The Great American Beer Festival struggles with reinvention
Great American Beer Festival (GABF) made some overdue contemporary changes this year as well as creative experimenting. While a lot of chatter from guests was about the new “Experience Areas” and removal of Saturday evening session, those just scratched the surface of new elements of the forty-two year old fest. Theme park style areas, Non-Alcoholic (N/A) offerings, Cider and RTD additions reflected today’s real life beverage market.
For the first time there were cider categories in the official GABF beer competition after a successful trial run allowing cideries to pour on the floor of the convention center for the first time in 2023. Organizers welcomed cider sponsors and brands like Schilling Cider out of Seattle, and 2 Towns out of Oregon. Schilling Cider went all in on showcasing their Excelsior brand with elaborate booths. 2 Towns Cider ’s popular booth received a huge boost for the final Saturday session after they were named the first ever ‘cidermaker of the year’ at the award ceremony announced that morning. Ready To Drink (RTD) wine and alcohol based cans, hard seltzers, hard citrus and hard kombucha were sprinkled throughout the festival giving people the opportunity to have beverages they may not have typically leaned towards. For the first time ever, non beer drinkers could drink next to their beer enjoying friends. Some grumblings were heard about how it’s not the Great American BEER Festival, but the Great American BEVERAGE Festival. Current alcoholic beverage markets are mixed, beer sales down, less people drinking and more people cross drinking, the Brewers Association attempted to bring multiple beverage styles together to increase sales at GABF. A contemporary move by the organizers was needed to capture a wider audience and it seemed to work.
Not only did more Non-Alcoholic options have festival entry, they were front and center of each Experience Area. Right inside the entrance of themed sections Fright, Blast Off, Prost, Score, and Chill, there were pouring stations featuring a wide selection of 12oz and 16oz canned and bottled N/A offerings ranging from hop water, alcohol-free hazy IPAs, lagers and mocktails. These N/A tables had dozens of products that switched throughout the sessions. Trying dozens of out of market N/A beverages was an effective showcase for guests who hadn’t had much exposure to them so far. From Allagash Hop Water to Saranac Ginger Mule, this may have been the most N/A offerings at any one beer festival before it.
Experience Areas, a term developed by the Brewers Association, attempted to give people the feeling they aren’t just in a convention center. Each Experience Area wasn’t just signs in graphic design, there were details and differences put into each one. Fright, a halloween or horror themed experience was quite dark like a haunted house which made beer signs difficult to read. Even with string lights, and glowing spooky decor, it was still difficult to adjust your eyes to small text on a beer sign, but that should be easy to fix in future years. Blast Off was also dim and moody like space, but with a giant, inflatable astronaut swinging from the ceiling. The area became a top selection for selfies and group pics. The concept of playing Cornhole or riding a mechanical bull at Score, the sports themed experience, brought interactivity to the beer fest, but it takes up a lot of space which could have been used for mingling or line management. Activities at festivals have increased and should be requirements, but with GABF sessions being just a few hours and unlimited one ounce beverage samples, a Cornhole match takes valuable tasting time. Regardless of whether you had time to take in a game didn’t matter - the props set the vibe.
Other dedicated sections called Taprooms, include the National Black Brewers Association, State Brewer Guilds, Gluten Free Garden*, Collab Country* and others. Like the N/A tables, these booths allow access to beverages from breweries without booths of their own from around the States and beyond. The United Nations section was housed with the Blast Off Experience Area. Sponsored by a Elite Brands, a Denver based distributor, fifteen brands from outside the USA poured about thirty international beers. The State Brewer Guilds** offerings seem to get smaller every year. The National Black Brewers Association Taproom gave people the chance to get beers from ten Black Owned Breweries, including Vine St Brewing from Kansas City, MO. Vine St Brewing earned the Ted Mack Sr Award and was named 2024 Black Brewery of the Year at a GABF afterparty hosted at Spangalang Brewery. Crowns & Hops from Inglewood, CA was pouring with Beny Ashburn, the Dope CEO leading events around town.
The Brewers Association has a new Vice President of Meetings and Events, Lacy Gautier. It is exciting to think about what the future will be for GABF. Will the amount of sessions increase? Will the geographic regions return? Will there be a dedicated session to N/A, perhaps with a playground and kids invited? Will more ticket package options be offered, like group purchase discounts, food included, more limited access lounges only open to higher level ticket holders. Will the BA solicit international sponsorship? Will breweries and businesses outside of the convention center have complimentary event listings on the GABF website? Denver, CO is an amazing host city for large events and beyond the convention center walls are several influential breweries and beer business leaders. “Side events,” isn’t the right word because greater Denver area breweries, bars and restaurants host some of the best curated beer lists, creative themes and energetic parties around that have no official connection to GABF, except the timing. The list of official outside events is small because of the sponsorship level needed to be listed on the GABF website. Is there a future partnership in harnessing the power of the Brewers Association and the talent of local breweries?
GABF is looking forward to the future. Just about everyone working in craft beer in a post pandemic world knows there is no looking back. Owners, brewers, marketers and front of house team members continue to adjust their businesses to what their customers want, and the Brewers Association is slowly doing the same thing.
*Alliteration Alley
**Since my first GABF, this has always been my favorite part. I poured for the Oregon Brewers Guild for several years. It’s a way to showcase not only a state’s beer, but beer culture and provide tourism info. It’s a chance to meet other guild representatives, build rapport and bond over successes. I want this section to have way more guilds with a monetizing option. Most guilds are non profit and helping to further offset the production cost for them would go a long way. The Brewers Association and State and Regional guilds have similar goals, but helping more guilds have access to pour at GABF would display true partnership in promotion.
