Top 15 Best American Beer Festivals
 Beer festivals are traditional
components of many cultures in many parts of the world, and the United States
is no different. The USA is home to numerous beer festivals that are held
year-round. Recently, home brewing – making beer at home – and microbrewing –
small, independent brewing companies serving a local area – have been taking off
in popularity. These "craft" beers take a lot of trial and error to create, as
well as time, creativity, and passion. Like any hobby that results in creation,
people who make beer and sell it ultimately like to show their creations off.
Thus the craft beer festival was born, and with more flavors and choices than
ever, the beer market is experiencing constant annual growth.
Recently larger brewing companies are starting to notice that the general
public is starting to drink more craft and local beers in certain regions.
Buying local initiatives in places like the Midwest and far Western regions of
the country have given small brewing companies a foothold, allowing them to compete with larger entities
based on economies of scale.
Many of these small companies get their start going to local beer festivals so
they can show off their goods and reach a larger audience. Below is a list of
fifteen brew and beer festivals in the United States that are worth trying out
if you’re in the area and are curious to see what’s going to be popular in the
coming season.
15) Savor – New York, New York
(Washington, D.C.)
A fairly young beer festival that has its original home in Washington D.C,
Savor caters to craft beer and fine cuisine lovers exclusively. With Savor it's not
only about the beer where at this particular festival, it is about the execution
of successful food pairings. Foodies will be delighted to find the best pairings for their favorite craft beers, and beer
lovers will be able to figure out what's best to serve alongside their favorite
brewery's offerings. Because it seeks to be a more intimate setting that other
beer festivals, Savor tends to sell out far in advance when compared to other
beer festivals. They tout their "reception-style sampling" of food and have an
impressive 70 craft breweries in attendance.
The Savor American Craft Beer Festival
Because of the smaller size of the festival, they also advertise that you will be able to have
conversations with current brewers and representatives from all of the different
brew houses at the festival. For beer enthusiasts this is a rare, and often
cherished, opportunity. It's billed to be a smaller, more casual event where you will be
able to pick the brain of brew masters who will be on hand to explain their
craft and the experience that they have had in creating their beers.
Event Site:
//www.savorcraftbeer.com/
14) Where the Wild Beers Are
(Minneapolis, Minnesota) & (Brooklyn, New York)
You're not likely to find a small kid in costume becoming king of the
monsters here, but whose to say that you won't? Where the Wild Beers Are is an
interesting event that caters to a very specific subset of brewers and beer
drinkers: Wild/Sour beer. Wild beers get their name because they have been
exposed to "wild" yeast instead of the pure, cleaned yeast that most brewers
use. Wild yeast is not dirty, but it does add a different and more of a tart to
the flavor of the beers. This different and tart flavor is the kind of beer you would be drinking at this particular festival.
Another difference between wild or sour beer and the typical beers that you can
buy is that these are almost always very dry because the yeast has broken down
almost all of the sugars during the fermentation process.
Patrons Tasting Beers at the Where the Wild Beers Are
Festival
One of the other things that sets Where the Wild Beers Are apart from other
beer events is that a crowd sourcing event for commercially produced beers is
held during the festival. What that
means is that you have to bring a few bottles of beer with you to share if you
expect to get into the event. Where the Wild Beers Are encourages people to look
up interesting beers to bring with them. You have to bring bottles to pass
around or you don't get in. Your ticket is essentially the beer that you bring
to share with others. This is an excellent way to hopefully try a few
beers that you've never heard of while showing off something that you find
particularly tasty.
Event Site:
//wherethewildbeersare.com/
13) World Beer Fest
(Various Cities)
Unlike the two newer festivals previously reviewed, the World Beer Festival is
nearly twenty years old. This is in part because it is the official beer
festival for All About Beer magazine. The
festival's mission is to educate people about beer quality and appreciation.
They also seek to help foster local beer cultures and communities. They seek to
create an extremely positive experience for everyone in attendance. World Beer
Festival also has a large collection of media outlets, including Wired and USA
Today, who have written about the festival.
An Attendee at the 13th Annual World Beer Festival Held in
Durham, North Carolina - 2008
By Ildar Sagdejev (Specious) (Own work) [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0],
via Wikimedia Commons
Educational experiences are at the core of the festival's mission, and the
World Beer Festival is a great place to learn about both tasting beers and making
them on your own. They call
the event "reminiscent of a meandering beer dinner". The event will take you
through eight different stations where you will taste beers from Carolina and
Brooklyn Breweries. Each of the eight stations will have a different pairing of
food to go along with the beer offerings. These stations will also include
discussion about how to properly brew beer and how to pair it with the right
selection of food to please guests at your own event. There will also be
educational materials on hand, along with free trial subscriptions of All About
Beer.
