GABF Week events beckon (Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post)
If you’re still wounded from failing to score tickets to , take comfort. If you are looking to fill in the hours between sessions with craft beer goodness, rejoice.
Tons of beer events will stuff the calendar around town in the days before and during GABF, from roaring mini-festivals of wild and sour beer to intimate meet-the-brewer dinners, from a Gospel brunch to one-off beers inspired by hikes.
Consider this your guide.
As in past years, we’re including sold-out events here in case you’d like to try your hand at getting in somehow.
Of interest to out-of-staters … Oskar Blues is giving away a pair of round-trip plane tickets to Denver, two two-day GABF tickets, three nights lodging, tickets to its Gospel Brunch and a tour of the Longmont brewery. This contest involves the noble cause of recycling, and going on social media and using a hashtag. The promotion ends Sept. 5. For more details, click on .
Staging a GABF Week 2014 event or know about one? Drop us a line on or , or e-mail egorski@denverpost.com
We will continually update this post as more events roll in.
Saturday, Sept. 27
Our Mutual Friend in Denver tempts with a fresh fresh hop ale.
FRESH HOP FESTIVAL
Noon-4 p.m.: The one-day celebration of the hop harvest staged annually at Falling Rock Tap House in LoDo returns with out-of-state breweries and a greater variety of beer styles. You’ll find not only fresh-hop pale ales and IPAs, but also brown ales, Belgians and stouts. (Fresh-hopped beers are made with hops within 24 hours of harvest). This ninth edition involves a partnership with the Colorado Brewers Guild and Imbibe, which seems to have a hand in just about every local beer festival these days. The as-of-now lineup features 21 Colorado breweries and promises West Coasts breweries yet to be named. .
Falling Rock Tap House, 1919 Blake St, Denver
Wednesday, October 1
The Ordeal returneth.
OSKAR BLUES ORDEAL + HOPS & HEIFERS BARN BURNER & PIG ROAST
11 a.m.-8 p.m.: Longmont-based Oskar Blues is back with its popular Ordeal bus tours of all things OB. It’s a big time commitment, but also a great option for visitors wanting to expand their beer tours outside of Denver with someone else doing the driving. The first of the three consecutive days of Ordeal will pick up beer lovers at the Hyatt Regency at the Convention Center, includes stops at CHUBurger for a beer, a Cajun-style lunch at the Homemade Liquid & Solids restaurant, a visit to REEB Cycles and the finale – a pig roast and bonfire at the Hops and Heifers farm, a central part of the farm-to-can ethos of the state’s second largest craft brewery. Plenty of beer is served along the way, as you can imagine.
Thursday, October 2
OSKAR BLUES ORDEAL
8 a.m. – 3 p.m.: Today’s Ordeal includes bus pickup at the Convention Center Hyatt, a stop at the OB outpost in Lyons where it all began (you get to hand-can and label a souvenir beer), tour the Hops & Heifers farm, check out REEB Cycles, grab beers at the Tasty Weasel tap room, tour the brewery and snag a Ten FIDY at the craft-casual CHUBurger. .
Beer geek nirvana at the first What the Funk!? Festival (Eric Gorski, The Denver Post)
WHAT THE FUNK!? (sold out)
6 p.m.-10 p.m.: The third installment of the sour, wild and funky gathering of breweries assembled by Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project, including several that don’t pour at GABF. The once-again stellar lineup includes Cascade out of Portland, St. Louis-based Perennial, Austin-based Jester King and many more. Ones to watch include Berkeley’s The Rare Barrel, which drew long lines and ran out of beer fast at last spring’s WTF!?, and Troy Casey’s new venture, Casey Brewing and Blending. The $80 tickets went on sale in mid-August and are, alas, sold out.
Exdo Event Center, 1399 35th St, Denver
Friday, October 3
OSKAR BLUES ORDEAL AND GOSPEL BRUNCH
8 a.m.- 3 p.m.: The final bus run up to Longmont and environs begins at the Hyatt again, runs up to the Hops & Heifers farm for a “soul-saving” Gospel brunch, visits to REEB Cycles and Bike CANtina, the Tasty Weasel and a Cajun-style lunch at Home Made Liquid & Solids. Tickets are $100 plus fees and .
Beers Made by Walking takes inspiration from nature
BEERS MADE BY WALKING
Noon-4 p.m.: One of the more inventive and inspiring GABF Week events returns. Creator Eric Steen invites brewers out on nature hikes and challenges them to create new beers inspired by plants encountered on the trail. The fourth annual event will showcase 20 Colorado breweries serving beers inspired by treks up mountain peaks, through lush canyons and community gardens. Another 10 beers from out-of-state breweries that fit the “indigenous” style category will be served. The guests include Wicked Weed of Asheville, N.C., Scratch Brewing of Alton, Ill., and Ladyface Ale Companie of Agoura Hills, Calif. .
Wynkoop Brewing, 1634 18th St, Denver
Fifty breweries bring rare, exotic and vintage beers for a good cause.
DENVER RARE BEER TASTING
1 p.m. – The sixth edition of the Pints for Prostates Denver Rare Beer Tasting will again take over the McNichols Civic Center Building. This always sells out. As of now, . This year’s lineup of rare, exotic and vintage beers from 50 breweries includes 15 first-ever participants. .
144 West Colfax Ave (at Colfax and Bannock), Denver
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