ACBF Presents Check to Empty Stocking Fund
Wednesday, November 20th marked the kickoff of the 30th annual Empty Stocking Fund. Last year the program raised over $1 million for 15 local social service charities. The All Colorado Beer Festival was once again a featured community partner at the event. With the help of all our guests, brewers, sponsors, vendors, and volunteers, we were able to increase our contribution this year to $15,000. In addition, the ESF volunteers raised almost $1,000 at their beer pong booth.
Thank You!!
The All Colorado Beer Festival thanks our 2013 festival brewers, volunteers, vendors, sponsors, and especially all of you who purchased tickets to the festival. Through your support, we will donate over $55,000 to local nonprofit organizations.
Our first check presentation will be at the Empty Stocking Fund kickoff on Wednesday, November 20th. The THEATREWORKS check presentation will be on Friday, December 6th before the performance of It’s a Wonderful Life. The Home Front Care will receive a check on Wednesday, December 18th at their monthly board meeting. We want each of you to share these events with us because without you they would not be possible. We will post photos of each presentation.
Save the Date – November 1, 2014
Save the date! The 2014 All Colorado Beer Festival will take place on November 1, 2014.
Tickets for the 2014 All Colorado Beer Festival to go on sale September 1, 2014! We expect to sell out next year before the doors open. That means no tickets for sale at the door!!
Stay tuned to the All Colorado Beer Festival site for the latest on brewer recruiting, special pre-sale offers, and more!
New Belgium Awards Fat Tire Bike Door Prize
Travis Flett from New Belgium pulled the winning door prize ticket from almost 240 entries this morning at the Freedom Financial Services Expo Center. Travis will be contacting the lucky winner, Greg C., in the next day or two and will personally deliver the Fat Tire cruiser. Congratulations Greg!
Additional door prize winners are:
- Bryan F. – 2 tickets to the VIP Zone at the 2014 ACBF
- Topher – 2 early entry tickets for the 2014 ACBF
- Steve E. - 2 early entry tickets for the 2014 ACBF
- Jeff M. – 2 general admission tickets for the 2014 ACBF
- Tim W. – 2 general admission tickets for the 2014 ACBF
- Nicola L. – 2 general admission tickets for the 2014 ACBF
- John J. – 2 general admission tickets for the 2014 ACBF
ACBF staff will be in touch with each of our ticket winners over the next few days to confirm names and email addresses for delivery of you tickets to next year’s ACBF on November 1, 2014.
ACBF Presents Champion Award to Bristol Brewing
The All Colorado Beer Festival selected Mike Bristol and Bristol Brewing to receive this year’s Champion Award for furthering the mission of the All Colorado Beer Festival and the Colorado brewing industry. Bristol brewing has attended every ACBF since the early years when we were struggling to get brewers. Bristol Brewing is also one of the greatest philanthropic organizations in Colorado Springs. Mike Bristol is, personally, one of the leaders of the brewing industry in Colorado. The festival was honored to have Tom Zurenko, General Manager of Bristol Brewing, accept the award at the sold out evening session of the festival. Please congratulate the Bristol staff the next time you stop in for a pint or growler refill.
Also note that Bristol’s Winter Warlock was the gold medal winner in the Stouts and Porters category at this year’s festival!
Record Crowds Enjoy All Colorado Beer Festival
Over two sessions, 2,803 beer fanatics sampled over 175 beers from 66 brewers at the Freedom Financial Services Expo Center.
The best news is that those guests helped the All Colorado Beer Festival raise enough money to make donations to local non-profit organizations estimated at over $50,000. (See Beneficiaries)
All Colorado Beer Festival Medal Winners
Over 90 beers were judged in 10 categories at the 7th All Colorado Beer Festival. Teams of BJCP judges examined each entry against its style guidelines. After 3 1/2 intense hours the judges reached their discussions and announced the winners. Pictured are the Pug Ryan’s representatives with their European Lager Gold and Best of Show medals.
FRUIT, HERB & SPICE BEERS
- Gold – Eddyline – Pumpkin Patch Ale
- Silver – Rock Bottom – Silver Mullet
- Bronze – Epic – Brainless on Peaches
OTHER SPECIALTY BEERS
- Gold – Pikes Peak – Penrose Private Reserve 1302
- Silver – Odessey Beerwerks – Perpetual Darkness
- Bronze – Bonfire – Tent Pole Barrel Aged Whiskey Vanilla Porter
AMERICAN LAGERS & ALES
- Gold – Durango – American Style Dark Lager
- Silver – Coors – Banquet
- Bronze – Ska – True Blonde Ale
EUROPEAN LAGERS
- Gold – Pug Ryan’s - Dead Eye Dunkel
- Silver – Copper Kettle – Bavarian Helles
- Bronze – Phantom Canyon – Omar Santiago
PALE ALES
- Gold – Durango – American Style Pale Ale
- Silver – AC Golden - IPA (India Pale Lager)
- Bronze – Front Range – TrHOPical Illusion
FRESH HOP & INDIA PALE ALES
- Gold – New Belium – Rampant Imperial IPA
- Silver – Dry Dock – Hop Abomination
- Bronze – Yak & Yeti – Himilayan IPA
AMBER, RED & BROWN ALES
- Gold – Black Bottle – Ginger
- Silver – Kannah Creek – Amber Ale
- Bronze – Front Range – ALTitude Red Ale
BELGIAN & SAISON BEERS
- Gold – Gravity Brewing Company – Mendacious
- Silver – River North – J. Marie
- Bronze – Elevation - IV Belgian Quad
PORTERS & STOUTS
- Gold – Bristol – Winter Warlock
- Silver – Rock Bottom – Despotic
- Bronze – Rockyard – Lightening Strike Stout
STRONG BEERS & ALES
- Gold – Verboten – I’m Alright Jack
- Silver – River North - Barrel Reserve 2014
- Bronze – Great Divide – Hibernation
BEST OF SHOW
- Pug Ryan’s – Dead Eye Dunkel
It’s Almost Time To Have A Festival
We started setting up the festival venue on Wednesday afternoon. The tables and pipe and drape were all installed by 5:00. On Thursday we started installing tapping equipment for our 67 brewers. At 3:30 we counted taps and came up six taps short! After some quick phone calls and a little rearrangement we ended up with just the right number. Today, we dropped our beer tubs and laid out our pitchers and dump buckets. Oops, we forgot to recalculate the number of pitchers with all the new brewers. A quick trip to our rental company yielded an extra 60 pitchers and we are good to go. Judging also grew. We have over 90 beers being judged this year. Brewers started arriving at noon and dropped off kegs of beer to fill two refrigerated trailers.
Tomorrow will be a big day. Current counts show almost 2,200 tickets sold for the two sessions. VIP and Early Entry tickets are long gone. Only a few hundred general admission tickets remain for each session. While we do sell any available tickets at the door, we may be sold out before the doors open. We recommend that you get your tickets now and avoid the disappointment of a sold out session. TICKETS