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One of craft beer’s most exciting events kicks off in Denver tomorrow and as most veterans know, you’re not going to survive the Great American Beer Festival without some strategy…And that’s where we come in.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records there is no other place on earth where a beer fans can find more beers to sample than at the GABF. And with more than 3,500 different beers from over 800 of the nation’s finest breweries available one needs to be both prepared and strategic if you want to navigate this beast of an event.
And here’s some GABF survival essentials
Eat Breakfast
Hey we get it, you came to drink, and drinking starts early at the GABF. But don’t ever enter the Convention Hall without having consumed a large breakfast (and the greasier the better).
Once you start drinking you won’t be thinking food till it’s already too late. And once it’s too late you’ve blown it.
Drink Water
Even though this is so obvious, an event of this scale startles first-timers and encourages rookie mistakes…
Water or Serenata Notturna from Crooked Stave? You choose. Agua or Heady Topper?
See what we mean?
Taste Don’t Drink
And if you don’t love what you’re drinking it dump it out immediately… (that’s what those buckets are for).
Using this disciplined strategy you’ll be able to explore more new beers and breweries without staggering around like a frat boy.
And you’ll have the energy to negotiate Day 2 like a player, hangover-free.
Plan (or Don’t)
There are two schools of thought when it comes to navigating a drinking session successfully and because we’re American Craft Beer, we come down solidly on both sides.
Some argue strongly for studying the floor plan intensely the night before you hit your first session (as if you’re not already out on the town drinking your way across Denver’s many boutiques taprooms).
Having a map on hand is always useful (assuming you can hang on to it) and downloading GABF app (Apple or Android) is pretty essential (again assuming you don’t get so buzzed that your phone gets misplaced. This is the GABF these kinds of buzzkills do and will happen!
Others take a more Zen approach to the massive beer hall and go wherever their whim takes them…After all, most of these breweries are gonna be fantastic and every one of them will be serving their best beers.
If you opt for a more casual and intuitive approach and decide to throw any kind of game plan out the window, we still have some suggestions…
Avoid the largest crowds by working the outsides of the hall. For some unknown reason these outskirts are the last to get crowded and will allow you the opportunity to actually hang with the brewers in a more comfortable and less frenzied space.
And no matter your approach, plan to arrive at any drinking session early…Why wait in line, only to wait in additional beer lines later?
All Photo credits: ‘Photo © Brewers Association’
