For beer lovers, this is the greatest week of the year. Not only is the Great American Beer Festival in town, from Oct. 9-11 at the Colorado Convention Center, but breweries, bars and taprooms are also pulling out the stops, showcasing rare and unusual brews at taprooms all over metro Denver. While there are dozens of events, here are a few of our favorites.
Wednesday. Full Frame Brewing, 1139 20th St., in Denver, hosts its first-ever Pale Ale Festival with a Colorado-centric lineup of hoppy beers. Breweries in attendance will include Our Mutual Friend Brewing, Weldwerks Brewing, Milieu Fermentation and Westbound and Down. The party will go on all day long. The Los Dos Potrillos food truck will be on hand.
Wednesday. The 4th annual Krispy King Lager Competition and Festival kicks off at 2 p.m. at Barrels and Bottles Brewery, 1055 Orchard St., in Golden. “All beers are submitted in kegs and judged from those same kegs. We then tap those same kegs and serve them to the customers. You are drinking the exact same beer that the judges had,” the brewery said. There will be food, live music and vendors on site, along with beers from 45 breweries around the country.
Wednesday. Kick off GABF week with a fantastic lineup of beers, many of them unusual or rarely seen in Colorado, at Hops & Pie Artisan Pizzeria, 3920 Tennyson St., Denver, Breweries include: Alvarado Street, Austin Beer Garden Brewing, Brujos, Cellarmaker, Foam Brewers, Fort George, Gold Dot Beer, Grains of Wrath, Highland Park, Live Oak, Monkish, North Park, Other Half, Perennial, pFriem, RIIP Brewing, Sante Adairius, Side Project, Wayfinder and more. Hops & Pie will have equally awesome lineups from different breweries all week long.
Wednesday. The Colorado Brewers Guild and Oskar Blues Grill & Brew, which is owned by the brewery’s original founder rather than the Monster energy drink company, bring back their State of Craft Beer Showcase from 6 to 10 p.m. The curated draft list includes “over 30 brewers’ favorite beers” from across Colorado, organizers said. Oskar Blues Grill & Brew is at 1624 Market St.
Thursday. Cannonball Creek Brewing, at 393 N. Washington Ave., in Golden, hosts the 2nd Annual Punk Lager Fest, featuring lagers from breweries across the country, including Riip, Grains of Wrath, Shred, Wayfinder, ABGB, Meanwhile, Blind Tiger, La Cumbre, Craft Coast, Ism, Ratio, Joyride, Westbound & Down, Bierstadt, Comrade and Call to Arms. You can get there for free by taking the Lagerwagon from Ratio’s location in River North (see the schedule at eventbrite.com). Cannonball opens at 3 p.m. and there will be live music starting at 6 p.m. Doublewide will be in the house grilling up smashburgers.
Thursday. The taps are always flowing at Finn’s Manor, 2927 Larimer St., where there will be new beers on every night. Tonight’s Banger Sesh, running from 5 p.m. to midnight, features Trillum, Bow & Arrow, Outer Range, Our Mutual Friend, Cohesion, Tripping Animals, Schilling, Other Half and more.
Thursday. Ephemeral Rotating Taproom, 2301 E. 28th Ave., in Denver, which focuses on a new brewery or two every month, will feature Brooklyn’s standout hazy IPA specialist Other Half Brewing and Portland, Oregon’s Grand Fir Brewing with a tap takeover starting on Thursday. Ephemeral will also have other events and tappings this week.
Friday. Cerebral Brewing will stock West Coast-style IPAs at its new Highland Square location, 3257 Lowell St., in Denver, and East Coast-style IPAs at its original spot at 1477 Monroe St. The East vs. West showdown will also include guest taps all day long. The first location to kick all their kegs (or whoever kicks the most kegs) “wins” the showdown.
Saturday. Ratio Beerworks presents the 9th Annual GABF Karaoke Party, which runs from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. at 2920 Larimer St. in Denver. This industry-focused event closes out GABF week with good tunes and bad pitch. Get a free beer if you sign up.
Saturday. Larimer Square and Monster Beverage, the energy drink company that owns Oskar Blues Brewing, host their second annual Beer Block party from 2 to 7 p.m. on Larimer Street between 14th and 15th streets. There will be live music from three bands and beverages from Oskar Blues and several other Monster subsidiaries, including Florida’s Cigar City Brewing, Texas’s Deep Ellum Brewing and more. The Beer Block is free to enter larimersquare.com/events/beer-block
Sunday. Wrap everything up with a GABF Hangover Party at River North Brewery, 3400 Blake St., starting at noon. There will be breakfast tacos from Moya’s food truck as well as “cold pours to cure that hangover in style,” the brewery said.