Beer Geek 101

Weekend of Beer! Brew Festivals!

2010-09-06T10:41:00.000-07:00

For those of use that can't make it to the Great American Beer Festival, there are many other beer opportunities out there that weekend (Sept 17-19).

1. Oktoberfest Denver - Sept 17, 18, and 19. Dress up in you lederhosen and get drinking! This is the closest to the action you're going to get and entry is free. There's more than just beer too, there's the Das Husselhoff 5k, a Long Dog Derby, and vendors with your favorite German foods. This is probably where I'll be going if I can't get the tickets to the GABF.

2. Telluride Blues and Brews Festiva l - Sept. 17, 18, and 19. This festival sounds like a lot of fun and I'll have to make an effort to do this next year. Bands featured this year include George Thorogood, BB King, and many others.

If you know of any others let us know!

Pretzel Necklace

2010-09-05T15:51:00.000-07:00

Pretzel Necklace at Denver Summer Brew Fest!

To the left here you can see my pretzel necklace I made for the Denver Summer Brew Fest, which was very good and I'll have to post about that later. I learned alot from this pretzel necklace. As you can see the pretzels are pretty big. They were great and I'll use them again, however they get heavy fast so it's not comfortable to put more than just a few on there. I did notice another couple that had made one with two or three of the big pretzels and a couple dozen small pretzels. I would recommend doing as they did and I will next time. Another thing to note, make sure the string is something comfortable. We used yarn, which was soft but a bit itchy at first (of course a few beers in I couldn't tell it was there anymore ;) ). Something else I think helps is putting the pretzels on and have someone else tie it around your neck to get the right height. We made all three of ours the same length you can see there and my wife (who is about a foot shorter than me) had it hanging to her belt. Hope that helped! How have you made your pretzel necklaces in the past?

2010 Great American Beer Festival

2010-09-03T14:09:00.000-07:00

Beer Festival of Beer Festivals!!!

Hello beer lovers!! Only two more weeks till the GABF. The tickets are all sold out, so if you're like me and procrastinated you're out of luck. Or are you?? You can sign up here for free tickets to the Great American Beer Festival. With 3594 beers from 48 states and 462 breweries (for a full listing see here) you'd be crazy to not want to go. I've only gone once so far and it was absolutely amazing. Even after many other beer fests around Colorado I have never seen anything even close to this. When you hear about how big this thing is and see how many beers you're amazed, but it still doesn't prepare you for how truly enormous the hall is. There is food, though I would recommend just making your own beer pretzel necklace (I'll post more on that later). The pretzel necklace may seem funny, but trust me you will be glad you made one.

Another thing you will want is to do a little preperation. If there is a type of beer you want to try the most or types you like the most, remember... there are thousands of beers. Even with the small sample sizes you will have more than your fill. Also some of the beers do go out. Last year Samuel Adams brought out a keg of their Utopia which I was dying to try, however I did not plan it and so I missed out on my chance. It was gone in 30 min. As the day gets closer I will be posting more helpful tips on how to make the best use of your time at the beer fest. If anyone else has suggestions please do post them below!

Microbrews, beer fests, and home brew... Welcome!

2010-09-03T13:18:00.000-07:00

Hello World! Beer Geek checking in for the first time. I'm a home brewer and beer aficionado. I'll be posting on home brew, Micro-breweries, and beer fests (a personal favorite of mine). Here in Colorado we have some of the best microbreweries who are always looking to show off their skills so I should have plenty of beer fests to chronicle. I have pictures and reviews of beer fests earlier this year which I will put up as soon as I can. I'll be putting up beer drinking, home brewing, and other beer related guides up as we go. The King of Beer Fests is coming up soon here in Denver: The Great American Beer Festival Sept 16-18 2010! I slacked on getting tickets this year and they are all sold out but I will be doing my best to get in there so I can show you all how great it really is! Thanks for stopping by!

Ever been to the Great American Beer Festival? Tell me what you thought!