The Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines Festival has found a permanent home on my must-attend list for beer festivals each year. While I enjoy The Great American Beer Festival, I’d purposefully ruin my four year streak of GABF attendance if I was forced to pick between it and Big Beers. The high altitude, high ABV […]
Crafty Beer Girls Podcast Episode 8 – Remember, Remember The 1st of November
In this episode, we visit with Jennifer Hamilton of Mountain West Hard Cider, ruminate on Utah’s new 5% ABV cap on draft and grocery store beers (it used to be 4%) that took effect on November 1st, and discuss some of the differences between beer and cider. Then we hear about Lauren’s trip to the […]
The Great American Beer Festival Experience 2019
Almost a month has passed since I embarked on my fourth Great American Beer Festival journey. Hangovers fade, but certain lessons and memories tend to stick with me each year. Rather than recount the places I went to in a chronological fashion as I’ve done with my previous three GABF blog posts (2016, 2017, 2018), […]
The Great American Beer Festival Experience 2018
I have long been told the GABF experience is more than the sessions in which thousands of people lose themselves in a massive room, 1 ounce at a time. The majority of my 2016 and 2017 experiences included attending every session, with a few stops around Denver breweries and bars to supplement. This year, the […]
The Great American Beer Festival Experience 2017
There’s a certain caution that accompanies first time experiences. For me, it means making mental and physical lists, checking them multiple times, and assessing my success as I progress. It keeps me honest with myself and focused toward whatever goals I may have. My goals last year at my very first Great American Beer Festival […]
The 7 Rules of Beer Festing
With the upcoming Mountain Brewers’ Beer Festival in Idaho Falls, I am poignantly reminded of the many festivals past, and perhaps more so the hangovers that followed them. I am no longer the young 22-year-old that got away with two-hour hangovers like a small slap on the wrist. In my old age of 29 years, […]