All Things Beer: Denver Beer Fest Returns

Strengthening Denver’s claim as one of the world’s great beer cities, VISIT DENVER will present the third Denver Beer Fest, Sept. 23-Oct. 1, 2011.

The citywide celebration coincides with America’s most prestigious beer competition, the Great American Beer Festival (Sept. 29-Oct. 1) and the two-weekend-long Oktoberfest Denver (Sept. 16-18 & Sept. 23-25).

This year’s event will be taken to new heights with a new collaboration with the Colorado Brewers Guild, increasing the participation of top craft breweries around the city and state.

The nine-day Denver Beer Fest will include rare beer tastings, beer-paired dinners, “brewer vs. brewer” nights, beer tappings, brewery tours and a variety of entertaining beer events, according to VISIT DENVER, The Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The website, www.DenverBeerFest.com, will be a one-stop shop for all things beer, including information on Denver beer events sponsored by some of the more than 450 breweries coming to town for the Great American Beer Festival (GABF). There is no cost to list Denver-centric events on the website.    

“Beer is in Denver’s DNA,” says Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, who owned the first brewpub in Colorado – the Wynkoop Brewing Company – before he entered politics. 

Today, Denver brews more beer than any other city, is home to the world’s largest single brewing site, Coors Brewery, and hosts the GABF, identified by Guinness World Records as the largest beer festival on the planet, offering a staggering 2,400 different beers for tasting in 2010.

Celebrating more than 100 years of promoting the Mile High City, VISIT DENVER is a nonprofit trade association that contracts with the City of Denver to market Denver as a convention and leisure destination, increasing economic development in the city, creating jobs and generating taxes. 

Tourism is said to be the second largest industry in Denver, generating $2.8 billion in annual spending in 2009, while supporting nearly 50,000 jobs.