Changes are coming to this year’s Great American Beer Festival (GABF) in Denver, including one fewer session, a new floor plan and the ability to pour canned cocktails and pretty much any other product.
In a New Brewer column titled “Get Ready for a Totally Reimagined GABF,” Brewers Association (BA) VP of marketing and communications Ann Obenchain announced several changes, citing feedback from craft brewers.
Most notably, the BA is eliminating the Saturday evening session. The move takes GABF down to three sessions:
- Thursday, October 10 from 5:30-9:30 p.m MT;
- Friday, October 11 from 5:30-9:30 p.m.;
- And Saturday, October 12 from noon to 4:30 p.m.
Obenchain told Brewbound via email: “The decision to eliminate the Saturday evening session was based on brewer, as well as attendee feedback. For brewers, it allows them to reduce their travel costs or participate in in-market collaborations on Saturday night. For attendees, this means fewer kicked kegs and an ample supply of samples!”
Obenchain added that 40,000 attendees are expected to attend this year’s festival, similar to 2023, with those consumers “redistributed” across the remaining sessions.
The nation’s largest beer festival has seen attendance struggle to rebound to the 60,000 attendees who flocked to Denver and sold out festival sessions prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Additionally, Obenchain said brewers will have the ability to serve up to six beverages, including beer, cider, ready-to-drink cocktails, hard seltzer, hard soda, hard tea, hard kombucha, other malt-based beverages and non-alcoholic beverages.
“Consumers are drinking different things and expecting a variety [of] options at events they attend, and brewers are expanding their offerings,” she told Brewbound. “The changes we made in 2023 were well-received so this year, we have added RTD cocktails.”
Last year, the BA opened GABF up to “beyond beer” offerings, including hard seltzer, cider, hard kombucha and mead, requiring participating breweries to still serve at least one beer. This year, the BA has dropped the beer requirement.
For 2024, the BA is also updating the floor plan by grouping brewers into “themed areas,” Obenchain wrote.
“Instead of geographic regions or alphabetical order, breweries will be grouped by the experience area of their choice,” Obenchain told Brewbound. “Those areas will be a sports-themed, biergarten-themed, a Beer & Beyond- themed area, a backyard/live music area, and we’re also leaning into the season with a Halloween- themed area. Meet the Brewer will also be a popular area, as well as featured-brewer (sponsored) activation areas.”
Festival goers should also expect more experiential elements for 2024 too.
“Think cool lighting, fun experience area entryways, people and entertainers in themed costumes, unique activations, and pop-up surprises (i.e., flash mobs, marching bands, oompah bands, stein-holding contests, etc.), along with fan-favorite activations like the Silent Disco and the Karaoke stage to delight attendees,” Obenchain wrote.
One thing that will remain unchanged for the 2024 GABF is PAIRED, the festival’s add-on beer-and-food pairing event. Obenchain told Brewbound that 25 chefs have signed up to participate, including James Beard Award nominees and winners, Michelin Star chefs, Food and Wine best new chefs and a current Top Chef contestant. Additionally, two “world pizza champions” will be “throwing dough at PAIRED,” she added.
PAIRED will take place October 10 and 11, with options for a PAIRED only ticket or an add-on ticket with GABF.
The BA is offering brewers incentives to pour at the 2024 festival, including a free booth and a free competition entry. Brewers can sign up to pour in one of five experience areas or the “Meet the Brewer” booth during an early registration window from May 14 to June 2. Brewers will receive several benefits, including a free inline booth; four free brewery badges (or eight for those in the Meet the Brewer booth); a free GABF competition entry; and several other incentives, including access to the “Brewers Lounge” and entry into a networking “Morning Mixer.”
Obenchain noted that breweries that pour at the festival will receive access to the key 21- to 34-year-old demographic, as 38% of the fest’s attendees are in the demo, and 68% of ticker buyers are under the age of 44.
The tweaks to GABF follow several shakeups to the BA’s event portfolio. Earlier this year, the BA put Homebrew Con on hiatus for 2024 in favor of including homebrewing elements within GABF. In 2022, the BA also eliminated another signature event, SAVOR: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience, which was held annually in Washington, D.C.
Events are the BA’s largest revenue source. Now, the BA has two remaining signature events: GABF and the Craft Brewers Conference.
The BA’s annual report, published in February, revealed that the trade organization’s revenue from events declined -2% in 2023, to more than $13.886 million. The BA’s overall revenue declined -2% year-over-year, to more than $22.9 million.