Event Site:
//allaboutbeer.com/
12) Great American Beer Festival
(Denver, Colorado)
 The
Great American Beer Festival holds a Guinness World Record for the largest
amount of beers available for tasting in one location. Here you will find almost 3,000 beers from
over 600 American breweries all in one place! The Great American Beer Festival takes pride in the
selection that it boasts and goes to great lengths to find the most choices for its attendees. Because of the size of the event, these beers are
arranged geographically by the regional location of a particular country. You can follow along the floor
with a map of your own.
There is no need to rush yourself through the selections that are offered.
The festival spans three full days in October and draws a crowd that pushes
almost fifty-thousand people. This well organized event and beer competition is
one of the largest of its kind in the entire country. On top of it's size, the
Great American Beer Festival is the top public brewing competition and public
tasting in the United States. Breweries are competing to win the festival's
recognition and monetary prizes, and above all else trying to bring back a
little piece of glory!
Event Site:
//www.greatamericanbeerfestival.com/
11) Fremont Oktoberfest
(Seattle, Washington)
Another three day festival, the Fremont Oktoberfest in Seattle Washington is an
outdoor event hosted towards the end of September. There are over 40 different
breweries in attendance at the Fremont Oktoberfest. The purpose of the event is
to showcase the upcoming fall brews. You can grab a taste at their covered beer
garden to get an idea of what sort of beers you can look forward to drinking
during the fall. It is kind of similar to a fashion designer revealing their
line a season or two ahead of actual production. Once you have a good idea of what you like, you can head
off to the Buxom (that means big) Beer Garden inside the Tasting Garden. Settle
in with a pint of your favorite beer and take a load off.
Patrons Celebrating at the Fremont Oktoberfest - Seattle,
Washington
The Fremont Festival is geared for people to be in for the long haul. Aside
from the main tasting gardens there are three lounges with food and movies
available in case you need to take a breather. Unlike other large festivals,
this one is geared to be a family event. There is a kid's area, a pumpkin
carving and also Dogtoberfest on the Sunday where you are welcome to bring your
furry best bud with you. Just don't let Fido have your beer.
Event Site:
//www.fremontoktoberfest.com/
10) Asheville Beer Week / Beer City Festival
(Asheville, North Carolina)
 The end of May through the first week of June is Asheville Beer Week. A newer
beer festival, this eight day event is only in it's second full year. This week
is more of a conference than a festival. There is beer tasting, seminars,
educational events, dinners, and keynote speakers all discussing - you guessed
it- beer! This event is all craft beers
and seeks to focus on the growing community of brewers in Asheville. Like most
cities of it's kind, Asheville has been hit with the growing popularity of micro
or craft brewing and this event seeks to capitalize on that while getting out
the local products for consumption.
There are mobile applications available to keep you up to date on what's
going on and inform you of any major event changes. The convention finishes off
with the Beer City Festival on the Rodger McGuire Green. The Beer City Festival
is a true festival with dozens of breweries and plenty of live music and food to
get you through. Unlike the Beer Week, the Festival itself has been going strong
for five years now and continues to grow every year.
Event Sites:
//ashevillebeerweek.com/
& //beercityfestival.com/
9) Columbus Beer Fest and Microbrew Fest (summer / winter)
(Columbus, Ohio)
 The Midwest is famous for
its beer. From Great Lakes Brewery in Cleveland, OH to Budweiser, large brewing
companies have grown and flourished over the years. Columbus Ohio is no exception and has
recently been hit with a large demand for local brewers and breweries. So much
so, that they host two large beer festivals in the summer every year. The Summer
Microbrew Festival is hosted outside at the historic North Market. The North
Market is a local, year
round farmer's market that operates out of a reclaimed shipping space just
outside of City Center, close to the center of downtown Columbus. Enjoy the
delicious tastes of Columbus while wandering around the wide assortment of
brewers.
Also in the summer is the Columbus Beer Fest at the LC Pavilion. This
festival hosts far more beer selections from a wider ranger of brewing
companies, and goes on for two whole days! This is the festival that happens once again,
in the winter months to showcase the next season of beers. The winters in
Columbus aren't suited to outdoor festivals, so they move the winter to the
Greater Columbus Convention Center. Both events host the same breweries, however
the collection and beers that they bring are vastly different. Seasonal
selections are unveiled by local micro and craft brewers and even larger local
beer companies such as the aforementioned Great Lakes get in on the action.
