Great American Beer Festival -- Done

The GABF, while only my second year in attendance, has continued to impress me with what volumes it says about the trends in craft beer industry and especially the consumers that make it possible.  What other industry, in a time when a double dip recession is a real possibility, is able to generate almost a 10% increase in the number of entries.  That is 10% over the 3200 beers entered from the last year - staggering.  This translates to each year (of the past several years) as the most competitive.

Not only did this year top last years' stats based on number of breweries and number of beers, but it also gave us more geographic diversity in the breweries.  The major states have still managed their impressive number of wins, but the winners are coming from states not before recognized for their accomplishments in craft beer.

With that being said, I want to then congratulate all the winners from all the areas of the country who are creating names for themselves (especially the Midwest since I am biased) AND all the people in these areas who are trying craft beer for the first time and who explore these new styles.  Sophisticated pallets or newly emerging ones, all of them have raised their collective beer glasses and expressed their love of flavorful beer.

A trip to the GABF is also one of inspiration and rejuvenation from the perspective of the brewers too.  Who couldn't be inspired and humbled from the thousands of delicious beers which have pressed the limit of what we thought was possible with craft beer.

If you haven't ever been to the GABF, I would definitely recommend a pilgrimage.  That is not the only place you can find this quality of beers though.  You can take a walk around your local liquor store and find almost all of the winners from the Chicagoland area on the shelves right now!

So I guess I can end my GABF awestruck rant and just tell all of those people out there to keep drinking, keep homebrewing, and keep raising the bar for us brewers and breweries that you are proud to call your favorites.

Cheers