GABF guide: The best breweries and beers at the Great American Beer Festival
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
Whether you're a first-timer or a long-timer, the key to a great time at the Great American Beer Festival: Make a plan.
Why it matters: If you wander from booth to booth, it's easier to over-imbibe and miss world-class beers, not to mention get stuck in lines.
What to try: A mix of all styles, from lagers to hazy IPAs and big stouts. The key is finding the best of them.
- To help, I compiled a list of the must-try breweries pouring at GABF — organized by section.
Heavy Medal Taproom: This area features award-winning beers, many of which you can't find elsewhere on the floor.
- You can't go wrong here. Go early to beat the crowds and circle back later.
United in Beer: Often the cult-favorite, smaller breweries don't attend the event but still send beer.
- Don't miss the brewers guild tables, particularly New York's booth on Saturday for Fidens and Other Half.
Prost (pretzel logo): Not all the beers are German-themed in this zone.
- You'll find amazing IPAs from Pure Project, Russian River, Radiant Beer, Alvarado Street and Brieux Carre.
- Look for other great beers from Almanac, Cloudburst, Lost Abbey, Templin Family and Toppling Goliath.
Fright (bat logo): Start with Ghost Town's IPAs or 3 Floyds' Dark Lord stout to set the theme before visiting Comrade, FiftyFifty, Martin House and Reuben's Brews.
Blast Off (planet logo): The out-of-this-world beers in this section include Highland Park's Timbo Pils and DDH Pillow, MORE's Mango Double Marbles and Dry Dock's 2023 Pumpkin Bligh's Barleywine.
- Other must-sips come from Maplewood and Modern Times.
Score (referee logo): A pair of Pacific Northwest breweries are the ticket here: Fort George and Fremont.
Other breweries: Other breweries are at the end of rows or stand alone. Look for WeldWerks (H-1), Dogfish Head (I-1), Wicked Weed (FC-2) and Pinthouse (C-60).
- In the Chill zone (lawn chair logo), visit Une Annee and Cannonball Creek.
- In Meet the Brewer (handshake logo), visit Firestone Walker for a PaRyebola stout.