tickets go on sale next week, marking the countdown to Denver’s beeriest time of the year.
Once again, the tickets for the three-day event — the biggest beer festival in the nation — are expected to sell-out quickly when at 10 a.m. Mountain time. It only took 77 minutes for tickets .
This year, GABF will welcome 60,000 people to the Colorado Convention Center on Oct. 6-8 for one-ounce samples of 3,800-plus beers from more than 800 breweries.
The size matches 2015, when the festival of space and expanded from 49,000 attendees, which includes ticket-holders, brewery representatives and media.
The 2016 event marks the festival’s 35th year. The inaugural GABF took place in 1982 at the Harvest House Hotel and drew 800 people to taste 47 beers from 24 breweries.
“Itap pretty remarkable,” said Barbara Fusco at the Brewers Association, the Boulder-based trade organization for the craft beer industry. “There aren’t too many consumer-facing events that have that kind of longevity, so we are excited.”
To celebrate the big anniversary, the top ticket to GABF 2016 is a gold one.
For each evening session, two craft beer stars will give one person a “golden ticket” that allows the recipient and his or her friends to receive a special, private tasting tour of the festival 30 minutes before doors open. There’s no criteria () for how the brewers pick. The all-star brewers include Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River, Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head, Matt Brynildson of Firestone Walker, Garrett Oliver of Brooklyn Brewery and Tomme Arthur of The Lost Abbey and Port Brewing.
“We really wanted to make it special and go for some of those ‘rockstar’ brewers in the craft brewing industry that people know their beers and know their personalities, and would be really excited to talk with them and taste with them in the hall,” said Fusco, the sales and marketing director.
Other new additions this year: an area with games, music, food and additional bathrooms, and an expanded “Meet the Brewer” section with 120 brewery booths staffed only by employees.
“I think the brewers love talking about (their beers),” Fusco said. “They become brewers to share their craft, their artistry with the world.”
But overall, organizers said to expect more of what makes GABF unique — costumes, silent disco, bagpipes and more.
“With an event with size of GABF, and that does have a such a familiarity to its audience, we are always looking for that balance between things that are new and exciting,” Fusco said, “and making sure we continue to offer what everybody loves and why they are there in the first place.”
