For the first time in three years, the American craft-beer industry and the beer-drinking public gathered in Denver at a Great American Beer Festival, where beer trends showed the impact of the pandemic.
The last time GABF happened was in 2019. The coronavirus pandemic knocked it back to a virtual event in 2020 and then to nothing at all in 2021, though the Boulder-based Brewers Association that runs the festival did have an awards ceremony at the industry-only Craft Brewers Conference in Denver last September.
There were booths such as Fritz Family Brewers, a 15-month-old German-beer specialist in Niwot, where six of the seven offerings were lagers or lighter ales, from a German pilsner to a hefeweizen.