Best BeerFest

Went to Columbus Winter Beerfest for the first time last weekend and had a blast. From all the varieties of different beers to the live music is was an amazing time. Anyone else have good beerfest reviews?

I was there as well. I liked the guys who didn't take your tasting stubs

Best part of the night was that I walked away with 2 cases of empty Rogue Mogul Madness bombers!

well the best one I have been to is the GABF but I have also had fun at some small ones....most recently the fresh hop festival in Denver.

GABF is definitely the best I've been to, but I always look forward to the Spring Beer & Wine Fest in Portland the most. In addition to the beer and wine, there's just tons of variety such as local cheeses, olives, spirits, etc. and it isn't nearly as crowded as most of the other fests I've been to.

The Vail Big Beers Belgians and Barley Wines had an absolutely incredible showing of great beers. Plus, you can do worse than Vail,CO in the winter.

2009 LA Beer Week Festival.

They didn't market it very well so they had all these vendors show up with tons of excellent and hard-to-find beers, but only a few hundred people showed up. At the time I estimated there might have been as much as a full corny keg of beer per person at the festival. 4 hours of all-you-can-drink awesome beer with no lines whatsoever.

And of course vendors sent their head brewers to man most of the booths so you got to meet some really awesome brewers as well.

Most beer festivals I have been to have been a blast. Really had a good time couple years ago at the Michigan Winter Beer Festival at Fifth Third Ballpark. Last year was great at Traverse City Winter Brews and Music Festival (or something like that...) Both of those were outdoors in the cold (tents in TC) but it was still a great beer and music event.

Been to a couple of "Brewhaha"s in GR and that's pretty good time too. Indoors though, so you can stay warm. Just don't drop your souvenir glass on the concrete floor.

Never been to the GABF, but I've heard lots of good things about it. Just seems like TOO MUCH BEER for me. (j/k, but it is too far away...)

Great Taste of the Midwest.

Great Lakes Brewfest in Racine, WI. September.

Telluride Blues and Brews!! Great music with Sierra Nevada the main beer sponsor then on Saturday the Grand Tasting. 200+ different brews to sample from noon until 4:00pm.

anyone ever been to the mammoth lake festival in CA? found it on the blues festival site, looks like fun.

I went and had a great time, The only downside was the volunteers (thanks!) weren't able to provide much info on the beers. Not sure if they were given cards or anything about the beer but that would've helped.

Homercidal said:

Most beer festivals I have been to have been a blast. Really had a good time couple years ago at the Michigan Winter Beer Festival at Fifth Third Ballpark. Last year was great at Traverse City Winter Brews and Music Festival (or something like that...) Both of those were outdoors in the cold (tents in TC) but it was still a great beer and music event.

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We will be going to the Winter Beer Fest next month (which happens to be my birthday weekend!! :rockin We are staying downtown the night before so we can hit the microbrews and still be within walking (stumbling) distance to the hotel.

Last year we went to the Frankenmuth World Expo of Beer and had a great time. As DubBrew has said, it would have been nice for the volunteers to have a small idea of what they were pouring. Oh well, can't have it all!

We also went to the Detroit Fall Beer Fest in Eastern Market last year. That was a good time, met some good people and talked with a few of the brewers. I'm looking forward to next month, though.

Columbus winter beerfest was awesome i agree and i believe only 2 tables collected tickets

Extreme Beerfest in Boston is a blast. So many crazy beers there.

Belgium comes to Cooperstown at Ommegang is a great time too, nothing like a belgian beer fest in the summer sun then camping overnight on the brewery grounds.

I haven't actually been to it but I heard Savor in DC is a pretty good time

Here is Seattle I've been to a few, Belgian brewfest (the second year is today actually), A summer one at St Edwards park on fathers day (this one is pretty big, kinda like drinking from the fire hose then stumbling away) The Fremont Octoberfest (very crowded, college kid and hipstery) and my favorite, the Cask Beerfest in March at Fisher pavilion (this one is smaller, only 60-90 beers, but more tasting tokens are free, and only about 300 people fit in the room, so you have more time to talk to brewers, very intimate)

Ive been to the American Craft Beer Fest in Boston. Great time, lots of different beers to try. My only gripe is that it is not long enough. Two hours wasn't enough time to hit every booth I wanted to try.

Beer Summit in Boston has several fests throughout the year which are always a good time too. Not as big as the ACBF, but at least there was plenty of time to try what I wanted.

I-Hop said:

Ive been to the American Craft Beer Fest in Boston. Great time, lots of different beers to try. My only gripe is that it is not long enough. Two hours wasn't enough time to hit every booth I wanted to try.

Beer Summit in Boston has several fests throughout the year which are always a good time too. Not as big as the ACBF, but at least there was plenty of time to try what I wanted.

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ACBF is pretty sweet, though to me it felt expensive being that I'd had most of the beer that was there. Though, there were some breweries I can't really try like Goose Island and stuff which was great. I definitely enjoyed it but it was super crowded and the lines were crazy.

Maybe I'm just spoiled by the Extreme Beer Fest.

edit: wait, it's 4 hours, isn't it?

The World beer fest came to Richmond, VA for the first time last year... lots of fun, although it was like 500 degrees outside.

Plan on going again this year and see what they do differently.

The World Beer Fest was in Columbia, SC yesterday. I went to the 1st session and it was awesome. 4 hours of tasting beer was pretty awesome. Especially some of the 12 % ABV!

I tasted a lot of great beers, but the best that I had was Smuttynose IPA.

Great time!

There is one beer festival we go to every year no matter what. It is small, but our favorite.

Hickory Hops in Hickory, NC. It is usually the first festival of the year. Very well laid out. 6 hours long. $35. Always good bands. Nice surroundings. Pretty much all of the North Carolina breweries. It's just a really fun festival.

Cheers.

My favorite: http://www.nerax.org/

The Michigan Brewers Guild puts on some good festivals. I went to my first one July of 2010 in Ypsi. Liked it so much went to the fall fest in Eastern Market (detroit) and will be attending the winter fest.

Yukon_Skiers said:

The Michigan Brewers Guild puts on some good festivals. I went to my first one July of 2010 in Ypsi. Liked it so much went to the fall fest in Eastern Market (detroit) and will be attending the winter fest.

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See you there!