Head to the fest with a game plan.
I'm an advocate of drinking and supporting local because it helps keep our local beer culture so uniquely special and strong. It also happens to put fresher, tastier beer in your glass: A three-month-old bottled IPA from across the country is not going to be as fresh as that pour of Juicy Banger off the draft line at Station 26.
That said, there's one time of year when I'm really focused on not drinking Colorado beer — for a few hours, anyway. That's during the Great American Beer Festival, which takes place this year October 6 through 8 at the Colorado Convention Center. While Colorado beers are ample at the fest , a majority of the breweries pouring beer are from outside our state.
Here are ten non-Colorado standouts that should not be missed at the 2022 Great American Beer Festival: While excelling in a wide range of styles, Bottle Logic is perhaps best known for its imperial stouts.Better known for the name it operates under, Sam Adams Brewing, the folks here always bring one of the more interesting beers to the festival with Utopias, a 28 percent-ABV behemoth of a beer. It's a blend of batches, aged up to sixteen years in barrels at its Boston Brewery and finished in various exotic casks that change with each release.