I recently returned from attending my second Great British Beer Festival
(GBBF). I also attended in 1998. I had an excellent time again. I
wish I could say the same about the Great American Beer Festival (GABF).
I attended that one in 1999 and would never waste my time attending it
again, however I would visit Denver again as I had a much better time at
the local brew pubs and beer bars than I did at the festival.

My biggest gripe about the GABF is the shot of beer ration while the
GBBF gives you the choice of a half (imperial 10 oz) pint or a full
(imperial 20 oz) pint. I prefer having a decent quantity of beer to sit
and relax with vs constantly standing on a line to refill my shot glass.

I find this shot of beer situation to be the case at all American beer
festivals I've attended with the exception of the NERAX festival held
near Boston every spring. That is why it is the only American beer
festival I go out of my way to attend each year.

I also found the venue for the GBBF much more spacious than the one I
attended the GABF at. Also the GBBF had better food options and also
had pub games available to play (which I don't recall at the GABF).

I'll be back in London in August 2007 but I'll probably never be in
Denver in October ever again.

Cheers,
Bruce

Sorry to hear that but I found the small samples given at the GABF to be
quite sufficient for me to form an educated opinion. My whole intent of
attending the event is to taste as many new(to me) brews as I can so that I
can seek the impressive ones out online. Ok, so I *do* check out some old
favourites as well. ;^) And the lines....they weren't so bad. I had a ball
in 2004 and will be back in 2005.

"Bruce" > wrote in message
...
>I recently returned from attending my second Great British Beer Festival
> (GBBF). I also attended in 1998. I had an excellent time again. I
> wish I could say the same about the Great American Beer Festival (GABF).
> I attended that one in 1999 and would never waste my time attending it
> again, however I would visit Denver again as I had a much better time at
> the local brew pubs and beer bars than I did at the festival.
>
> My biggest gripe about the GABF is the shot of beer ration while the
> GBBF gives you the choice of a half (imperial 10 oz) pint or a full
> (imperial 20 oz) pint. I prefer having a decent quantity of beer to sit
> and relax with vs constantly standing on a line to refill my shot glass.
>
> I find this shot of beer situation to be the case at all American beer
> festivals I've attended with the exception of the NERAX festival held
> near Boston every spring. That is why it is the only American beer
> festival I go out of my way to attend each year.
>
> I also found the venue for the GBBF much more spacious than the one I
> attended the GABF at. Also the GBBF had better food options and also
> had pub games available to play (which I don't recall at the GABF).
>
> I'll be back in London in August 2007 but I'll probably never be in
> Denver in October ever again.
>
> Cheers,
> Bruce

"Bruce" > wrote in message
...

> My biggest gripe about the GABF is the shot of beer ration while the
> GBBF gives you the choice of a half (imperial 10 oz) pint or a full
> (imperial 20 oz) pint. I prefer having a decent quantity of beer to sit
> and relax with vs constantly standing on a line to refill my shot glass.

I enjoyed that greatly about the GBBF as well.

But, to be fair, there's a huge difference at the GBBF that is more
conducive to that: the vast majority of the beers on offer at the GBBF are
less than 5 percent abv. With the way American tastes are, and American beer
geekdom is, less than 5 percent abv is sufficient for abject mockery and
insinuations that one lacks a sufficiently large wang if you drink such a
pansy-ass beer. (No, I don't hold American craft beer consumers' preferences
for biggerfasterbettermore! in contempt at all.) It's a much less
dangerous - and, I'd argue - propositing to snarf down a few pints of very
tasty 4.2 bitter than to try to do the same with a 9 percent imperial mega
hopfest my balls are the size of cantalopues grande pils.

> I find this shot of beer situation to be the case at all American beer
> festivals I've attended with the exception of the NERAX festival held
> near Boston every spring. That is why it is the only American beer
> festival I go out of my way to attend each year.

Used to be that the Chicago Real Ale Festival was worth going to every year,
even with relatively short pours (4 oz). It stopped being worth going to
only when they stopped having it.

-Steve

Bruce > wrote:
>I find this shot of beer situation to be the case at all American beer
>festivals I've attended with the exception of the NERAX festival held
>near Boston every spring. That is why it is the only American beer
>festival I go out of my way to attend each year.

Perhaps there are some you haven't attended yet
have larger portions.
--
Joel Plutchak "Nunca pierdas la oportunidad de callarte la boca."
plutchak at [...] - Isabel Allende

Bruce a écrit :

>I also found the venue for the GBBF much more spacious [...]
>
Wait 'til next year, GBBF is moving from Olympia to Earl's Court, which
is even larger. And has better public transport connections.

> Also the GBBF had better food options
>
>
The people in charge, especially Mrs Ramsbottom, do care about having
good food stalls. Since you have people who come quite a long way to
taste beers they can't find around the corner, why would they settle for
food they could find around the corner ? ;o)


--
Warning : you may encounter French language beyond this point.

Le Mont Blanc lui-même tremblera sur ses assises quand on prononcera le nom de Romuald le Tondeur !
(F'murrr)

Laurent Mousson, Berne, Switzerland

Bruce > wrote:
>I also found the venue for the GBBF much more spacious than the one I
>attended the GABF at.

The Thursday night and Saturday afternoon sessions
aren't crowded with random beerswillers, so are much
more enjoyable.

>Also the GBBF had better food options and also
>had pub games available to play (which I don't recall at the GABF).

I agree about the food, though the sessions are short
enough that I've not found the narrow range of food available
to be a problem. The 16th Street Mall is just a couple blocks
away and has many choices (including a decent Rock Bottom
brewery). As for games, who needs 'em? It's a beer festival.
--
Joel Plutchak "Nunca pierdas la oportunidad de callarte la boca."
plutchak at [...] - Isabel Allende