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I was very happy to be included as a judge at the 2003 Great American Beer Festival in Denver, CO. With around 2,000 craft beers from the United States, the GABF is the largest and most respected beer festival in the world. I flew into Denver on the night of Tuesday, September 23 and checked into my hotel. Judges for the GABF gathered at 9am the next morning to begin their tasting and evaluations. There were two judging sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday, and one session on Friday. The judging was extremely organized and professional with beers organized into categories and flights. After two or three initial flights per style of beer, the final medal award round of judging for each category took place. Over the three days, I was included on the judging panels for: Kolsch, Imperial Stouts, American Pale Ales, Barleywines, Munchner-Style Helles, American Brown Ales, Belgian-Style Abbey Ales, Imperial/Double IPA and Belgian Whites. This was an educational and extremely enjoyable experience. The Connoisseur Tasting and awards ceremony took place in the main GABF hall on Saturday afternoon. For the complete list of winners from GABF 2003, CLICK HERE.
 Here are the stewards
hard at work in the beer staging area. Beer is organized here,
poured into labeled cups, and delivered to the judges in other
rooms. Judges have no idea as to the identity of each beer.
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 Hard-working
judges: Garrett Oliver (Brooklyn Brewery), Phil Markowski
(Southampton Publick House) and John Harris (Full Sail Brewing Company).
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 The Beer Hunter himself
-- Michael Jackson.
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 Chris Swersey does a
marvelous job as the GABF Competition Manager.
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 The anxious crowd enters
the festival on day one.
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 These employees from
Rockies Brewing Company in Boulder, CO dressed as characters from
"Alice in Wonderland" to promote their "Looking Glass" beers.
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 Chuck Skypeck (brewer for
Bosco's in Memphis, TN) gives some pointers to Lyle Brown on tapping a
great cask pale ale.
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 GABF founder, Charlie
Papazian, signs copies of his new book.
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 The 2003 GABF added some
popular demonstrations on cooking with beer. The chef in the
photo above is making a delicious dish of salmon prepared with Alaskan
Amber.
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 Renowned beer critic and
author, Michael Jackson, discusses "all things beer" with AHA president
Paul Gatza.
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 Many breweries went to
great lengths to make their booth at the GABF colorful and
eye-catching.
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 K.K. is my good friend
from the popular Dunedin Brewery located near Tampa, FL.
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 Brewer John Pinkerton
decorated the Moon River Brewing Company booth with live, authentic
Spanish moss from Savannah, GA.
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 John Hickenlooper (the
new Mayor of Denver) delivered the keynote address at the 2003 GABF
awards ceremony. John is also the founder and owner of the
popular Wynkoop brewpub located in Denver's trendy LoDo district.
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 These guys don't just
make Blue Moon! The brewers at Denver's Sandlot brewpub in Coors
Field took quite few medals at the GABF for their rich, house,
specialty brews.
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 Fred Scheer is a pal of
mine and the head brewer at Bosco's in Nashville, TN. In this
photo, Fred wears his new medal for his Ninkasi (an ancient,
experimental ale).
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 The GABF has been very
good to the guys from Sweetwater Brewing Company in Atlanta, GA.
Sweetwater took a silver medal in 2003 for their delicious Exodus
Porter.
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Click
here for information and photos on some of Denver's best brewpubs and beer bars! |
©
2003 Brewtopia Events LLC
www.ClassicCityBrew.com
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