Great American Beer Festival

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The Great American Beer Festival (GABF) is a three-day annual event traditionally held at the end of September/beginning of October in Denver, Colorado (dubbed “the Napa Valley of beer” by many of the world’s beer experts). The GABF brings a record number of beer connoisseurs from around the world to sample more than 1,600 different American beers.

At its inception in 1982, the GABF was generally viewed as a festival for small craft brewers in the U.S., but it has since grown to include all American breweries - big and small. Witness to this inclusiveness is a GABF sponsor list that counts Coors, Anheuser-Busch, and Miller among its biggest patrons. The patrons' list closely matches the list of all-time GABF medal winners: Coors, Anheuser-Busch and Pabst. ^[1]

GABF visitors enjoy one-ounce beer samples from the fest’s breweries. These breweries are arranged on the festival floor by regions of the country, giving beer lovers a walking tour of the nation’s beer-blessed landscape. Many of the booths are staffed by the brewers themselves.

[edit] Stats

In 2005:
- 1,669 beers were on tap (215 more than 2004 and 400 more than in 2003). This was the largest array of beers ever at the GABF, and the Guinness World Record for most beers tapped at one location.
- 47 states were represented at the GABF (plus the District of Columbia). The only states not represented were Rhode Island, South Dakota and West Virginia.
- More than 380 U.S. breweries were serving beer.
  - Over 29,500 beer enthusiasts from around the world attended the GABF.
In 2004, 2,552 volunteers and 31,134 volunteer hours helped make the beer flow. Only the Rose Parade has more volunteers participating.