2,400 beers in one place. Is this heaven?

To outsiders, Oktoberfest is the greatest beer celebration in the world. To those in the know, however, the Great American Beer Festival is the place to be. Where else can you find 2,375 beers in one place? If you’ve never seen a beer list that long, give your scrolling finger a solid stretch and then check this out. Seriously, limber up. Don’t be a hero.

Every year, many of the greatest breweries from around the country gather in Denver, CO to show off their brews for Joe Craft 6-Pack and professional judges alike. If you’ve ever seen a beer referenced as a gold medal winner, this is most likely where they won that award. There are 83 different categories of beer, so there are plenty of medals to go around. That doesn’t mean it’s easy to win one though. Several categories, like American-style IPA and American-style Pale Ale, have over 100 entries. Most hover around 40-50 entries, and the Gluten-Free Beer brought up the low end last year, with only 13. Let’s be honest though, no one wants to drink a gluten free beer.

The thing I like about their award system is that it’s a blind taste test, and the award goes to who best represent the category. By now you probably know my feelings about beer ratings, so it’s good to see that, “I like this beer a lot,” isn’t high on the list of criteria. While I’m sure some judges are able to identify some of the entries, by not attaching a name to the sample, the upstarts have an equal chance to take the crown as one of the favorites in the microbrewing community do. Just because craft brews are small potatoes in terms of the total beer market doesn’t mean their aren’t big dogs among them. If you need a good way to pick out a new beer to try, wait until I release the winners on Monday, and then go out and but yourself a gold medal winner.

Just looking at numbers can make it difficult to see just how much this festival has grown since its inception. This infographic makes it clear that craft beer has really taken off in the past 30 years (the major jump actually occurred in the 90′s).

Infograpic via Joey McDaniel 

Check out more about the Great American Beer Festival.

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