A huge crowd filled the What the Funk 2015 craft beer event at the Highland Masonic Center, spilling into a tented area outside (Photo credit Daniel Erickson)
The starts Thursday but the rival craft beer showcase drew hundreds Wednesday.
In one day, two top beer events took place on the sidelines of the Great American Beer Festival: and .
The two are more than a precursor to GABF. Based on the crowds and the beers, itap easy to see why some beer fans consider them better than the main event.
Beers Made by Walking may be the most underappreciated event of the week. This year it took place in the parking lot next to Our Mutual Friend Brewing in the River North district and featured roughly 30 breweries — including a number not pouring on the GABF floor — with inventive, nature-inspired beers.
The highlights included Illinois’ Scratch Brewing’s fascinatingly complex dark brett saison, North Carolina’s Fonta Flora’s funky wild ales and local favorite Crazy Mountain’s bourbon barrel pale ale “dry-hopped” with pine needles.
The event is teeming with brewers but no lines — giving you ample time to talk shop with the pros.
If GABF is for the masses, WTF is for aficionados. But this year, it left some underwhelmed.
Inside the event space at What the Funk, craft beer fans sampled and talked beer in the hallways. (A huge crowd filled the What the Funk 2015 craft beer event at the Highland Masonic Center, spilling into a tented area outside (Photo credit Daniel Erickson)
Hosted at the Highland Masonic Center, the event consumed the first floor and a large outside tent. The most coveted breweries — Rare Barrel, Evil Twin, Side Project, Casey, Ale Apothecary — running out of beer.
There were still plenty of gems to mine: Creature Comforts The Curious No. 3, Cigar City’s Lactobacillus Blackberry Grove and Fremont’s Brew 1000. The surprise buzz focused on Arizona Wilderness Brewing, a two-year old brewery located 30 minutes outside Phoenix.
The event still drew a fair amount of about being oversold with not enough beer. We reached out to the organizers and if we hear back from them, we’ll post their thoughts.
