Great Beers Awarded Great Honors at the 2016 Great American Beer Festival® - via GABF

286 Medals Awarded to 254 Brewers

Boulder, CO • October 8, 2016—In its 30th year, the 2016 Great American Beer Festival (GABF) competition awarded 286 medals to some of the best commercial breweries in the United States, plus three GABF Pro-Am medals to teams of amateur homebrewers paired with professionals. Presented by the Brewers Association, GABF is the largest commercial beer competition in the world and a symbol of brewing excellence.

Read Complete Press Release.

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Great Beers, Great Honors - via GABF

In its 30th year, the 2016 Great American Beer Festival competition awarded 286 medals to some of the best commercial breweries in the United States, plus three GABF Pro-Am medals to teams of amateur homebrewers paired with professionals. Presented by the Brewers Association, GABF is the largest commercial beer competition in the world and a symbol of brewing excellence.

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2016 Award Winners - via GABF

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NEW: Heavy Medal Booth! - via GABF

Want to turn your #GABF experience all the way up to 11?

Of course you do.

Then be sure to check out the ALL NEW Heavy Medal booth!

We’ll be pouring beers from 2015 GABF-medal-winning breweries.

These beers promise to rock your taste buds!

Find it in Hall B near Section Y.

Check out the list of Heavy Medal booth breweries.

ROCK ON!

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Meet Your Heroes at ‘Meet the Brewer’ - via GABF

Now in its second year, the Meet the Brewer hall gives GABF attendees the chance to start one-on-one conversations with the pioneering men and women of America’s craft brewing renaissance.

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GABF Pro-Am: A Taste of Greatness - via GABF

The GABF Pro-Am competition, now in its 10th year, brings commercial breweries together with homebrewers to vie for top honors. This year, 91 entries from 26 states will battle for a place on the podium. The best part? You’ll get sample these top contenders!

Seasoned GABF goers know that some of the most unique beers in the entire festival are served at the Pro-Am booth—so be sure to stop by! (The booth is near Meet the Brewer.)

How the Competition Works

Brewers Association member breweries are eligible to submit one entry into the GABF Pro-Am competition. Entries must be based on a homebrew recipe from American Homebrewers Association (AHA) members that have won an award in an AHA/BJCP Sanctioned Competition*. Pro-Am competition judges come from the same professional panel of world-class judges that evaluate all the beers at the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) competition.

Learn more.

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Download My GABF and Get Ready! - via GABF

With nearly 800 breweries, several thousand beers and hundreds of thousands of square feet of hall space at GABF, it can be a little tricky to find what you’re looking for, or even decide where to begin.

Enter the free My GABF app for Apple or Android devices!

Discover new breweries, find your favs beers, track down brewers, explore the brew tours and have fun with the selfie frames!

This magical, awesome and free app—which is sponsored by another magical, awesome and free app called Brew Guru™, which btw you should also get—will help you do GABF like a total PRO.

Already have the app? NICE! Just make sure it’s up to date before you arrive!

  

Here’s why you gotta get the free My GABF app:

• Beer Tours let you sample beers by style and first time breweries at the festival
• Take a GABF selfie with our unique photo frames and save or share via social media
• My Beers keeps track of all the beers you rated or tasted at the festival
• My Brewery creates a list of your favorite breweries by section to help you plan your festival beer tour
• Connect with Facebook and save all your notes and favorites to the cloud
• Quick brewery booth locator
• Navigate the festival map with visual indicators that show breweries from My Breweries tab.
• Enjoy quick access to festival maps, onsite GABF events, exhibitors list and more in the Extra Info tab.

The big reveal—the festival beer list!

The festival beers will be poured into the app prior to Thursday, week of the festival. Protip: watch for the push notification. Medal-winning beers at the festival will be indicated on the app, with a simple refresh of the data shortly after the awards ceremony is completed on Saturday. You will also receive a push notification. Simply open the app and click the red “update” banner at the top of your screen to download the beers. Protip: do this before you show up to the festival.

Already have the app from last year?

Be sure to export your tasting notes before you update your app to the latest version!

Not sure where to begin?

Take one of 21 different festival tours based on the flavors and beer styles that you love. Beer tours include:

• Sour Puss
• The Im-PALE-er
• Session-Me Street
• Dark Vader
• Unicorn Beers
• Surprise Me

Tips for successful tasting and tapping:

• Download the app (iTunes or Google Play) before you get to the festival, ideally using a strong WiFi connection.
• The beers will be released the week of the festival. Open the app to check for updates. Do this before you leave for the festival–a WiFi connection is ideal.
• Minimum system requirements: iOS 9 or later; Android 4.0.3 or later.

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Who’ll Get a Golden Ticket? - via GABF

A bit of good luck for you…should you get the Golden Ticket!

