Beer Essentials: Beer Festivals

One way to get better acquainted with beer is to gas up your car and take a brewery road trip. With gas prices to worry about, though, why not go to a beer festival and let the brewers bring the beer to you? There are hundreds of festivals each year, from tastings at your local beer bar to huge, multi-day bashes that attract thousands. They're a good excuse to get away for the weekend, and a change of pace from the usual routine. Beer festivals give small, family-owned breweries a chance to put their best foot forward: seasonal specialties and pride-and-joy brews. And the people pouring the beer are often the brewers themselves. If you've never been to a beer festival, you're missing out on a chance to make new friends, do some good for the community, and, of course, learn about beer. You probably never realized that education could be this much fun.

First Tier Fests

Oktoberfest, Munich, Germany. Beer culture's most famous tradition. Munich's Big Six breweries erect huge tents on the festival grounds then invite the world to sway to oom-pah bands, eat pork knuckles and bratwurst, and wash it all down with liter mugs of beer. September-October, www.oktoberfest.de/en.

The Great American Beer Festival, Denver, CO. From its modest beginnings, the GABF has become the nation's biggest beer festival and most prestigious competition. With a dozen breweries, Denver is a great beer town in its own right. Even the mayor owns a brewpub. September, www.gabf.org.

The Great British Beer Festival, London. It's the "Biggest Pub in the World," with 500 Real Ales from all parts of the United Kingdom. Be warned: the 'samples' come in full and half-pints, no 'sipping' for the Brits. August, gbbf.org.

Mondial de la Biere, Montreal, QC. There are hundreds of beers, with an emphasis on breweries from Quebec and Belgium. Admission is free, and the festival venue is a downtown rail station--talk about accessibility! The festival program also features educational panels and culinary demonstrations. late May-early June, festivalmondialbiere.qc.ca.

Oregon Brewers Festival, Portland, OR. If you're serious about beer, you must visit Portland. Why not do it when the weather is nice and Oregon's brewing community comes to town? Seventy-two breweries, half from out of state, are invited to take part. The festival venue is within walking distance of a number of beer bars. July, oregonbrewfest.com.

A World of Festivals

Kona Brewers Fest. Top breweries from Hawaii and the mainland take part. There's traditional Hawaiian entertainment and food prepared by island chefs. Kailua-Kona, HI, March, konabrewersfestival.com.

Empire State Brewing & Music Festival. More than 75 breweries, many from in-state plus live music and New York State food. Syracuse, NY, July, empirebrewfest.com.

Kerstbierfestival. A two-day Christmas beer festival offering more than 100 Belgian Christmas and winter beers, including world classics and hard-to-find beers. Essen, Belgium, December, kerstbierfestival.be.

Colorado Brewers' Festival. Thirty-six Colorado breweries, including six from Fort Collins, descend on the historic Old Town district for a two-day celebration of beer. Fort Collins, CO, June, downtownfortcollins.com.

State College Brew Expo. Higher zymurgical education. A chance to hear from leading brewers and beer writers and sample more than 150 beers. State College, PA, July, scbrewexpo.com.


Oktoberfest-Zinzinnati, USA. The largest Oktoberfest outside Munich, featuring a mass Chicken Dance and a kazoo band with celebrity bandleaders. Cincinnati, OH, September, oktoberfest-zinzinnati.com.

Michigan Brewers Guild Summer Festival. A two-day event with 40 breweries taking part. Big beers, some as high as 20% ABV, are a festival tradition. Ypsilanti, MI, July, michiganbrewersguild.org.

Great Alaska Beer & Barleywine Festival. Hardy Alaskans defy winter by sampling more than 150 barley wines, winter warmers, and other potent beers. Anchorage, AK, January, auroraproductions.net.

New England Real Ale Exhibition. NERAX organizers tap 80 firkins of ale, half from the States and half from the British Isles. Somerville, MA, May, nerax.org.

Vermont Brewers Festival. Fifteen Vermont breweries, joined by an equal number from out-of-state, pour in this invitation-only event on the shores of Lake Champlain. Burlington, VT, July, vermontbrewers.com.

Toronto's Festival of Beer. Historic Fort York is the setting, and the lineup includes 200 beers from nearly all of Ontario's microbreweries. Toronto, ON, August, beerfestival.ca.

