The 2026 edition took place on October 10–11, 2026 in Denver (sold out).
For more than forty years, the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) has been the beating heart of American craft beer. Born in Boulder in 1982 with 24 beers, it became the largest ticketed beer festival in the United States — and in 2026 it moved outdoors for the very first time, to Denver's Levitt Pavilion on October 10 and 11.
Denver craft beer guide
Map the best breweries and taprooms around the festival.
The GABF was created by Charlie Papazian, founder of the Association of Brewers, at a time when the United States counted fewer than a hundred breweries. It grew alongside the craft beer movement itself — and its archives read like the story of American brewing.
Around 800 attendees, some twenty breweries and roughly 40 beers poured at the Boulder Harvest House. No competition yet — just tasting.
Blind judging by a professional panel is introduced. Gold, silver and bronze medals become the most coveted awards in American brewing.
The festival settles in Denver and later at the Colorado Convention Center, turning the city into the unofficial capital of American craft beer.
Hundreds of breweries, thousands of beers and tens of thousands of attendees each autumn. Tickets routinely sell out within hours.
The in-person festival is cancelled and reinvented in a virtual format, while the competition keeps awarding medals.
For the first time in its history the GABF leaves the convention hall for an open-air, two-day format on October 10–11 in Denver.
The GABF competition is one of the largest commercial beer competitions in the world, and a GABF medal genuinely changes a brewery's life — it appears on labels, taproom walls and distributor pitches for years.
Sold on the official festival website, usually released in summer. Sessions sell out fast; Brewers Association members get early access.
Your ticket includes a tasting glass. Beers are poured in small samples at brewery booths — it's a tasting marathon, not a drinking contest.
Levitt Pavilion sits in Ruby Hill Park, south-west of downtown Denver. Rideshare and shuttles are the simplest options; parking is very limited on festival days.
Denver sits at 1,600 m. Alcohol hits harder and dehydration comes faster: drink water between samples and eat before you arrive.
GABF weekend turns the whole city into a beer festival — RiNo, Baker and South Broadway host tap takeovers and brewery-only releases all weekend. Our Denver guide maps the breweries and taprooms worth planning a route around.
See the Denver beer guideBreweries pouring at GABF 2026GABF 2026 took place on Saturday, October 10 and Sunday, October 11, 2026, in Denver, Colorado.
At Levitt Pavilion in Denver. For the first time in its history, the festival is held outdoors rather than at the Colorado Convention Center.
The Brewers Association, the non-profit trade group representing independent American craft brewers, based in Boulder, Colorado.
The first edition was held in Boulder in 1982, founded by Charlie Papazian. It has been running for more than four decades.
Gold, silver and bronze medals are awarded after blind judging in more than a hundred style categories. It is the most prestigious brewing award in the United States.
Yes — it is the single best place to taste hundreds of American breweries in one weekend, and the city's own brewery scene runs at full speed around it.
Last updated: October 2026
Build a Denver itinerary around the festival: breweries, taprooms and craft bars, ordered into a walkable route.