Our Picks for the 2020 Big Beers Fest This Weekend

This coming weekend is the 20th Anniversary of Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines up in Breckenridge. Not only is it one of our top beer festivals to travel to every year, it’s also a great place to try beers that we don’t normally get a chance to enjoy and talk to the brewers who made them.

We do want to point out that there are still tickets available, so if your weekend is open, consider coming up to Breck for the Commercial Tasting at least! Head here for tickets.

One thing we noticed is the lack of Colorado Springs and Pikes Peak Region breweries representing as only Phantom Canyon will be there. We’ll sure miss seeing the Paradox crew up there, but we can’t complain much considering the other options available.

Josh:

For out of town breweries, I’m especially excited to drink some Side Project and I have to represent the great state of Minnesota by visiting Surly Brewing’s booth early and often because they’re touting some Old Fashioned Darkness and Rum Coconut Darkness Variants.

As for Colorado breweries, Liberati's Vino Veritas is always a favorite so I’m glad to see them bringing some fun beers up to Breck, and I can’t not mention Verboten who is bringing some heat with their Grow Old with You Barleywines. It’s going to be a great time as always!

Ryan:

So, first thing I noticed when looking over the program is there’s a ton of great national breweries on the list this year. I can’t wait to try the Oceans of Storms and Vastness of Space Imperial Stouts from San Francisco’s Cellarmaker Brewing, considering everything I had at their brewery a few years back was excellent. I’m also super excited to try Highland Park’s coolship beers and to wash it all down it will be hard to miss the brandy barrel Quad that Richmond’s Väsen Brewing is shipping out.

As for Colorado breweries, the ones that caught my eye were Peter Boukaert’s Purpose Brewing & Cellars and Amalgam Brewing—two outfits who are pushing boundaries and making incredible beer. Despite frequent trips to Buena Vista to visit my parents, I keep missing Eddyline, so I’ll be making a point of stopping to sip on some Epic Day and their Java Stout.

Photo credit The Brewtography Project