Thursday, May 25, 2017
Needed: More small festivals, beer competitions
Summer is coming and with it the packed beer calendar of the season. There will be the Boulder Sour Fest, the Colorado Brewers Rendezvous in Salida and numerous weekend-long anniversary parties, all attracting scores of beer drinkers converging on one location and tasting freely.
But while these large gatherings most certainly have their place in Colorado, a couple of recent events have pointed out the subtle joy of smaller, sometimes calmer and more focused gatherings as well. And it's well worth not only praising them but asking industry folks if they wouldn't consider doing some more similar things in the future.
First, I have to give lauds to Strange Craft Beer's seventh anniversary party this past weekend — a "backyard BBQ" in the space right behind the Denver brewery featuring 10 breweries pouring their wares and ubiquitous Strange owner Tim Myers carving up a pig and serving it to guests. There wasn't a bevy of experimental beers, save for the Wit's End whiskey-barrel-aged coffee stout, but there was a contained area where folks could mingle, brewers could talk to people without rushing their pours and patrons could try something from every brewery and still drive home.
Festivals often try to cram as many breweries as they can into a tight space, creating numerous options for drinkers but sometimes long lines and cantankerous crowds jostling to fine each other or their favorite beers. A smaller festival like this was great for its simplicity, the general good feel that it helped to create and the ease with which families could enjoy things and let their kids play without fearing they'd get lost in the crowd.
On a very different note, I had the opportunity a few months ago to be a judge at Beer Fight Club, one of the more clever ideas to come down the event pie in a while locally. The idea is simple: Invite eight breweries to bring a beer of their choosing, sell tickets to a crowd that can sample them all and vote in a head-to-head-bracket-style format on which they like best and crown a winner. It's so simple, in fact, that it's almost shocking that no one thought of the idea before organizers Jeff Flood and Adam Schell did.
What makes this flow so well is the idea of asking attendees to think about their beers and really consider what they like and don't like. It spurs conversation between people who formerly were complete strangers, and it spurs brewers to bring their best stuff to an event rather than a barrel of what they have sitting around the brewery. The third version of Beer Fight Club just happened last weekend, and another is slated for the coming months.
Denver's beer scene has grown and diversified so much that its beer-event scene should too. And kudos go to those folks who are offering just a little something different to keep beer drinkers of all stripes looking forward to what they have to offer.
Summer is coming and with it the packed beer calendar of the season. There will be the Boulder Sour Fest, the Colorado Brewers Rendezvous in Salida and numerous weekend-long anniversary parties, all attracting scores of beer drinkers converging on one location and tasting freely.
But while these large gatherings most certainly have their place in Colorado, a couple of recent events have pointed out the subtle joy of smaller, sometimes calmer and more focused gatherings as well. And it's well worth not only praising them but asking industry folks if they wouldn't consider doing some more similar things in the future.
First, I have to give lauds to Strange Craft Beer's seventh anniversary party this past weekend — a "backyard BBQ" in the space right behind the Denver brewery featuring 10 breweries pouring their wares and ubiquitous Strange owner Tim Myers carving up a pig and serving it to guests. There wasn't a bevy of experimental beers, save for the Wit's End whiskey-barrel-aged coffee stout, but there was a contained area where folks could mingle, brewers could talk to people without rushing their pours and patrons could try something from every brewery and still drive home.
Festivals often try to cram as many breweries as they can into a tight space, creating numerous options for drinkers but sometimes long lines and cantankerous crowds jostling to fine each other or their favorite beers. A smaller festival like this was great for its simplicity, the general good feel that it helped to create and the ease with which families could enjoy things and let their kids play without fearing they'd get lost in the crowd.
On a very different note, I had the opportunity a few months ago to be a judge at Beer Fight Club, one of the more clever ideas to come down the event pie in a while locally. The idea is simple: Invite eight breweries to bring a beer of their choosing, sell tickets to a crowd that can sample them all and vote in a head-to-head-bracket-style format on which they like best and crown a winner. It's so simple, in fact, that it's almost shocking that no one thought of the idea before organizers Jeff Flood and Adam Schell did.What makes this flow so well is the idea of asking attendees to think about their beers and really consider what they like and don't like. It spurs conversation between people who formerly were complete strangers, and it spurs brewers to bring their best stuff to an event rather than a barrel of what they have sitting around the brewery. The third version of Beer Fight Club just happened last weekend, and another is slated for the coming months.
Denver's beer scene has grown and diversified so much that its beer-event scene should too. And kudos go to those folks who are offering just a little something different to keep beer drinkers of all stripes looking forward to what they have to offer.
Labels: Beer Fight Club, Festivals, Strange Craft Beer, Wit's End Brewery
