http://denverbrewfest.com/winter/index.php Has anyone been to this before? I'm wondering if it's worth the $35 based on the beer, crowd, experience, etc.
They tend to be casual but fun. You're not exactly going to get a bunch of walez or anything, but you're essentially paying $35 for unlimited decent sized pours from a whole bunch of breweries. Many of them are smaller, so it's not a bad way to try some of the places you may have never been to or even heard of. The crowd is roughly the same sort you'd see at a Friday night GABF...but obviously much smaller.
It's not a beer geek thing. It's good for the person who's looking into trying something different than Bud or Stella. My girlfriend took me 2 years ago. She loved it, tried some new things. I liked seeing her try new stuff, but nothing new for me. Still, was fun b/c of that
I always think that the Summer and Winter Brew Fests are fun events. I've gone to both the Summer and Winter sessions the past couple years. It is definitely a good opportunity to try out a bunch of stuff from different local breweries. I usually get the VIP ticket, which gives you an hour head start to hit up some of the best available beers in a really relaxed atmosphere. As Domingo and Mebuzzard said, it's not exactly a super beer guru/whale hunter festival, but I always manage to find some different beers and breweries that I had not tried before. They also had some good live music that I enjoyed in the past (Trout Steak Revival played last year).
