Top 10 Beer Festivals

Beer festivals are very popular around the world. They are occasions of good cheer and opportunities for the community to gather and celebrate its passion for great beer. Of these beer festivals, the top ten are listed below.

10.  American Craft Beer Fest

Bringing better beer to the population is the motto of the BeerAdvocate founders Jason and Todd Alström. The American Craft Beer Fest is held in June at Boston’s Seaport World Trade Center, featuring three sessions. This festival sees more than 15000 visitors who arrive to sample the more than 300 prime craft beers that are entered by over 75 breweries.

9.  Classic City Brewfest

You’ll get to sample a huge variety of beers at this fest from all over the world. There is gourmet and strong beers to tempt the most discerning beer lover, along with an enjoyable festival where you can learn how these beers are made. Beer making lectures are given along with information on how to drink responsibly.

8.  Fresh Hop Ale Festival

The fresh hop ale beer has to be produced with hops picked no longer than twenty-four hours ago. This makes this fresh hop ale festival unique. Every year, in September, Fresh Hop Ale is produced depending on the growth of the hop harvest. Freshly brewed ale is brought to the panel where judges pick the best three out of the lot.

7.  Great Alaska Beer and Barley Wine Festival

This festival brings together over 40 breweries, more than 150 beers and thousands of visitors to celebrate great winter beers in the middle of winter in Alaska. A nominal fee allows visitors and beer lovers alike to buy a glass of beer, beer tasting tickets and program guide.

6.  World Beer Festival

This festival is a charity benefit event and sees 300 Southeast specialty beers from 150 national and international breweries. Each year the charity fund is aimed towards developing some part of Raleigh, North Carolina, where the festival is held.

5.  Belgium Comes to Cooperstown

The Belgium Comes to Cooperstown event occurs on a Saturday in July. Visitors can sample over 200 Belgian-style and true Belgian beers, eat, enjoy live music and dance around a bonfire. This is a true blue beer festival with the elements of a party thrown into it.

4.  Great Taste of the Midwest

One of the top beer festivals in the United States, the Great Taste of the Midwest sees over a hundred microbreweries and brewpubs from the Midwest every year, sharing beer and cheer. The festival is held in Olin-Turville Park, overlooking Lake Monona in Madison, Wisconsin.

3.  Vermont Brewers Festival

The Vermont Brewers Festival is an invitees-only festival, and the general public is not encouraged to attend. Vermont is the natural home for this long running outdoor brewers festival, as there are more breweries here than in any other American state. Invited brewers enter their beers, which are judged based on their distinctiveness and quality. The brewing capacity of the breweries is also a criterion for judgment.  This festival sees a wide variety of offerings that include Belgian-style white beers, traditional lagers, fruit beers, ales and barley wines.

2.  Oregon Brewers Festival

This is one of America’s longest running and most popular craft beer festivals, ideal for lovers of craft beer. Held in Portland, Oregon, the Oregon Brewers Festival provides an opportunity for people to taste and familiarize themselves with regard to the kinds of craft beer styles from across America. Over eighty craft breweries participate in this four-day July festival, entering handcrafted brews for the judges to evaluate.

1.  Great American Beer Festival

This is a three-day annual festival, held either at the end of September or the beginning of October in Denver, Colorado. People from all over the world gather here every year to sample the 1600 kinds of American beers available at the festival. More than 100 beer judges from both the United States and other countries evaluate one or more types of beer. Among them, they judge 2,300 beers that are entered into the festival from 450 plus domestic breweries. The beers judged to be the best among the 69 beer-style categories are awarded gold, silver and bronze medals.
Marina Chernyak is co-owner of beer stein shop 1001 Beer Steins where you can shop for authentic German beer steins and glassware.