The Great American Beer Festival is basically The Oscars of the brewing industry. Every year, breweries from all over the country converge on Denver for a weekend of sampling, judging, pretzel necklaces, and Duff Man costumes, probably. If you’ve ever been to Madison’s Great Taste of the Midwest, you’ve experienced GABF, just on a much smaller level.
The best part about GABF is that all the beers are tasted blind, so you’ll often find small breweries from weird places like Montana winning Small Brewing Company of the Year. This ensures that California, Oregon, and Michigan breweries don’t win every award due to regional biases.