Travelling from Orange County, CA to Denver, CO is a pretty short flight. Arriving at the airport, I was extremely excited to hope on the plane, but the airline had different ideas. Our flight was delayed by an hour, which at first made me sad. Thankfully, the Jack Daniels and Coca Cola I consumed aboard the flight made the delay slip into my memory. The first highlight of my trip to GABF was not being charged for my mixed drink. I was pretty excited and smiled and thanked the flight attendant as we deplaned our aircraft.
Arriving in Denver, it hit me, we were here! The land of craft beer! But first, we had to take a shuttle to our rental car facility. I had reserved a compact car and of course, at the rental agency the employee tried to up-sell me. Would I like to drive a BMW for only $65 extra per day? Would I like to upgrade to a full size car for $30 extra per day? I politely declined all of the employees offers. When she finally checked to see which car I would be driving, she told me they were sold out of the compact cars. At first I thought, great, now I will HAVE to drive a BMW! To my surprise, I was told I would be able to drive an SUV for the compact car price. Second upgrade of my trip!
After our short drive to our hotel, which was located ten miles or so from the Convention Center, we were told that the room we had requested was no longer available. I started to laugh as the front desk clerk told me they were going to upgrade us to a two room suite. At this point, I was really starting to love Denver and I hadn't even been to GABF yet!
Rad table at New Belgium |
Grabbing a bottle of fresh Fat Tire! |
My favorite part of the tour was visiting the bottling and packaging area. This is where we were each allowed to take a bottle of freshly bottled Fat Tire off of the line. I felt like I was in the opening credits of Laverne & Shirley! We were also allowed to taste fresh Fat Tire directly from the fermenter.
Fresh Fat Tire from the fermenter. |
Our tour guide was very patient as we snapped photos and took our time trying to take in all of the sights. I loved seeing all of the bicycles along our tour. After working at New Belgium for a year, every employee is given a bicycle. What a cool idea! The sheer magnitude of the bottling and packaging facility was a bit overwhelming. Robotic arms were moving cases of beer with ease while we just watched in awe as they were completing their tasks.
O'Dell Brewing's Tasting Room |
Oskar Blues' Tasting Room |
Upon finishing up at Oskar Blues Brewery, we headed back into downtown Denver. This is when I had my first opportunity to visit GABF. I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I entered the massive convention center. My first thought after receiving my tasting glass and entering the doors of the convention center was simply, "wow!"
Live music at GABF |
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