Photo by Mark Leffingwell

Brewer Fred Riczo shovels spent grain out of the mash tun at Avery Brewing Co. in Boulder. Avery will be at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver this week.

One-ounce samples, three days, more than 400 breweries, 1,900 brews and more than 46,000 people.

Now that's a party.

It's time once again for the Great American Beer Festival, hosted by the Boulder-based Brewers Association.

"There's no place in America where this many U.S. beers are gathered together," says Marty Jones, "lead singer/idea man" for Lyons' Oskar Blues brewery. "And they're all gathered in one spot. It's really a mind-blowing thing, you walk into the convention center and there's 2,000 square feet of floor filled with great beer."

The event takes place Thursday through Saturday at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. The bad new is that the event is sold out. The good news is that you can enter online at www.am760.net for a chance to win tickets. Tune in to AM 760 from 4 to 7 p.m. today for the on-air ticket giveaway.

Charlie Papazian, president of the Brewers Association, calls the festival the greatest beer-tasting event in the world.

"It provides liquid proof that the United States is the world's finest brewing nation, and shows why American craft beer is in such high demand," Papazian says in a news release.

The festival is hosting numerous events, including beer-and-food pairing talks from brewers and chefs, a "You Be the Judge" booth and "The GABF Silent Disco" sponsored by Oskar Blues.

Jones says the "Silent Disco," now in its third year, is a great way to work off a couple of the one-ounce tasters. And, of course, provide a little entertainment to the masses.

"It's a headphones-only event," Jones says. "If you watch the dancefloor, you can't hear any music, but you get to watch 50 people dance. It's great theater -- or beer theater, as we call it."

Jones says the festival is mapped out geographically on the floor.

"So if you've never been to the northwest, and you've always wondered what their beer culture is like, you can get a really vivid, liquid-beer portrait of that culture by going to that region of the floor at the GABF," Jones says.

Locals on hand

Local breweries RedFish Fish House and Brewery, Avery Brewing Co., Boulder Beer Co., Mountain Sun Pub and Brewery, Walnut Brewery, Twisted Pine Brewing Co. and Oskar Blues will be at the event.

Adam Avery, president and brewmaster of Avery Brewing Company, says his brewery participates every year.

Avery, known nationally for its "big" beers, will have the Maharaja Imperial IPA, the Kaiser Imperial Oktoberfest, the Czar Imperial Stout, Ale to the Chief Presidential Pale Ale and Fifteen (an Avery Anniversary Ale) on tap at the GABF.

"We're in a select group of breweries," Avery says.

Unlike many microbreweries, Avery produces 20-plus beers a year.

"The flavor profile on our beers are massive ... more malt structure, more hops, more alcohol, typically," he says.

Avery's "big" beers stand out from much of the competition -- they aren't "just a bunch of ambers or pale ales, they're 16-percent beers, they're beers that have eight pounds per barrel of hops."

"If you're looking for something more for your beer, if you're looking for something more aggressive than your every day average craft beer, we'll have stuff that will knock your socks off," Avery says.

Sampling the wares

Jones says Oskar Blues' brews on the floor will include the flagship Dale's Pale Ale, as well as Old Chub, Gordon, Ten FIDY and a pilsner beer that is only available on tap at the brewpub.

Jones says a great aspect of the festival is many of the breweries participating are solely brewpubs that don't package beer.

"The only way you can try their beer is if you're in their city, in their pub," Jones says. "So the great thing about the GABF is that you get a once-a-year chance to try beers from the nation's best brewpubs and breweries that maybe don't ship to Colorado."

And, he says, beer connoisseurs will have a chance to meet their favorite brewers in person.

"You get to say 'hello' and 'thanks,' raise a glass, ask questions," Jones says. "It's one of the real special treats of the GABF."

Branching out

Keystone Light, PBR and Coors Light may have had a good run, but now it's time to branch out.

Especially since Jones says Boulder County is -- to many people and brewers alike -- the epicenter of the beer-making culture.

"Colorado's one of the most respected beer-making states in the country," Jones says. "The craft beer culture is very much an unsung, an economic and cultural engine in Boulder County."

If you can't snag a ticket, Jones says most of the local breweries in Denver and Boulder are expanding their taste room hours to host people from around the world.

"We're all on a collective mission to change the beer that people drink," Jones says. "We know that if all they're drinking is mainstream beer, it's the equivalent of just eating Wonder Bread.

"And who wants to do that their whole life?"