This year, we’re offering six lucky attendees (and their friends) the chance to enter the hall early and go a-tasting with your beer heroes.

Check out the list of Willy Wonkas handing out Golden Tickets:

Thursday

• Matt Brynildson – Firestone Walker Brewing Company
• Rob Tod – Allagash Brewing Company

Friday

• Vinnie Cilurzo – Russian River Brewing Company
• Tomme Arthur – The Lost Abbey / Port Brewing Company

Saturday

• Sam Calagione – Dogfish Head Craft Brewery
• Garrett Oliver – The Brooklyn Brewery

These brewers will randomly select one person from the entrance line and personally escort them through the hall before the event opens to the public!

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Economic Impact Study - via GABF

Hi everyone,

It’s the 35th anniversary of the Great American Beer Festival, y’all! Can you believe it? There are just 52 days until opening night of the Great American Beer Festival and all of us at the Brewers Association can’t wait to see you in Denver.

The first GABF took place in 1982, and there were 24 breweries, 47 beers and 800 attendees. In 2016, we expect  800 breweries, 3,800+ beers and 60,000 attendees!

Speaking of numbers… this year, in partnership with Jeff Dense, Professor of Political Science and Craft Beer Studies at Eastern Oregon University, we will be conducting an on-site survey in order to estimate the economic impact of GABF. The survey asks you to identify the location of your brewery, number of brewery attendees to the event, and expenditure data in support of your brewery’s attendees for categories (Lodging, Food and Drink, etc.) used to estimate the economic impact of GABF.

Please plan to take approximately three minutes to complete the onsite survey. In recognition of your participation, the Brewers Association will hold a drawing for one brewery to receive five complimentary entries to the 2017 Great American Beer Festival!  All responses are confidential, and only cumulative data will be reported. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Professor Dense at jdense@eou.edu.

A few reminders:

• GABF competition entries are due to CR Goodman next week between August 22 – 26.
• Have you made you hotel reservation? Here’s a link to hotels offering discounted rates for GABF http://ift.tt/2aSk7hZ
• We have a will be a new games area in the hall this year with all sorts fun happening. Be sure to check it out!

Look for more updates here in the coming weeks…

Cheers!

#TGIGABF

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2016 GABF Is Sold Out! - via GABF

Aaand we’re officially out of tickets!

This year’s public ticket sale wrapped in just over an hour.

Keep checking back here for more festival news, including brewery and beer lists. If you’re not already on our mailing list, get subscribed here.

And you have the free My GABF app, right? It still has 2015 information, but it will update soon. Get it now and be ready, we’ll send a push notification when the 2016 info’s been added. Get it: App Store or Google Play.

We can’t wait to see you all in October!

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Member Pre-sale Today @ 10:00 AM Mountain! - via GABF

[Jeb to add redirect to TM page when link is available]

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What’s New in 2016? - via GABF

It’s the 35th anniversary of the Great American Beer Festival, y’all!

The first GABF took place in 1982, and there were 24 breweries, 47 beers and 800 attendees. In 2016, we expect more than 800 breweries, 3,800+ beers and 60,000 attendees! (It’s no wonder GABF was voted best festival in the country.)

Here’s what’s new for 2016:

“I’ve got a Golden Ticket!”

During each evening session, two rock-star craft brewers will pluck a lucky attendee + their friends from the queue in Hall A for a special, private tasting tour of GABF—30 minutes before the doors open to the public. Each brewer will use their own criteria—the chosen posse might be rocking their GABF pride, some brewery apparel, or costumes that can’t be beat. We think attendees will be excited about this opportunity to talk and to taste with some of the best known and loved names in craft brewing, all before the festival official opens. Confirmed brewers include Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River, Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head, Matt Brynildson of Firestone Walker, Garrett Oliver of Brooklyn Brewery and Tomme Arthur of The Lost Abbey and Port Brewing.

Let There Be Games

Once the line moves in from Hall A, that area will be opened up and filled with games in celebration of the 25th anniversary of GABF. Expect a brewpub courtyard feel, with free games like cornhole and KanJam– and perhaps some ‘80s tunes, hearkening back to the first festival. (Olivia Newton-John, anyone?)

Meet the Brewer – Back Again!

New last year, the Great American Beer Festival dedicated roughly 30,000 square feet of hall space to a section called Meet the Brewer. Around 100 breweries filled this area, where each brewery’s booth was staffed entirely, exclusively, by their employees. Meet the brewer is back in 2016 with more participating breweries, totaling 120 in 2016.

Meet the Brewer is a great opportunity for passionate beer fans to start conversations with brewers, learn more about their beers and talk shop. The section occupies the heart of Hall B, which was a new addition to the festival in 2015.

