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“Gastropub” sounds vaguely like an invasive medical procedure, but it’s not. The latest offshoot of the craft brewing boom is where upscale food meets upscale beers, and it will be well in evidence at the annual Great American Beer Festival, a three-day suds nirvana for beer aficionados opening Thursday.

In its 27th year, the festival offers a record 3,967 beers from 432 U.S. breweries, and 110 judges will award medals in 75 categories. The festival, which began modestly in Boulder with a few beer lovers and a couple dozen beers, is the largest gathering of American brews in the nation. All 46,000 tickets to the festival are sold.

Featured this year will be demonstrations from brewers and chefs putting together full-flavored brews and foods. Seminar speakers include Jim Koch, Boston Beer Co. founder and brewer, matching his Samuel Adams Boston Lager and Samuel Adams OctoberFest with Johnson & Wales chef Jorge de la Torre’s hearty dishes; Sam Calagione, Dogfish Head brewer, and chocolate maker Shawn Askinosie demonstrating how to put together two favorite vices; and Chuck Skypeck of Boscos Brewing and chef Carol Smagalski blending wheat beer and chicken.

Gastropubs are popping up on both coasts. Denver’s first, Jonesy’s EatBar, opened in July at 400 E. 20th Ave., formerly The Painted Bench.

Named for co-owner Leigh Jones, Jonesy’s stocks 25 Colorado bottled beers (from Great Divide’s Samuri to Avery Ellie’s Brown Ale) and 30 wines to go with its menu, a step up from bar food. The menu includes braised lamb shoulder, Thai beef salad, pasta carbonara and, if you must, cheeseburgers and fries. So far, it’s only open for dinner, and for brunch on Saturdays and Sundays.

Decorated in an eclectic soup of art deco and enlarged family photos, Jonesy’s is just the latest twist from food-and-beer matchmakers. Industry insiders credit “The Brewmaster’s Table,” written in 2003 by Brooklyn Brewery brewmaster Garrett Oliver, for popularizing the new dining wave. A gourmand and a lover of wine, Oliver ranks beer above wine in its versatility with food. “I love wine,” he wrote in “Table.” “But let’s be honest — it can’t do everything. Real beer can do everything. Mexican, Thai, Japanese, Indian, Cajun, and Middle Eastern food, and barbecue, are far better with real beer than with wine.” It is, he said, about versatility and flavor compatibility.

Oliver writes about matching corn tacos with a light, bitter pilsener or a cassoulet with a fruity brown ale or a chocolate dessert with a slightly sweet stout. “We want the beer and food to engage in a lively dance, not a football tackle.” His favorite food/beer marriage: barley wine and Stilton cheese. The Beverage Tasting Institute’s loose guidelines recommend a malty lager with pork or chicken; rich, fruity ales with game, lamb or beef; lagers with spicy foods; and stouts or porters with barbecue.

Unfortunately, many upscale restaurants have yet to tumble to the idea of pairing beer and food. Part of the problem is staff education, said Adam Avery of Boulder’s Avery Brewing Co., doing a beer dinner with four other brewers tonight at The Kitchen in Boulder. “Too often, it’s up to the memory of your waitperson, and they remember only half of them. That drives me crazy.” Jones said she is slowly schooling her staff in the mysteries of real beer’s nuances. “We’re recommending a beer along with a wine.”

Beer notes

Americans spent $97 billion on beer in 2007, according to the Boulder-based Brewers Association . . . Dale’s Pale Ale from Oskar Blues Brewery in Lyons named among the 28 “best beers in America” in the October issue of Men’s Journal magazine . . . Quotable: “If you’ve tasted only mass-market beer, I’m afraid that you haven’t actually tasted beer at all. — Garrett Oliver

Dick Kreck’s e-mail: rakreck@yahoo.com. Send mail to him c/o The Denver Post, 101 W. Colfax Ave., Suite 600, Denver, CO 80202.