a week, sports bars turn into beer bars with extravagant tap takeovers, normally wine-centric fine dining establishments host carefully curated beer-paired 5 course meals, and the words prost, cheers, and OHHHHHH (don’t drop your glass) become part of the every day lexicon.

To the casual beer fan this can seem a bit overwhelming but we’re here to offer a few pointers to not look like a complete novice.  And who knows… perhaps if you follow our Beginner’s Guide to the Great American Beer Festival, by the end of next weekend, your friends will consider you the group’s Cicerone.

Learn from the pros, the brewers themselves!

 

Have a plan- Whether you’re attending the festival or not, be sure to lay out your plan for the week. Refer to our events guide for help.  And if you’re attending the festival map out your route of must hit breweries or beers.

Prepare to throw your plan out- Plans are great, but once you’re actually at the festival, all hell breaks loose. With over 700 Breweries attending, it’ll get overwhelming. Figure out which ones you definitely want to try and get to those first, then just go with the flow.

Don’t count on cell service- With thousands of people in the Colorado Convention Center at the same time, it become damn near impossible to get a call let alone a text through.  Plan with your friends to meet up at a specific brewery at 3 different times throughout the night so that your group can retrieve any stragglers.  Stand by those times and locations, don’t deviate and you won’t lose any members of your party. Oh and if you can get that Instagram through, be sure to use #porchdrinkingco and you may find your Beerstagram on the site.

Update your GABF App before the event– Piggybacking off the whole lack of cell service thing, update your GABF app before you attend the fest. That way you’ll have beer lists and locations without needing to connect to wifi.

Build a base- This festival is not fiddling around. Build a base, whether it’s a burrito, a tasty slice of craft-pizza from Hops & Pie, or Indian food… scratch that, skip the Indian food.  Do not go on an empty stomach.

Get there early- There’s always a line that wraps around the entire Convention Center. So if there’s one day to duck out of work early, this is that day.  Getting to the front of the line can mean the difference between 30-45 minutes of prime drinking time. We recommend at least 4pm.

Food at GABF- You are allowed to bring food into the event, in the form of anything you can wear around your neck.  The pretzel necklaces are a classic, but feel free to get creative.  We’ve seen the likes of slim jim packs that have been hole punched, Pringles cans and even whole sandwiches.  We’ll be looking for this year’s most creative cuisine-wear. Just don’t be that guy with oil stains on your clothes from your food.

Don’t Pre-Game- You’re not in college anymore, this isn’t a frat party.  There is absolutely no need or reason why anyone should pre-game.  This event is 4 straight hours of drinking high alcohol beers. Pre-game and you might end up looking like this guy… and no one likes that, right Bears fans?

Don’t skip the State based brewers guild section, Pro-Am, Brewpub or Cheese Pavillions– There are some phenomenal beers being poured at the aforementioned sections of the fest, you won’t want to miss out.

DO.NOT.DROP.YOUR.GLASS. – If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to be shamed by hundreds of people drop your tasting glass.  You’ll instantly have BOOOOO raining down on you from the beer heavens.

Talk to the Brewers – Due to Garrett Oliver’s (Brooklyn Brewing) essay calling for brewers to man their booths, we expect many of them to be milling about on the festival floor.  Use this opportunity to chat them up and find out more about what went into making your beer.

Meet up with PorchDrinking- If you’re attending the Friday night session of GABF meet us at 7:30 at the Renegade Booth located in the Mountain Region. We’ll be taking you around to a few of our favorites and as well as some great finds that we’ve discovered during the first night of the festival.