Myself and a buddy are going to the GABF for the first time this year. I've heard different opinions about buying tix ahead of time of at the venue before each session. And opinions? Any one session better to go to than another? Any other events in the area we should not miss? Thanks Josh Salud.
So tickets don't go on sale for probably another 3-4 months, but I always get tickets ahead of time. Don't like the stress of waiting, but with that said, you can almost always find tickets the week of and usually at a discount. If it were me and I was traveling I would try to get them ahead of time, but I wouldn't pay the prices scalpers charge if you are unlucky with Ticketmaster.
Drink a lot of water. Both because of the beer and because of the altitude. I know this from experience as a drinker visiting Denver, not from GABF.
Thursday and Friday night sessions seem to be the best. The employees and reps from the breweries are still fresh, excited, enthusiastic instead of tired and worn down. Sat afternoon show = longer lines from beer geeks. I heard last year the final session (sat evening) ran out of some of the beers early. There are special distro releases, special tappings, tastings, and events all over town for the whole week. Light rail is cheap and goes right to the convention center. Cheaper hotels are located further away from the Convention center, but the further away you go the quieter/more boring it'll be. During GABF the closest hotels have bottle shares all over the place. brewtally insane is a good website to keep track of GABF events and festivities. Drink lots of water! Don't drink and drive! Ideally I would attend 2 sessions. Look up the beers ahead of time and have a plan. Wait in lines at the beginning so you aren't drunk and incoherent after 2 hours. Show up early because 4.5 hours seems like a long time, but it goes fast. Plenty of other things to see and do in the area. I recommend some brisk walking or hiking in the mornings.
I've heard rumors that La Boheme will let you in sans cover with a GABF ticket, but I have no experience with anything like that.
Make sure to make a pretzel necklace. Also, they put out an app with a map of where the booth for each brewery will be, along with the beers that each brewery is bringing. It might just be me, but planning out the beers that you *really* want to try (I like to focus on breweries that don't distribute here) in advance helps me not feel so overwhelmed. After that, I generally just wander around and try beers that look interesting. Plus what everyone else said. Drink lots of water.
Finally the train from DIA to Downtown will be running!!! 1st beer you have in Denver should be at Union Station.
Gf and I bought 2 tickets for 20 bucks each about 30 min into the Saturday Session last year. Still had about 3 hours of solid drinking. We could have gotten tickets for about 60 each the day of the event. There are usually a lot of people trying to unload extra tickets the week of, so if you strike out on tickets I wouldn't worry too much about it. If you want a better chance at tickets than normal you can sign up for the AHA in order to get in on the presale. It has an annual membership fee but could end up paying for itself if you go to enough places that offer discounts for AHA members. Even that presale will sell out quick, but its not an instant thing like the general sale is.
Yeah- haven't done this personally, but always figured it would be really cheap to get in half hour after doors open. I feel like I could get my $20 worth in about an hour. You've inspired me to actually do that this time around. Cheers!
Tix go on sale in July, and they go quick! Thursday session is the best, with saturday 1st session the next best. Friday is not horrible, but Saturday 2nd session is. Honestly, the best part about GABF week is not the GABF. There are plenty of happenings that week in the area. Some start on the Sunday prior, but most get rolling on the Tuesday as brewery reps start streaming in. You could make a list of breweries to hit at GABF, but it's so big and there are so many breweries that if you concentrate on just your list, youza gonna miss a lot.
All of this, but I did create a "must have" list and visited those first...and had one of the best experiences in years.
Also, an insider tip: definitely take the time to visit the state brewer's guild booths. They generally pour rare beers that attract very long lines elsewhere. For example - last year Michigan was pouring KBS all night long on Saturday...never ran out.
Awesome advice. Thank you to all. Hoping to get out there Thursday. Do they have water available to buy? Can you bring it in? Fortunately I'm used to the mile high altitude so that shouldn't be too much of a factor. Definitely wanting to get to some releases or special tapping events around the area.
There is plenty of water in pitchers and jugs for free in the Convention Center. You cannot bring water in.
The brewer's guild tip may be the hawtest in this thread! (Sorry, water) I don't have a 'name brand' example like the KBS one, but have personally found this area to easily be the best use of time at GABF.
Not speaking for @Mebuzzard, but for me Thurs actually seemed less crowded, had less douchebags and had some awesome energy to it, probably because no one was hungover quite yet. It didn't hurt that I attended the "paired" thing too though...that event is killer. I mean, that event sucks, no one go to it.
Basically because it's cheaper and brewery reps are usually at the awards ceremony on Sat. And sometimes breweries run out beer.
