The Great American Beer Festival kicks off in Denver this weekend, albeit for just two days instead of three and outdoors instead of inside the convention center.

Yeah, it’s gonna be a bit weird. At least the weather is supposed to be good, right? (Apologies to anyone attending if that doesn’t hold up.)

In many ways, the downsizing of GABF is just the culmination of years of struggles for beer festivals across the country. It took the pandemic to finally knock down the granddaddy of ’em all, but after attendance declined at the convention center to the point of where the Brewers Association wasn’t making a profit anymore (or at least, not enough of one), something had to change.

We’re still more than a bit skeptical that this is going to work. Shortening it from three days and four sessions to two days and two sessions should be fine. Everything else, however, is certainly worth monitoring.

Now, none of the Crew can go and represent this year (one of our emeritus members will be there, but since she’s basically repping a brewery, we’re only asking for pics and no direct commentary to avoid any blowback), but if anyone out there that follows this old site does happen to go, we would love to hear your thoughts during or after the festival.

Our main concerns are as follows:

• Transportation: There is no available parking lot at Levitt Pavilion. There apparently will be shuttles transporting folks from downtown, except the official ones are all booked, so you would have to find a third-party shuttle listed on the official GABF site. Then there’s the light rail and city busses that you can find through that same link. One would have to imagine this is the way to go since Uber and Lyft will undoubtedly surge price during the event, as they have always done even when it was downtown. The park is inside a residential neighborhood, so we can only imagine how limited street parking might be, if there is any at all.
• Weather: Well, this year sounds like it will be fine. Colorado might be slightly more predictable than New Mexico when it comes to the weather, but not to the point where blue skies and comfortable temps can be expected every year.
• Location: Levitt Pavilion is far from downtown and hotels. Perhaps some nearby homes will be rented out, AirBnB style, but lord knows the folks doing the renting could upcharge quite a bit. The physical layout of the park is designed amphitheater style, with a gradual slop on the grass down to the concrete structure itself. It’s not as steep as whatever corporate name we’re calling the one here at Mesa del Sol, but it could prove tough on the breweries when it comes to setting up.
• Sunlight: Yeah, pack that sunscreen. Even if there are light clouds, it can burn right through. That also means one should stay extra, extra hydrated out there.

The decline in participating breweries, mainly due to travel costs, was hitting GABF pretty hard even before it moved outside. There is now pretty sparse representation from the East Coast, Midwest, and even parts of the West Coast. Heck, even the Southwest is on the decline.

Need proof? Only four breweries from neighboring New Mexico — La Cumbre, Little Toad Creek, Quarter Celtic, The 377 — will have booths set up. Everyone else sat this one out. Even some of the larger packaging breweries like Ex Novo, Marble, and Santa Fe largely stayed home. Arizona only has one brewery, Wren House, set up outside. Utah has just six and Wyoming only has one.

A number of breweries will still have their people there for the awards ceremony, which will be held Sunday at 12:15 p.m. Yeah, it’s happening during the festival itself, which is weird, but there is supposed to be a livestream, so the Crew will do our best to cover that remotely as we have in the past.

We asked the locals who was competing for medals this year. Flock of Moons, Nexus, and Rowley Farmhouse Ales said they were sitting this one out. That leaves just Boxing Bear, Marble, Tractor, and one other that asked us not to name them, that have confirmed they are competing. We can imagine the four that will be pouring at the festival entered, but we’re not sure on any of them.

As for what they entered, only Marble told us we can share their entries. This year, they sent up past winner Thunder from Dortmunder (category 54) and the newer Yumba Pils (48). We do have the lists from the others so we can follow along during the ceremony.

If anyone else tells us that they are going and/or that we can share their entries, we will update this post.

Otherwise, the great GABF experiment will begin Saturday at noon and run until 4 p.m. that day, and noon to 4 on Sunday.

We will hope things go smoothly and everyone has a great time. And, of course, that New Mexico breweries bring home a few more medals.

Cheers!

— Stoutmeister