Great American Beer Festival

ONCE
again, beer lovers and industry workers from all fifty
states and dozens of countries gathered in the welcoming
environs of Denver, Colorado’s Convention Center to
celebrate the success of the craft brewing industry and to
witness its continued growth at the annual Great American
Beer Festival.

By
all objective business measures, the event was a tremendous
success. The 26th Great American Beer Festival (GABF)
celebrated the feat of selling out the entire event before
the first beer was poured in the opening session on an
unseasonably warm evening near the Rockies. The event broke
nearly every other record it had previously set. While final
numbers are not yet available, more than 46,OOO people
attended the four sessions of the festival, where they
enjoyed 1884 beers from 4O8 breweries – a long way from its
incarnation as an annual event in 1982. Held at Boulder’s
Harvest House Hotel, the first GABF welcomed 8OO attendees
who enjoyed 4O beers from 22 breweries.

Managing the festival’s
popularity continues to pose challenges for the organizers
at the Brewers Association. While it remains a must attend,
today’s GABF is no longer the simple, cozy event of years
past. The GABF is a slickly produced show, tightly
coordinated, and business first. Limited by the space
available at the convention center, the event appears to
have reached its maximum attendance. Every inch of the
convention floor was occupied this year, with educational
seminars, cooking demonstrations and a silent disco floor
where dancers with headphones silently grooved. Brewers and
owners from breweries large and small participated in forum
discussions about beer styles, the experience of women in
beer and the future of extreme beer.

The event also served as an
opportunity for the beer industry to mourn the recent
passing of pioneering beer writer Michael Jackson. The
author who sold more than two million copies of his numerous
books on beer, whiskey and English pubs, Jackson, 65, died
of a heart attack at his home in London, England, on August
3O, 2OO7. A long-time fixture at the festival, with his tape
recorder and ruffled appearance, Jackson consulted with
founder Charlie Papazian about the first GABF while the
latter was in attendance at the Great British Beer Festival.
When Papazian pondered aloud that Americans should stage a
festival like the British event, Jackson is reported to have
quipped, “Yes, but where will you get the beer?”

Fast forward more than a
quarter of a century and Papazian stood on the GABF’s awards
stage to eulogize Jackson, known as the Beer Hunter, in
front of an audience of thousands of American brewers and
beer lovers. The usually reserved Papazian delivered a
rousing oratory for his friend, telling stories of Jackson’s
early travels around the world in search of new beers. The
tribute culminated in a tasteful video homage to the writer,
including clips of his appearances on American late night
television.

After paying the proper
respects, the Brewers Association began the much anticipated
awards presentation. Over the course of three days, more
than 1OO judges sipped, smelled and evaluated 2793 beers
from 473 breweries in an unbelievable 75 beer style
categories (up from 67 in just 2OO4). In the end, the judges
awarded 222 medals to 142 breweries. Thirty-percent of all
breweries participating left with a medal, with 62
breweries, or 13 percent of the total participants, winning
a gold medal. Only 19 New England breweries participated in
this year’s festival and the region continued to experience
some difficulty in the competition, bringing home only five
medals. Cambridge Brewing Company’s Cambridge Amber won a
silver medal in the Cellar or Unfiltered Beer category;
Allagash Brewing Company’s Victor won a bronze medal in the
Experimental Beer category and its Four Ale won a bronze
medal in the Belgian Abbey Ale category, Portsmouth Brewery
won a silver medal in the Wheat Wine category, and Boston
Beer Company won another gold medal for its Samuel Adams
Double Bock in the German-style Strong Bock
category.

The fiercest competition
continued to be in the American style categories, with the
American-style India Pale Ale drawing 12O entries and the
Fruit and Vegetable Beer category growing from 46 entries in
2OO6 to 94 entries this year. The Large Brewing Company of
the Year Award went to Pabst Brewing Company; Mid-Size
Brewing Company of the Year Award to Firestone Walker
Brewing of Paso Robles, California; Small Brewing Company of
the Year Award to Port Brewing & The Lost Abbey of San
Marcos, California; Large Brewpub of the Year Award to
Redrock Brewing Company of Salt Lake City, Utah; and Small
Brewpub of the Year Award to Montana Brewing Company of
Billings, Montana.