The Legendary Boonville Beer Festival. The Anderson Valley Brewing Company invites more than 60 area breweries to town for a day of beer and entertainment. Boonville, CA, May, avbc.com.

World Beer Festival. Hundreds of beers, ranging from European legends to Southern craft brews. The Durham festival site is the ballpark where "Bull Durham" was filmed. October (Durham) and April (Raleigh) NC, allaboutbeer.com.

More Festivals

AleFest Cleveland. Cleveland, OH, April, alefest.com. One of several stops on the AleFest circuit. More than 150 beers, including cask selections.

Belgium Comes to Cooperstown. Cooperstown, NY, July, ommegang.com. A celebration of Belgian beer and culture, held on the grounds of Brewery Ommegang.

Berlin Beer Festival. Berlin, Germany, August, bierfestival berlin.de. Karl Marx Allee becomes a mile-long beer garden, with beer from all over the world.

Cannstatter Volksfest. Stuttgart, Germany, September-October, cannstatter volksfest.de. The 161st edition, featuring traditional German food, entertainment, and, of course, beer.

Extreme Beer Fest, Boston, MA, February, beeradvocate.com. A two-session event with more than 100 extreme beers and guest experts to talk about them.

Friday the Firkenteenth. Grey Lodge Pub, Philadelphia, PA, dates vary, greylodge.com. This neighborhood pub celebrates every Friday the 13th with 13--or more--casks of ale.

Gitchee Gumee Brewfest. Superior, WI, April, ggbrewfest.com. This northern Wisconsin festival brings together more than 30 breweries from the Upper Great Lakes.

Great Arizona Beer Festival. Tempe, AZ, March, azbeer.com. Spring training for beer lovers. More than 100 microbrewed beers plus food and live music.

Great Eastern Invitational Microbrewery Festival. Adamstown, PA, June, August, and October, stoudtsbeer.com. Three weekend festivals, featuring 50 of the area's breweries, held at Stoudt's Brewery.

Great International Beer Festival. Providence, RI, November, beerfestamerica.com. More than 260 beers and ciders plus a beer competition sponsored by Yankee Brew News.

Great Japan Beer Festival. Tokyo and Osaka, Japan, May. beertaster.org. More than 100 Japanese craft beers, and the awarding of the Japan Beer Cup.

Indiana Microbrewers Festival. Indianapolis, IN, July, brewersofindianaguild.com. Two hundred beers from 20 Indiana breweries, plus games and other entertainment.

Maine Brewers' Festival. Portland, ME, November, mainebrew.com. America's other Portland, a good beer town in its own right, plays host to 20 Maine craft breweries.

Mountain Brewers Beer Fest. Idaho Falls ID, June, northamericanbrewers.org. Hundreds of beers, many from the Mountain West, are available at the Sandy Downs race course.

National Winter Ales Festival. Manchester, England, January, camra.org.uk. Winter ales from breweries from throughout the United Kingdom. Presented by the Campaign for Real Ale.

Old Dominion Beer Festival. Ashburn, VA, June, olddominion.com. This D.C.-area brewery invites more than 50 of the region's breweries for three days of beer and music.

San Diego Festival of Beer. San Diego, CA, September, sdbeerfest.org. Thousands of festival-goers converge on downtown to taste more than 100 microbrews.

Seattle International Beerfest. Seattle, late June-early July, seattlebeerfest.com. More than 100 beers--some of them rarities--from 20 different countries, served under the Space Needle.

Sharp Edge European Beerfest. Pittsburgh, PA, June, sharpedgebeer.com. A two-day celebration with 101 foreign beers plus the food and music of Europe.

Starkbierzeit. Munich, Germany, March or April, discover munich.info/whatson_munich_starkbierfest.htm. A centuries-old monastic tradition has become a celebration of powerful doppelbocks and Bavarian culture.

TAP New York. Hunter, NY, April, tapnewyork.com. Originated at the Culinary Institute of America, and features gourmet food along with 100 New York State beers.

Washington Brewers Guild Cask Beer Festival. Seattle, WA, October, washingtonbrewersguild.org. One of the few American festivals with an all-cask lineup, with more than 30 Washington breweries pouring.

Feature article, All About Beer magazine, Volume 28, no. 2, May 2007.