13th Annual Colorado Brewers Rendezvous
Zenia Brink - July 14, 2009
Don't thank the Colorado Brewers Guild for putting together a great festival. Thank them for putting together a great rendezvous. There's a reason the event, held Saturday July 11, is called a rendezvous rather than a festival, it's an event that sets the bar high for all other beer events for the year. With the fancier name, comes a very classy event. If you can only attend a few beer events in the year, definitely add this to your list.
The Colorado Brewers Rendezvous, held in Salida, celebrated it's 13th year, with over 30 Colorado breweries, great beer, and beautiful weather. The guild has gotten it right. While some events don't let you buy your tickets until after the gates have opened, making you waste precious beer sampling time waiting in line, the Rendezvous folks collected money and wristbanded people who had lined up ahead of time, so at the open, many were ready to come on in, get their glasses and begin their beer journey. Many people also came prepared to take their time and enjoy the mild summer day, towing lawn chairs and picnic blankets to spread out in the middle of the park, surrounding themselves with numerous beer opportunities.
Riverside park, where the event was held, is smack in the middle of downtown Salida, sits right along the beautiful Arkansas River, and is lined with shady Cottonwood trees. The weather was a mild 80 degrees, and although a bit windy at times, not a sprinkle of rain.
If you not only love sampling beer, but learning about the beer you're tasting, this is definitely the event for you. Many of the brewers were not only in attendance, but they were at their tents pouring the beer themselves and were happy to give you the inside scoop on their finely crafted brew. Being outdoors also gave people better opportunity to actually hear one another, where as indoor events often have the disadvantage of becoming too loud to really have a conversation with someone.
And of course there was a plethora of beer to be had. From stouts, to wheats, porters to doppelbocks, whatever your preference, their was much to be consumed. Tom Hennessy from Colorado Boy even brought an amazing Cask IPA. With the reasonable $25 entry fee each patron was given a full sized pint glass, and a generous four ounce pour of each beer they wanted to sample.
We were very honored to have been a part of the Rendezvous and looking forward to attending next year. To all of you that stopped by the booth to take a look at the map, or just to say hi, we thank you. Look for us at the upcoming Craft Lager Fest in Manitou Springs August 8th and 9th, and of course the Great American Beer Festival in Denver September 24-26th. Check out our events page for more information on these and other beer happenings around the state.
