The Great American Beer Festival takes place this Thursday through Saturday (Oct. 11-13, 2012) in Denver, CO, and eight Montana Breweries will be on hand. This Annual showcase by the Brewers Association is the largest collection of American beer and serves as one of the most prestigious competitions of its kind.
Tickets to the festival sold out in 45 minutes when they went on sale earlier this year. The 49,000 attendees will have the opportunity to sample from 2,700 beers by 578 U.S. breweries. The Montana breweries pouring during the festival are:
| Carter’s Brewing | Billings | ||
| Great Northern Brewing Company | Whitefish | ||
| Kettlehouse Brewing Company | Missoula | ||
| Lewis & Clark Brewing Company | Helena | ||
| Montana Brewing Company | Billings | ||
| Quarry Brewing LLC | Butte | ||
| Red Lodge Ales Brewing Company | Red Lodge | ||
| Überbrew | Billings |
The festival sold out in 45 minutes during the public ticket sale. New this year is a “fresh hop ale” category in the competition. This category showcases ales which are hopped exclusively with fresh, undried, “wet” hops.
Last year there were 3,930 beers in 83 categories entered in the competition. For this year, 84 categories of beer will be judged, covering 134 beer styles. Awards will be announced during a ceremony held Saturday morning. Thus far, I have been unable to locate a list of Montana entries for the competition.
