I've been to about a dozen or so beer fests. Never to the GABF (on my bucket list). There were maybe hundreds of beers to sample. But 3500 at the 2014 GABF?! I'm not sure how I would go about it. For those lucky enough to go, what was your strategy, if you had one? I'm very curious. Thanks.
I have been a lot of times now. First year was the roughest for me because like you said there was a lot to try. First, get in line early. If you show up at door open time, you will be waiting up to 30 mins to get in. Next, make sure you download the app or look at the beer list. Have a couple breweries you want to hit, and go straight there. Some breweries will run out, so hit those first before the lines start to form. Lastly, places like Firestone will have special tappings every hour. So stop by there early to see what they are tapping when and plan accordingly.
Spent a week in Denver and did both Saturday sessions. Had a basic plan . Breweries I never tried , then favorites and then locals. All that went out the window 2 minutes after they opened the doors. I just went up one isle and down the next . Did a lot of 1/2 pours just to try and sample more with out getting trashed. Made it about 1/2 through on the first session and picked up where i left off at the second session.
I do a little intel beforehand. Find a few breweries that you don't have access to with good reputations and hit those early on. I also like talking to people at the fest and asking what standouts they've found in the festival. Then I just drink beer that sounds good. Some are gems, some forgettable.
I'd recommend going to the Thursday session if you can make the time for it. Figure out if you want to go for rarer beers or just try a lot of beers that you haven't had, since the rare beers are the only ones with real lines. If you go for the rare beers / more well-known breweries, go there first. Drink water constantly - the higher elevation and drier air can really hit you hard, and altitude sickness is not a fun thing to have.
My strategy was very similar to what @frazbi posted of: “Find a few breweries that you don't have access to with good reputations…” Examples for me were Alaskan Brewing, New Glarus, New Belgium, etc. The other ‘trick’ is that you don’t have to drink the entire sample that was poured for you, Drink half and dump the other half (unless you absolutely love the beer). The most important tip I have is to drink lots and lots of water throughout the session. No, wait a minute, the most important tip is: Have Fun!! Cheers!
I've been to GABF the past 5 years or so. It sounds like you're wondering how visitors sample 3,500 beers. The answer is simple: they don't. It's impossible to taste every beer or even visit every brewery at the festival. If you're planning on going, I suggest buying tickets to minimum 2 (Thurs night and Sun afternoon, preferably) maybe 3 sessions (add Friday night). Have a strategy going into every session. For example, I might just focus on sour beers. Or just on one region (the festival is divided into regions). I suggest ignoring your "home" region altogether - why travel all the way to Denver to sample beers from breweries in your area? And drink lots of water. I personally drink my "swill" water. Have fun!
Avoid the people trying to knock the glass out of your hands so they can go "Ohhhhh!!!!!" Get in early if you can and hit the popular places before lines get too long Focus on styles and breweries that you really want to try. There's too many beers now. In the 90's it was different, because you could try most if not all of them if you did all of the sessions back then. Don't hesitate to dump your sample if you don't like it.
I think this is a good idea, but the other side of the coin I did this (three years ago) and found that I got to taste a lot of good beers I will never get to have again, because they were from small breweries/brewpubs on the west coast. So it falls into what others have said, come up with a strategy. Also, I was somewhat surprised that getting to beer wasn't as daunting as it would seem. Getting to the bathroom, however...
Here has been my experience for GABF... Thursday Night is for the tourists. Friday Night is for the locals and college kids. Saturday Afternoon for the dedicated beer nerds. Saturday Night is for anyone who had free tickets or couldn't get tickets for other sessions. Keep your list of 'Must Hit Breweries' to a minimum....if not, you will spend way too much time in long lines when you will have whole sections of the convention center with breweries and zero lines. Never leave your glass empty...even when you are walking to your next hot spot, stop at an open booth and grab a sample (or 5). Do Not Show Up with 'a few in you'...it will be a wasted experience. Trust me, you will have a solid buzz when you leave. Finally, just because you never heard of them before....try it...could be the only time you ever do.
Hit two of the first three sessions. Skip the 4th. Partake in other local events with the other time you have remaining. Set your expectation fairly low for the actual event. Yes, there are many tasty beers but it is not a "festival" type event. Plus you should expect 95% of what is being poured to be regular lineup beers for each respective brewery. The experience is the entire weekend.
