Hey guys! The Winter Craft Beer Festival is coming up here in Boulder on March 2nd, and we’re giving you a re-cap of our experience last year, so you know what to expect! Heads up, though, this year’s fest is going to be in Balch Fieldhouse at Folsom Field (CU). We are STOKED about the location change, because that was our one and only “complaint” about the fest last year (it was in the underground parking structure at 29th street mall, which got a bit too chilly!).

Last year, we were impressed by the variety of beers available to sample and the number of breweries that attended! Some of our favorites that have returned for year 2 are: Crooked Stave, Crystal Springs Brewing, Station Twenty Six, Wibby & Liquid Mechanics. There are of course, TONS more breweries that will be there. You can check out the full list here.

Alright, so onto our experience last year…

We liked the set up of the festival, it was organized and easy to enter. Also, despite the number of people there, it never seemed that the lines got out of control busy (we always love a fest where we don’t have to wait!). We received a commemorative beer glass for the samples when we arrived, as well as a token. The token we saved until we had sampled (almost) all of the beers, and then voted for our favorite!

Last years winners were:

1st place: Mama Bear’s Brew

2nd place: Loveland Ale Works

3rd place: tie between Liquid Mechanics Brewing & The Old Mine.

Of those, we definitely enjoyed the Liquid Mechanics Peanut Butter Porter the best— they’re back again this year and we can’t wait to see which beers they bring to the mix!

They had a McDevitt food truck last year, which of course was delicious. Can’t go wrong with beer and tacos! This year, the site says they’ll have food trucks. Though we aren’t sure which ones, we’re sure that they won’t disappoint.

We also absolutely loved the Silent Disco they had last year and hope it makes an appearance this time around. It was super fun to see all the people dancing and having a great time- we tried it out and the music choice definitely made you want to dance!

So, while things are different this year as far as location and some of the involved breweries— we can’t wait for all of the delicious beer and a change of scenery.

Cheers to seeing you all at this year’s Winter Craft Beer Fest!