The Great American Beer Fest

Recently, we were one of 466 breweries to participate at the 30th Great American Beer Festival (GABF). The annual event, put on by the Brewers Association, housed 49,000 attendees over four sessions at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver.

Thursday night’s session kicked off the fest with amazing energy. We poured Saison-Brett, Single-Wide I.P.A., dry hopped Double-Wide I.P.A., Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale, Unfiltered Wheat Beer, Pale Ale, The Sixth Glass and Bully! Porter. There was a steady line at our booth for most of the evening, and we spotted several attendees sporting Boulevard tees, which was cool to see. John McDonald, founder of Boulevard, and Steven Pauwels, Boulevard’s brewmaster, both had many admirers and industry friends chatting them up throughout the evening. Attendees seemed to gravitate towards Tank 7 and Saison-Brett, so we had reserve pitchers ready to pour constantly.

Friday afternoon we poured one of our test beers, Love Child #1, at the Denver Rare Beer Tasting. In only two hours, we went through the entire 1/6 barrel of sour ale, and then headed back for the second round of the GABF. We had a chance to not only greet thousands of thirsty beer drinkers, but also catch up with a few industry reporters to talk about craft beer trends. The volunteers at our booth were amazing as they cranked out samples non-stop for the line of guests eager to try one of our brews.

During the Saturday afternoon session, the Brewers Association announced awards from the annual beer competition. Bronze, silver and gold medals were handed out in 83 different beer categories to brews receiving the highest praise from judges. Of the 3,390 beers submitted and 248 medals given, Boulevard was honored with four: Pale Ale and Saison-Brett both received gold and ZŌN and Collaboration No. 2 received bronze medals. John and Steven were thrilled and both expressed how gratifying it is to receive such praise from fellow industry peers.

Before the start of the last session, the Tank 7 keg had blown, and the last of our dry hopped Double-Wide I.P.A. was consumed halfway through the final night. Luckily we had just enough of our other beers to keep festival goers coming back for more.

The entire weekend was exciting and certainly had those of us from the brewery who were lucky enough to go, amped up and ready to keep pushing the envelope when it comes to making fine ales and lagers and continuing to elevate Boulevard’s presence throughout the industry.