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Media Advisory: 2016 Great American Beer Festival® Celebrates 35 Years with the Largest Showcase of American Breweries. Ever. - via GABF

What: For the 35^th year in a row, beer lovers will gather in Colorado at the Great American Beer Festival (GABF), the premier beer festival and competition in the U.S. With 379,000 square feet in the tasting hall, an anticipated 60,000 attendees will have the opportunity to sample some 3,800 beers from more than 800 breweries..

When: Thursday, October 6: 5:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.; Friday, October 7: 5:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.; Saturday, October 8*: 12:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.; Saturday, October 8: 5:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m. *Brewers Association and American Homebrewers Association members-only session

Read Complete Press Release.

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Ticket Sale: August 2-3 (Get Ready!) - via GABF

Fellow beer lovers!

The 35th annual¹ Great American Beer Festival will return to Denver this October 6-8.

Tickets will go on sale for members of the Brewers Association (BA) and American Homebrewers Association (AHA) on August 2. The public sale will open August 3. Here’s that same information repeated in bullets:

• Member pre-sale: August 2 at 10:00 a.m. Mountain time
• Public sale: August 3 at 10:00 a.m. Mountain time

If you’re a BA or AHA member: You’ll receive a personal offer code to use when trying for pre-sale tickets. (Look for this email in late July.)

If you’re not yet a BA or AHA member: You can join the AHA or BA by July 24, 11:59 p.m. PDT to access the pre-sale.

If you’re going to wait until the public on-sale: Tickets typically go pretty fast. Pro tip: Have your Ticketmaster account set up before the sale starts.

Are you on our mailing list? Sign up here.

See you in October!

 

---

¹ Yep, you read that right: GABF is 35 years young!

What explains the longevity of this festival? Simple: We all love exploring the wondrous diversity of American beer, and there’s no better place to taste the beer rainbow than at the Great American Beer Festival, where hundreds of breweries from around the country pour thousands of varieties of beer.

How does GABF retain its youthful glow, you ask?

We’ll never tell.

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2015 Photos - via GABF

Serious amounts of fun. The 2015 Great American Beer Festival was bigger, better and beerier than ever. These photos are all the evidence you need.

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242 Breweries Take Home Medals at 2015 Great American Beer Festival® - via GABF

275 Professional Medals Awarded, 423 First-Time Participants Compete

Boulder, CO • September 26, 2015—The 2015 Great American Beer Festival (GABF) competition awarded 275 medals to some of the best commercial breweries in the United States, plus three GABF Pro-Am medals to teams of amateur brewers paired with professional brewers.

Read the complete press release.

The post 242 Breweries Take Home Medals at 2015 Great American Beer Festival^® appeared first on Great American Beer Festival.

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242 Breweries Take Home Medals - via GABF

The 2015 Great American Beer Festival (GABF) competition awarded 275 medals to some of the best commercial breweries in the United States, plus three GABF Pro-Am medals to teams of amateur brewers paired with professional brewers.

The post 242 Breweries Take Home Medals appeared first on Great American Beer Festival.

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2015 Award Winners - via GABF

Presented by the Brewers Association, GABF is the largest commercial beer competition in the world and a symbol of brewing excellence. In its 29th year, the 2015 competition surpassed all previous participation records, exceeding last year’s record-setting competition.

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Costume Contest Tonight! - via GABF

The craft beer community has no shortage of style and creativity, not to mention healthy amounts of weird and whimsical, and for the 13th year in a row GABF will recognize those breweries and attendees who bring an exceptional degree of flair to the festival floor.

Got Flair? Head to the Karaoke Stage at 7:30 on Friday!

An elite corps of flair scouts will be on the floor issuing nominations during the Thursday and Friday sessions. On Friday at 7:30 pm at the karaoke stage, GABF representatives will present Festival Flair Awards for Best Decorated Booth and Best Attendee Costume. So don’t leave your flair at home!

The Stakes Are High

In addition to a year of bragging rights, brewery winners will get free festival entry to GABF 2016, and the attendee costume winner will get a pair of tickets to GABF 2016 session of their choosing!

What’s ‘Flair’ Anyway?

Flair is hard to define but easy to spot. It encompasses the stylish, the odd, the funny, the unlikely and the original. There’s no magic formula for flair—it’s anything that adds energy to the hall. Let your creative juices flow and we’ll see you in Denver!

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Live from Denver! - via GABF

If you’re looking to keep up with the happenings at GABF from the comfort of your home, The Brewing Network has you covered.

The Saturday Awards Ceremony will be broadcast via Livestream.com starting at 10:00 am (Mountain), plus The Brewing Network be recording all festival long from the Brewers Studio Pavilion for you to watch after the event.

Want to watch the awards on the go? Download the Livestream app and search for “thebrewingnetwork”.

Can’t wait to get your beer fix? The Brewing Network’s YouTube channel has lots of archived videos from the GABFs of yesteryear and much more!

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