Epic Brewing’s Kevin Crompton surprised a room full of reporters and bloggers during the Great American Beer Festival last week when he announced that his Utah company planned to build a second brewery in Denver during the first part of 2013. He also surprised Epic’s owners, David Cole and Peter…

“I can’t tell you how hard it was to find a new name. Everything I thought of was already taken,” says Craig Rothgery, who plans to open De Steeg Brewing in January in the alleyway across the street from the Oriental Theater, at 4342 North Tennyson Street. But De Steeg…

Old, new and local — really local. That’s the only way to describe Denver Beer Festivus, a new craft-beer festival set for December 15 that will feature Denver breweries only, something that makes sense now that there are more than twenty of them — eight having opened in the past…

The cows have come home in Fort Collins. In January, Odell Brewing Company will release its newest seasonal, Lugene Chocolate Milk Stout, a beer dedicated to Lugene Sas, a local organic dairy farmer, and to the cows he addresses by name. See also: – Photos: Long lines and cold beer…

Aisle after aisle, table after table, there was one thing about the 2012 Great American Beer Festival that was different from the event in previous years: There were brewery reps, brewers and, in many cases, brewery owners themselves staffing their booths, hanging out and answering questions. It was a refreshing…

Two new Denver breweries will open this weekend, just in time for the Great American Beer Festival frenzy in town — and you won’t have to go far to visit both, since they’re just ten blocks apart. Black Shirt Brewing in RiNo and Our Mutual Friend Malt & Brew in…

Utah’s Epic Brewing Company, known for its Brainless on Peaches beer, announced at the Great American Beer Festival today that is is hoping to open a second brewery in Denver in early 2013. If it does, Epic would be one of the first out-of-state breweries to open a second location…

Canned craft beers are big in Colorado and now they’re getting even bigger. On Thursday night after the Great American Beer Festival ended, Oskar Blues revealed its latest aluminum package: a 19.2-ounce can of Dale’s Pale Ale. The Longmont beer makers is the first U.S. brewery — craft or otherwise…

Nancy Johnson has been running the Great American Beer Festival for longer than most of the attending brewers have been in business. She has seen styles and trends and ticket-sale issues come and go, but when it comes to planning, the buck — and the beer — starts and stops…

The Great American Beer Festival, which starts tonight and runs through Saturday, is a river of beer — and a river of people — but there are some things that don’t always meet the eye: secret fishing holes, swirling eddies, rapids. Here are a couple of things to do that…

Denver began welcoming beer fans from near and far yesterday as the city girded its liver for the annual Great American Beer Festival, which starts tomorrow. More people poured into town today as the Brewers Association opened registration for all of the breweries, vendors and media. Here is a brief…

Cicerones are the beer world’s version of sommeliers, and those who passed their certification tests become experts on beer storage and service, tasting and flavors, brewing ingredients and processes and pairing beer with food. There are three certification levels — Certified Beer Server, Certified Cicerone and Master Cicerone — but…

Great American Beer Festival week kicked off, as it has for the past fifteen years, at the Falling Rock Taphouse on Monday, when the clock hit 000 00 00 00.0 But things were a little different this year, says Chris Black, who owns and runs Denver’s most famous craft-beer bar…

Copper Kettle Brewing had only been open five months when it won a gold medal at the 2011 Great American Beer Festival for its Mexican Chocolate Stout. Owners Kristen Kozik and Jeremy Gobien were ecstatic, but they didn’t let the honor go to their heads. Instead, they’ve been turning out…

This is the first in a series of Q&As with beer-minded folks who have jobs to do during the Great American Beer Festival. Volunteers at the Great American Beer Festival are sometimes maligned, usually busy and always — always — needed. After all, there are going to be 2,700 different…

Every November, I cook a turkey. Not on Thanksgiving, but a couple of weeks early. This way, I can get a taste of Turkey-Day excitement early and not have to stuff myself on the actual day, ending up in a tryptophan-induced coma. The same plan also helps you survive Great…

Updated with new events: Tourists may go to Rome to see the Coliseum, but it’s the side streets, the adventures and the hidden cafes that typically fill their cameras and their post-trip stories. The same is true of the week surrounding the Great American Beer Festival. The event is the…

Colorado represents a huge part of the festivities inside the Great American Beer Festival, both because of the depth and breath of our state’s brewing prowess and because we are the host state, so it is fitting – and easy – for our beer makers to represent. As a result,…

There will be thousands of beers to sample inside the Colorado Convention Center during the Great American Beer Festival, which starts on October 11, but there will also be some very special beers served at bars, breweries and restaurants during the week before GABF. Some of these were brewed especially…