Beyond the numbers, the
real story of the festival was the continued success of the
American craft brewing industry and its effects on the
country’s largest brewing companies. In August, the Brewers
Association released mid-year numbers that demonstrated that
craft brewing is far from a tech stock bubble campaign. The
volume of craft beer sold in the first half of 2OO7 rose 11
percent compared to the already explosive growth of 2OO6 and
dollar growth increased 14 percent, leading craft beer to
exceed 5 percent of total beer sales for the first
time.

The response of the larger
brewers to the success of the craft brewers has been mixed
to date but their interest has clearly been piqued.
SABMiller’s American brewing unit continues to push its
Leinenkugel’s brands, including the Sunset Wheat, and the
Coors Brewing Company aggressively leverages its popular
Blue Moon brand. While the festival stood as a testament to
the continued strength of the craft brewing segment, two
events that quietly occurred before the event served to put
craft brewers on notice that the big brewers do not plan to
cede ground.

A few weeks before the
GABF, America’s third largest brewery announced plans to
form a specialty beer unit to develop high-end beers. As
part of an internal news release, the Molson Coors Brewing
Company informed workers and distributors of the creation of
a new “brand incubation company” called the AC Golden
Brewing Company, LLC. The company refused to comment on when
or where any new brands might be released. The announcement
is another example of how Coors is directing greater focus
and resources to the changing American beer marketplace. The
brewery has a long history of developing and nurturing
better beer brands, including the Blue Moon brand that it
created in 1995 at its own brewpub, the SandLot Brewery at
Coors Field. The Blue Moon Belgian White and its off-shoot
brands have enjoyed great success and now account for more
than 65O,OOO barrels of production.

In rejecting a national
rollout, Coors plans to follow the Blue Moon playbook by
slowly developing new brands under the AC Golden Brewing
Company label. While the company refuses to discuss brands
under development, several recent trademark and label
application filings have raised speculation about the unit’s
possible new offerings. Coors’ latest filings include
applications for Pale Moon and Pale Moon Light, which are
possible offshoots of the Blue Moon brand. The brewery has
also filed a trademark application for Herman Joseph’s.
Named after Coors co-founder Adolph Herman Joseph Coors, the
brand was first released as an above-premium ale in 198O
before being discontinued in 1989. Buoyed by its success in
the craft beer category, the brewery may be ready to take
another run with this namesake brand.

With the festival’s
emphasis on education, one long-time GABF supporter recently
announced plans to start his own beer testing program.
Created by author and Brewers Association employee Ray
Daniels, the Cicerone Certification Program will soon be
available to test the knowledge of individuals who sell and
serve beer. The Cicerone program will certify beer industry
employees on a variety of subjects, including beer styles,
culture, tasting, ingredients, and pairing beer with food.
To encourage students of varying interest levels to
participate, the program will offer three separate levels of
certification, including Certified Beer Server, Certified
Cicerone and Master Cicerone, with costs ranging from $49 to
$495. “Only those who have passed the requisite test of
knowledge and tasting skill can call themselves a Cicerone,”
Daniels says.

As a past director of craft
beer marketing for the Brewers Association, Daniels is no
stranger to the brewing industry. A graduate and faculty
member of the Siebel brewing school, Daniels has written,
edited and published more than a dozen books related to beer
and organized the now defunct Chicago Real Ale
Festival.

While the concept of a beer
sommelier is not new, beer enthusiasts have never been able
to find a word that captures the essence of a certified beer
expert. Daniels chose the word cicerone, which means a guide
who explains matters of archaeological, antiquarian,
historic or artistic interest, after rejecting several other
possibilities. “My hunt covered a good bit of ground
from things like ‘Savant de Beer’ to made-up words like
‘Cereviseur’, but none rang true,” Daniels says. “As many in
the beer industry who I talked to objected to association of
the word ‘sommelier’ with beer, some new word was needed.”
With the development of his eccentrically named
certification program, Daniels hopes to foster a greater
sense of respect for beer while avoiding some of the
snootiness and pretension associated with wine
stewardship.