Event Sites:
//www.columbusbeerfest.com/
&
//www.northmarket.com/
8) Great Taste of the Midwest
(Madison Wisconsin)
The Great Taste of the Midwest is one of the largest and longest-running
craft beer festivals in North America. It hosts over 100 breweries and they serve
over 1000 different beers. It's pretty fitting for a city that calls itself the
Beer Capital of the Midwest! At the event you will have the chance to speak with
local brew house owners and brew masters about their craft and how they make
their beers. They try to keep ticket sales to a certain level to encourage
people to talk about the beers, take their time, and learn what they are
drinking.
What Will You Be Drinking At the Great Taste of the
Midwest?
Unlike many similar events, the Great Taste offers unlimited samples with the
price of admission. While they encourage everyone to enjoy themselves they
caution to not try everything and to take your time. They also provide you a
program guide that explains every beer at the event so you're pretty well informed before
you make your selection. These books are kept by many people so they can use it
as a beer guide later. Like many similar sized beer events, there are cell phone
applications available to keep you updated on any changes that happen as soon as
possible.
Event Site: //greattaste.org/
7) Great Alaska Beer and Barleywine Festival
(Alaska)
 One of the greatest barleywine festivals in the country, the Great Alaska
Beer and Barleywine Festival is also a diabetes benefit. Barleywine is a strong
style of ale that originated in England. It has a wide range of colors and can
be noted by it's high alcohol content. The funds raised at this event will go
directly back into the state community to assist in education and treatment of
childhood diabetes. They also fund a summer camp program to aid in social and
personal development. This is the primary focus of the event.
After the mission statement, the president of the Brewer's Guild in Alaska
goes on to explain the best ways to enjoy the beer selection. There are over 250
beers available at the event for you to partake in along with a lot of local
food. As with most beer events, you'll get a chance to have one on one
conversation with brew masters and learn about the differences between
barleywine and wine itself.
Event Site:
//auroraproductions.net/beer-barley.php
6) American Craft Beer Fest
(Boston, Massachusetts)
 The American Craft Beer Fest is in it's sixth year, and largest celebration of
American craft beer on the east coast. This year's festival included over 640
beers made by over 140 breweries. Quite an impressive collection! The festival
took place over two days and attracted 5,000 attendees. First-hand accounts say
the crowds were amazing. The event was held at the Seaport World Trade Center
Boston, and at one point, the line to get in stretched around the entire
circumference of the building. Thankfully, the event organizers knew what they
were doing and once inside, the crowds were well managed, and the attendees
could focus on the things that were actually important, namely the beer.
There were a huge variety of brews and brewers represented, from relatively
well known craft brewers, to cult hits, to local breweries, to new start-ups.
All in all, ACBF attracts a stellar lineup. In addition to hosting one of the
biggest collections of brewers and brews, the American Craft Beer Fest is
dedicated to supporting craft brewers, so they pay for all the beer served, and
also waive booth fees so there's no cost prohibiting brewers from showing up to
promote their wares.
Event Site:
//beeradvocate.com/acbf/
5) Oregon Brewer’s Festival
(Portland, Oregon)
 If you're looking for a big brew fest that draws the attention of brewers all
over the country, this is one you wouldn't want to miss. The Oregon Brewer's
Fest is currently celebrating its 26th year with a festival at Portland's
Waterfront Park. Over 80 different craft beers are available at this year's
Brewer's Festival, representing breweries from across the United States.
Everything is represented, including Belgians, Blondes, Pales, Pilsners,
Saisons, Wits, and more.
It's really no surprise that Portland would become the home to one of the
longest running and most beloved beer festivals in the US. As the Oregon
Brewer's Festival website puts it, "Oregon has a love affair with beer that
stretches back to 1888." That was when local Portland brewer Henry Weinhard
offered to pump beer from his brewery into a new fountain to celebrate its
unveiling. When microbreweries started popping up in the 1980's, Oregon was all
for it. Portland holds an unofficial title as the brewpub capital, with more
brewpubs and microbreweries than any other city in the world. The idea for the
Oregon Brewer's Festival came from a Portland brewer who had visited Oktoberfest
in Germany and want to recreate the exciting atmosphere of a big German brewery
back on his home turf.
Event site:
//www.oregonbrewfest.com/
4) Great Northern Beer Festival
(Eagle River, Wisconsin)
 Great Northern is an annual summer beer festival, and their website is
already counting down days until the next run in June 2014. The festival is held
on a campground in scenic Eagle River, Wisconsin. If you like camping, this is
the perfect place to go for a beer festival. Set up your camp one night, enjoy
nature in the morning, and fill yourself up with beer in the afternoon. If
you're not local and don't like camping, don't worry. There are also plenty of
motels around.
