Through Hunter's brewery we were able to snag Great American Beer Festival tickets before they were opened up to the public which is a big whoo hoo! as they typically sell out in 15 minutes or less. So crazy! We bought the max tickets we could, 4, the day they were opened up to us and decided the Who What Where When Why would just figure itself out later.
Hunter, his dad, their friend Dean and myself { the Who of the weekend } met up downtown Denver Saturday morning and the GABF { the What } festivities began! Hunter's dad has the hookup with a 21st floor condo in downtown Denver { the Where } so we stayed in the heart of Denver all weekend. We extended our trip through Monday to make a long weekend out of it. { the When }. And the Why?....well because, craft beer that's why.
I'd been to two GABF's in the past { back before it got to be such a huge event GABF would donate tickets to my old work in exchange for production time to promote the event } and I'm not ashamed to admit my main goal in attending those Festivals was simple: Drink as much beer as possible. This time around, it was a far different { better! } experience going with 3 beer aficionados. GABF had rolled out a new mobile app since I'd been, so the 3 men had spent a lot of time mapping out which booths we needed to hit up. It was far more organized going with them than my other 2 visits and this time I felt like I got so much more out of the evening! We saw tons of breweries that we'd been to on our travels, spent some time with the Steamboat breweries that were represented at the Festival, ran into some friends and all around really enjoyed the evening and experience. When we left GABF for the night, we went to Wazee Supper Club for some grub { a fool proof Denver favorite! } and when it came time to order drinks, the 3 of us in unplanned unison said WHAT DO YOU HAVE THAT ISN'T BEER?! Ha! Needless to say, we'd beer'ed ourselves out for the day.
It was a stunning fall weekend in Denver and it felt good to be city dwellers again for a few days! Before/after our GABF Saturday night session, we enjoyed a few tried and true favorites { Wynkoop Brewery + City o' City + Wazee Supper Club + Brooklyn's + Scratch } and indulged in some new-to-me dinning { Jelly }. All weekend long we walked blocks and blocks and I soaked up all the sights that hold countless Denver memories for me. Sunday morning, Ashley + Sara + Jaime and I met up at Jelly for brunch. Those truly were some of the best 5 hours of the weekend. The 4 of us hold an astounding amount of memories, inside jokes, respect for one another, love and laughter. We were coined The 20 Something's when we all worked together and were { and still are! } thick as thieves. A morning with these ladies was exactly what I needed. I'm still riding out the pure bliss that comes from calling them my best friends.
Jaime also got Hunter, Bob and I on the list for the bitchin' tailgate that my old employer/her current employer hosts for each home Broncos game. The tailgates are always thrown with such flair and there is a general buzz of excitement/anticipation in the air with all the Broncos fans in attendance. The tailgate was a double whammy because not only do we love Broncos, we love tailgates { read: free beer + food }, but we love Jaime and Ryan and we love the opportunity to spend as much time with them while in Denver as we can. At the tailgate, I was also able to catch up with several old coworkers whom I've known for 7+ years which is always a kick in the pants. Somehow we found ourselves hidden in a storage shed with an old friend taking Jagger shots and it felt just like the old days. After the tailgate we hopped a pedicab to a nearby bar for game time.
Hunter and I were able to pick up a few boxes of storage/items that were still at Sara's house from when we on/off lived with her over the past few years and made a trip to went crazy at Target for items we would need for our new house. { it's amazing what seeing the inside of a Target does to a girl who had to quit the Target habit it cold turkey. }
The weekend was perfectly perfect.
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