Vail, Colorado - The 13th Annual Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines Festival in January,the Big Beers Festival, highly valued for the attendees' ability to connect directly with brewmasters and importers throughout a diverse weekend of events, has been deemed a success once again. A tradition held in well-renowned Vail, Colorado, garnered rave reviews from attendees and presenters, and the three-day festival has earned a reputation for attracting the "who's who" in craft beer, while remaining approachable to all interested. This year the entire event sold-out; some selections gone within the first two hours after tickets were released, including the debut option of VIP tickets and the hallmark of the event: the Commercial Tasting. Big Beers was also was the hot spot for numerous awards bestowed to both homebrewers and commercial brewers, earning national recognition for the winners as a result.
Demonstrating how an uber-successful craft beer festival (dubbed by one newspaper headline as "The Nation's Best") can still retain an intimate connection with the attendees, festival organizers responded to last-minute requests for an important Denver Broncos play-off football game to be shown during the Commercial Tasting. A selection of all-Colorado craft brewers in what became dubbed "Broncos Alley" presided alongside a five-foot television screen showing the play-off game, surrounded by more than eighty of the world's most innovative brewers, importers and their imaginative and extremely popular creations.
Diversity of programming was another key element that remained a hallmark of the Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines Festival, including a homebrew competition and seminars offered by the brewmasters who presented eclectic sessions on all things brewing, from "Smoke" to "The Beer in My Cheese", and from "Brewing Belgian Styles" to "Creating Flavor: The Art of Blending Hops". A memorable event for attendees of the Cicerone Workshop (similar to a Sommelier program in the wine world) was an "off- flavor" beer tasting-not something that is usually found at beer festivals.
The Best of Show award winning homebrewer, Charlie Gottenkieny from Littleton, CO, won with 'Winter Solstice Saison' which will now be commercially brewed by the Dry Dock Brewing Company and co-entered in the Great American Beer Festival Pro-Am Competition in Denver, Colorado this October. The winner of the People's Choice Award, Odell Brewing Co. from Ft. Collins, CO, was the chosen winner via popular vote from the attendees during the Commercial Tasting for their new seasonal 'Odell Lugene Chocolate Milk Stout', which was provided for the attendees at the welcome reception and in the Fireside Bar over the course of the Big Beers Festival. Shawn DeWitt of Coronado Brewing Co. won the CraftBeer.com Beer & Food Pairing Taste-off for the second year in a row with Coronado's Hoppy Daze Belgio IPA paired with Purple Haze on Raisin Rosemary Crisps from Cypress Grove Chèvre. The win put him in competition with Steven Pauwels from Boulevard Brewing Co, who is the only other Brewmaster to win the Big Beers CraftBeer.com Taste-off twice.
The festival's success continues to boom: The Commercial Tasting welcomed more than 1,100 attendees, and more than eighty breweries and importers showcased their wares--a significant increase over the 2012 festival--and the Fireside program was so popular that more than twenty-five donated five-gallon kegs were consumed on the first two nights.
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