This is a regional festival, which means you get a unique opportunity to try
brews from all the small breweries from around Wisconsin. When you enter the
festival, you get a list of everything that's available, and even a little
pencil to take notes. People here want you to taste things you haven't
experienced before and to remember what you taste. And of course you get some
local musical entertainment to go along with it.
The hosts of the Great Northern Beer Festival encourage people to stick
around for the entire weekend and enjoy the local environment. Eagle River has
plenty of restaurants, shops, resorts, and fishing spots to keep people occupied
for a day or two after they're done filling themselves with delicious brews.
Event site:
//greatnorthernbeerfestival.com/
3) Raley Field Brewfest
(Sacramento, California)
 Raley
Field is known first and foremost as the home of the Sacramento River Cats
baseball team, but baseball is only the tip of the iceberg as far as what really goes on
around there. They are set up to be the happening place in town, no matter what the
occasion. They host all sorts of community events including concerts, charity
walks, food competitions, soccer, and probably everything else you might think
of. And, of course, a big summer beer festival.
The Brewfest is a partnership between Raley Field, Nothern California
Brewer's Guild, and Wingstop, and takes place every year in June. The 2013
Brewfest attracted over 60 brew vendors, and the list gets longer every year.
Good entertainment is a necessity for a festival, and the Brewfest brings in a
live band to hang out at Raley Field and please the crowd. This year's band of
choice was The Remedies, a local Sacramento band with a large and varied
repertoire.
There was plenty of food to choose from too, including barbeque, sausages,
and all the other staples. Tickets included ten beer tastings, but there were
more available for purchase for those people who just couldn't get enough.
Event site:
//www.raleyfield.com/
2) Burning CAN Beer Fest
(Lyons, Colorado)
 This is one exciting beer festival! Burning CAN is a gathering of 35
breweries who can, hosted by Lyons' local Oskar Blues. It's designed to coincide
with the Lyons Outdoor Games so sports spectators can try out a few new brews
while they watch the events of the games. The festival is timed to go along with
the BMX dirt-jumping competition to provide some entertainment in the form of
"bike-jumping bad-assery!"
Oskar Blues started as a brewery in 1999, and in 2002 made the monumental
decision to package their beers in a can. Some people just hate canned beers,
but even most of those are willing to admit that Oskar Blue's stuff is good.
Since then, they've come out with a good handful of different brews, including
Dale'ss Pale Ale, Mama'ss Little Yella Pils, Old Chub, Deviant Dales, G'Knight
Imperial Red, GUBNA, Tin FIDY, and B. Stiff & Sons Root Beer. They're proud of
their canned brews, which is why they decided to host the Burning CAN festival
for "breweries who CAN." Part of the proceeds are donated to the Town of Lyons
Department of Parks and Recreation and to the Colorado Brewers Guild.
Event site:
//lyonsoutdoorgames.com/burning-can-festival/
1) The Festival
(Portland, Maine)
 Sometimes the name says it all, and sometimes it doesn't say much of
anything. A simple name like, The Festival, doesn't seem to sound like there is
too much going on. Do not let a name fool you! Beer
aficionados from around the world gather at The Festival similar to global wine
tastings held in Europe. This includes brewers
planning to showcase their latest creations, and owners of world-renowned restaurants
looking for beer to make proper additions to their menus
There will be special tastings offered for some beers, including some from
very old vintage bottles. Beyond the wide selection of great beers at The
Festival, the primary draw for beer lovers is the opportunity to see so many big
names in the industry gathered in one place. Says one man planning to drive to
The Festival from his home in Pennsylvania, "Some of these brewers—in our weird,
demented, beer geek world—are like celebrities, and you don't get to meet these
people on a daily basis."
Event site:
//www.the-festival.us/
Conclusion
Beer Festivals are not just for alcoholics, but rather are great opportunities
to socialize with others and have a truly great time experimenting with
different types of beers. It really can be amazing to see what microbrewers are
capable of brewing, with all the strange and amazing flavors they are able to
incorporate into their beers. They put time and effort to make their beers and are, on average,
extremely happy to share stories of how the beers came about. These stories
include what they did, and
how many tries it took them to find the perfect batch to get the results they
desired. The point of a beer festival is to find something you like and learn
about the creation while enjoying yourself with like minded people. No
experience is needed and there will be plenty of people to teach you things
about beer the entire time you are attending any one of these festivals.
Some festivals are geared specifically to smaller and local brews, while
others are looking to simply have the largest party that they can while showing
off seasonal creations. Depending on where and when you hit up a brew festival,
you are bound to have different experiences. Beer festivals are great places to
meet new people and try new things!
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