The Great American Beer Festival (GABF) is an annual

beer festival A beer festival is an event at which a variety of beers are available for purchase. There may be a theme, for instance beers from a particular area, or a particular brewing style such as winter ales. Asia China *Qingdao International Beer Fes ...

hosted by the

Brewers Association The Brewers Association is an American trade group of over 5,400 brewers, breweries in planning, suppliers, distributors, craft beer retailers, and individuals particularly concerned with the promotion of craft beer and homebrewing. Two of th ...

, held in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, Colorado. Typically held in late September or early October, the event is currently held at Denver's

Colorado Convention Center The Colorado Convention Center (CCC) is a multi-purpose convention center located in Downtown Denver, Colorado. At 2,200,000 square feet (total space) it is currently the 12th largest convention center in the United States. Opening in 1990, the ...

. Established in 1982, it is the largest ticketed beer festival in the U.S. and one of the largest in the world.

History

The GABF was founded by brewer

Charlie Papazian Charles N. Papazian (born January 23 ) is an American nuclear engineer, brewer and author. He founded the Association of Brewers and the Great American Beer Festival, and wrote ''The Complete Joy of Home Brewing'' (1984). He is the longtime forme ...

, and the first festival was held in conjunction with the

American Homebrewers Association The Brewers Association is an American trade group of over 5,400 brewers, breweries in planning, suppliers, distributors, craft beer retailers, and individuals particularly concerned with the promotion of craft beer and homebrewing. Two of the l ...

's annual conference in

Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city in Boulder County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most ...

in June 1982, featuring 24 participating breweries, 47 beers, and 800 attendees. In a private event, held the week prior, judges evaluate the beers in the associated competition. They then award medals in over 100 beer style categories. In 2019, the panel consisted of 322 judges from 18 countries, who evaluated over 9,400 beers. There were 800 breweries and 4,000 beers. In 2023, 250 judges from 10 countries evaluated 9,298 entries. There were 263 breweries. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

the 2020 and 2021 in-person festival was cancelled with a virtual event held instead.

Statistics

''For a list of all medalists, see the

List of Great American Beer Festival medalists This is a list of Great American Beer Festival Medal Winning Breweries. The Great American Beer Festival includes a Judge panel which judges a significant number of Beers, 3,930 in 2012. This Judge panel award Gold, Silver, and Bronze to the top ...

2004

* Attendance - 28,000 * Breweries at the festival - 334 * Beers at the festival - 1,454 * Breweries in the competition - 398 * Beers in the competition - 2,016 * Medals awarded - 201

2005

* Attendance - 29,500 * Breweries at the festival - 377 * Beers at the festival - 1,672 * Breweries in the competition - 466 * Beers in the competition - 2,335 * Category with most entries - American-style India Pale Ale: 103 * Medals awarded - 206

2006

* Attendance - 41,000 * Breweries at the festival - 384 * Beers at the festival - 1,668 * Breweries in the competition - 450 * Beers in the competition - 2,402 * Category with most entries - American-style India Pale Ale: 94 * Medals awarded - 203

2007

* Attendance - 46,000 * Breweries at the festival - 408 * Beers at the festival - 1,884 * Breweries in the competition - 473 * Beers in the competition - 2,973 * Category with most entries - American-style India Pale Ale: 120 * Medals awarded - 222 + 3 in Pro-Am

2008

* Attendance - 46,000 * Breweries at the festival - 432 * Beers at the festival - 2,052 * Breweries in the competition - 472 * Beers in the competition - 2,902 * Category with most entries - American-style India Pale Ale: 106 * Medals awarded - 222 + 3 in Pro-Am

2009

* Attendance - 49,576 * Breweries at the festival - 457 * Beers at the festival - 2,100 * Breweries in the competition - 495 * Beers in the competition - 3,308 * Category with the most entries - American-style India Pale Ale, 134 entries * Medals awarded - 234 + 3 in Pro-Am

2010

* Attendance - 49,000 * Breweries at the festival - 455 * Beers at the festival - 2,248 * Beers in the competition - 3,523 * Category with the most entries - American-style India Pale Ale, 150 entries * Medals awarded - 236 + 3 in Pro-Am

2011

* Attendance - 49,000 * Breweries at the festival - 466 * Beers at the festival - 2,375 * Breweries in the competition - 526 * Beers in the competition - 3,930 * Category with the most entries - American-style India Pale Ale, 176 entries * Medals awarded - 248 + 3 in Pro-Am

2012

* Attendance - 49,000 * Breweries at the festival - 578 * Beers at the festival - 2,774 * Breweries in the competition - 666 * Beers in the competition - 4,338 * Medals awarded - 254

2013

* Attendance - 49,000 * Breweries at the festival - 624 * Beers at the festival - 3,142 * Breweries in the competition - 732 * Beers in the competition - 4,809 * Beer categories - 84 * Category with most entries - American-Style India Pale Ale, 252 * Medals awarded - 254

2014

* Attendance - 49,000 * Breweries at the festival - 710 * Beers at the festival - 3,500+ * Breweries in the competition - 1,309 * Beers in the competition - 5,507

2015

* Attendance - 60,000 * Breweries at the festival - 750 * Beers at the festival - 3,800 * Breweries in the competition - 1,552 * Beers in the competition - 6,647

2016

* Attendance - 60,000 * Breweries at the festival - 780 * Beers at the festival - 3,800+ * Breweries in the competition - 1,752 * Beers in the competition - 7,227 * Beer categories - 96 * Category with most entries - American-Style India Pale Ale, 312 * Medals awarded - 286

2017

* Attendance - 60,000 * Breweries at the festival - 800+ * Beers at the festival - 3,900+ * Breweries in the competition - 2,217 * Beers in the competition - 7,923 * Beer categories -

2018

* Attendance - 62,000 * Breweries at the festival - 800+ * Beers at the festival - 4,000+ * Breweries in the competition - 2,404 * Beers in the competition - 8,496

2019

* Attendance - 65,000+ * Breweries at the festival - 800+ * Beers at the festival - 4,000+ * Breweries in the competition - 2,295 * Beers in the competition - 9,497 * Beer categories - 107 * Category with most entries - Juicy or Hazy IPA, 348 entries * Medals awarded - 318

2022

* Attendance - 40,000 * Breweries at the festival - 500 * Beers at the festival - 2,000 * Breweries in the competition - 2,154 * Beers in the competition - 9,904 entries * Beer categories - 98 * Category with most entries - American Style India Pale Ale, 423 entries * Medals awarded - 300

2023

* Attendance - 40,000 * Breweries at the festival - 500+ * Beers at the festival - * Breweries in the competition - 2,033 * Beers in the competition - 9,298 * Beer categories - 263 * Category with most entries - Juicy or Hazy India Pale Ale, 365 entries * Medals awarded - 263

2024

* Attendance - * Breweries at the festival - 273 * Breweries in the competition -1,869 breweries and cideries * Beers in the competition - 8,836 commercial beer entries, 233 commercial cider entries, 95 Collaboration entries, and 52 Pro-Am entries * Beer categories - 102 * Category with most entries - Juicy/Hazy IPA, 349 entries * Medals awarded - 326 * Added 5 new cider categories

References

External links

Great American Beer Festival
{{coord, 39.7392, -104.9850, region:US-CO_type:city, name=Denver, display=title Festivals in Denver Tourist attractions in Denver Beer festivals in the United States Beer awards Autumn festivals Festivals established in 1982 Beer in Colorado 1982 establishments in Colorado