Colorado Beer Week April 8th - 16th

[Marc Bayes]

Starting April 8th and going through the 16th a brand new tradition will begin, Colorado Beer Week (CBW). While this festival of beer may not be the Great American Beer Festival it’s going to be a pretty damn great time. 8 days of drinking nothing but the best craft beer Colorado has to offer as well as some great micro breweries outside the state. The festival will be held in Denver at different venue’s around the city featuring a unique amount of events as well as beer to choose from. This will be the first annual CBW with many more to come down the line.

From CBW website:

“Colorado Beer Week (CBW) is a celebration of ales and lagers that will be held each spring, with the inaugural CBW taking place April 8-16, 2011 at participating breweries, restaurants, bars, hotels and other venues throughout the Front Range of Colorado. During the nine days and nights, partnering sponsors will be hosting events that bring together great beer with beer lovers from across the country. Everyone from connoisseurs to casual beer drinkers will be able to purchase tickets to CBW events online at www.cobeerweek.com in the coming weeks. Further, CBW will provide an extensive marketing and public relations campaign to highlight each sponsoring business leading up to, and during the event.”

Who is Colorado Beer Week? Scott Kerkmans is who. Scott started his brewing career at Kelly’s Brewpub in Albuquerque, NM and rose to head brewer. Scott then moved to AK and became one of the award-winning brewers at Alaskan Brewing Company. HE then started his beer consulting firm (Nazdar Beer, Inc.) in 2005 where he spent much a great deal of time working with micro breweries and world class distribution companies, as well as national craft beer breweries. In 2007 he was awarded Chief Beer Officer for Four Points by Sheraton Hotels. He also became one of the first five Cicerones in the world. Scott teaches beer classes at Cook Street Culinary School as well as being an annual Judge Captain at the Great American Beer Festival. Scott Kermans knows what he’s doing and he’s the sole reason for Colorado Beer week.

So which breweries will be featured during Colorado Beer Week? Just about everyone is making an appearance. Great Divide, Oskar Blues, Ska Brewing, Strange Brewing, Pumphouse Brewery, Bull & Bush, Bristol Brewing, Fort Collins Brewery, and Silverton Brewing Co., Odell Brewing Co., Rouge Ales, Alaskan Brewing Co., New Belgium, and Wynkoop Brewing will all be making an appearance.

Through the next two weeks I’ll be show you which breweries will partake in which events, times, ticket costs, and venue’s participating in Colorado Beer Week. Get ready for an amazing week starting April 8th – 16th!