Day 4 in Denver for the 2009 GABF

Saturday was yet another awesome day. Starting with brunch at Marlow’s for the  announcement of the winners of the Samuel Adams Longshot American Homebrew Contest.   The winners were Michael Robinson’s Old Ale, Ben Miller’s Barelywine and Jeremy White’s Lemon Pepper Saison.  Try these winners beers in the Samuel Adam’s Longshot Six-Pack which will be available nationwide in April 2010.

Next it was back to the showroom floor for more beer and the announcement of the Great American Beer Festival Medal Winners. We are proud to say that our home state of Vermont took home three medals. Otter Creek Brewing took home the Gold Medal for their Vermont Lager in the Bohemian Style Pilsner Category and the Alchemist cleaned up in the Gluten Free Beer Category with a Gold Medal for their Celia Framboise and a Bronze Medal for their Celia IPA.   After the Medals were awarded we met up with Paul Gatza, Director of The Brewers Association, for a tour of the showroom floor to sample some of the 2009 Great American Beer Festival Award winning beers.

After the session and feeling some of the effects of our whirlwind morning and afternoon of award winning beers, we went in search of a hamburger in downtown Denver.  According to the “Google Gods” the number three best burger in Denver (and the only one of the top three places  in walking distance) was the Trinity Grill.  The place was empty (probably because the beers on draft were New Castle and Guinness) but we just wanted a lot of water and a good hamburger to prepare for another night of beer drinking.  The burger did not disappoint and we ended up meeting with fellow beer geeks Jeff, Steph and Tim who are planning to open a brewpub – sweet.

Back to the show floor for the infamous Saturday night session and let me tell you it was jam packed with all kinds of crazy characters.  Check out our best dressed of the GABF video coming soon.  After sampling many more award winning beers it was back to the hotel for a few hours of shut eye before getting up at 3am to catch our flight home.

It was sad to leave Denver, we met so many great people and enjoyed tons of great beers.  It was an education in styles, regions and ingredients that we will draw on for years to come.  Thanks to the Brewers Association for putting together this colossal event and to all of the brewers who participate in making it so incredible.  Thanks to the miles of walking (that place is HUGE) and the gallons of water (plentiful on the floor) we actually returned home feeling refreshed and rejuvenated and ready to jump back into the innkeeping scene at our Bed and Breakfast in Brattleboro, Vermont.   We hope you enjoy our upcoming videos from the GABF (if you haven’t already seen our other GABF posts, be sure to read about our adventures GABF day 1, GABF day 2 and GABF day 3) we look forward to seeing you all there next year!  Cheers from Here for the Beer!