home - beer news- Raise Your Glass to Summer Beer Events
by Mike Laur
6/18/10
It’s almost summer, and we all know what that means. Summertime, which
means summer beer and the height of the beer festival season. No matter
where you travel in Colorado, watch out when you cross the street or your
may stumble upon a beer event in full bloom.
Although not technically a summer event - as it’s held annually over the
Memorial Day weekend -
the Beaver Creek Blues, Brews and BBQ Festival
serves as a great warmup. This year 35 Colorado brewers poured samples for over
700 people at what may be the most civilized, comfortable and pleasant
event of the season. Held indoors, with pleasant lighting, carpeting,
climate control and great beer, the Park Hyatt Resort’s Microbrew Beer
Tasting and Seminar sets the mark very high for beer events. Coupled with
the live blues music and BBQ from across the US, you’ll never be
disappointed here.
Unless, of course, you missed it. So, we present for you a brief roundup
of some of our Favorite Summer Colorado Beer Events so that you’ll know
about them ahead of time, and can plan accordingly. Now, this is not
exhaustive - for the Big List check out our Events Page.
And be sure to inquire at your local brewer about their own events, as
they roll out new summer beers and keep the doors open late to let in all
the summertime cheer.
But we can guarantee that summertime will be bettertime if you build any
of these events into your schedule.
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Fresh after the solstice, suitably odd and Colorado-centric is Burning
Can, put on by Oskar Blues brewing. Their legendary Dale’s Pale Ale turned
the craft beer world on its head by selling great craft beer in cans
instead of bottles.
Burning Can
is also the All-Colorado Can Beer Festival, where a dozen brewers will
pour their best summer beers - from a freakin’ can! The June 26 event will
run from 1pm to 4pm in Lyon’s Sandstone Park - right across the street
from the newly-expanded Oskar Blues - and feature culinary delights like
beer can chicken. Music provided by Bonepony and Interstate Stash Express
should keep toes a-tappin, and don’t forget - Cans are Good. And you’ll be
doing good, too, as the money you spend will benefit the Colorado Brewer’s
Guild.
The Colorado Brewer’s Guild sponsors another great event on July 10 in
Salida: the Colorado Brewer’s Rendezvous. It’s a chance to meet the
brewers who actually know about their beer, and sample dozens of Colorado
beer. Riverside Park makes a relaxing backdrop for the 1pm-5pm event. You
can tap into more info at www.salidachamber.org or at www.coloradobeer.org
If you’ve got a bike (or something even remotely bike-like) you may want
to wheel into Ft. Collins on July 18 for the Urban Assault Ride, which
promises a compelling mix of beer, bikes and big wheels that starts and
ends at New Belgium Brewing Company. While not strictly a beer festival,
this event certainly earns our respect for its mission (having fun) and
its method (a free-form race of pedal-pushing teams vying to ride through
a series of checkpoints in the least amount of time, with lots of cold,
tasty beer at the finish line). Sign up before the event
here.
If you’re still thirsty after all that bike riding, the fifth annual
Summer Brew Fest at Mile High Station promises - you guessed it - more
beer. From 6pm to 10pm, on July 23, you’ll get a crack at over 40 beers,
mostly from Colorado, and get to feel nice about it all, knowing your
consumption is benefitting the Swallow Hill Music Association. The group
also runs the Winter Brew Fest as well, and you’ll find out more by
clicking here.
No Ales Allowed.
The Manitou Craft Lager Festival means what it says: No Ales Allowed. Now
in its ninth year, this year’s two-day event (August 14th and 15th)
promises to bring together brewers from across the US who will pour lagers
and only lagers to about 1500 happy festivarians. The team-brewed Warning
Sign Eisbock
will be tapped for all to enjoy, and Live
music, BBQ and over thirty brewers fill Manitou Spring’s Memorial Park.
August weather often includes a late afternoon thundershower, so keep a
rain poncho handy. You’ll be drinking to a good cause (open space and
parks in Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs) and can sip smug in the
knowledge that this is the first all-solar-powered beer festival in the
country.
The Colorado State Fair gets a bad rap
from a lot of folks, who often wonder why it’s held every year in Pueblo.
Well, because that’s where the Fairgrounds are, and you can’t have a Fair
without a Fairgrounds. It really is a remarkable event, conducted in
dozens of separate venues over 11 days (this year from August 27 to
September 6). Where else are you going to find baby bunnies, Charlie
Pride, roller derby, Colorado craft beer and corn dogs in one place? And
the 7th annual Foamfest at the Colorado State Fair is a real gem of a beer
event. From 6pm to 10pm, August 28, you’ll be able to sample dozens of
beers and judge for yourself if the State Fair awardees in the Craft
Brewer and Homebrewer competitions meet your own exacting standards. If
you’re going to enter the competition, you have until August 14 to get
your beers “in”. More info is
here.
Of course, if its beer competition you’re after, you’ll be attending the
Great American Beer Festival. GABF will be a great toast to the end of
summer, as this year’s event is being held a little bit earlier than
usual: September 16-18 at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. Last
year, 49,000 attendees had a chance to sample 2104 beers from 457 US
brewers at GABF. It still holds the Guiness World Record for “most beers
tapped in one location”, and tickets go on sale early (June 22) and
usually sell out before the event starts. The “Super Bowl of Beer” is big,
loud, roudy and the only place in the world where you’ll find such a huge
variety of great beer. Our advice is to spring for a little more fun and
go to the “connoisseurs tasting” on Saturday afternoon. That’s when they
give out the awards, and you’ll tend to find more brewers and fewer drunks
in attendance. Check out the GABF
website for more details, and we’ll
see you there.
Like we said, this is not the Be-All/End-All list of summer beer events.
And you certainly don’t need to go to a event to enjoy great Colorado
summer beer. All you really need is a little curiosity, a few bucks, and a
little encouragement from your local brewer or liquor store owner to try
out the cool, refreshing goodness found in summertime brews.
