When beer fans walk into the Colorado Convention Center this week for the Great American Beer Festival they’ll likely recognize the brands sponsoring the event; Blue Moon, Deschutes, Samuel Adams and New Belgium to name a few.
But one sponsor may stick out more than most, unless you’re regular in the taproom on the corner of Railway St. and Central Ave. in Whitefish. Great Northern Brewing Company and its flagship lager Black Star is a featured sponsor of this year’s beer festival in Denver, which attracts beer makers and beer drinkers from all over the world.
According to Black Star Beer’s marketing assistant Charlotte Robertson, the four-day festival is the largest in the United States and features 500 breweries doling out more than 2,400 beers. Besides getting a chance to showcase their best, brewers are able to compete for awards, but this year Black Star Beer is bringing their own. Robertson said the brewery is presenting a seven-foot tall trophy – which doubles as a keg holder and iPod stereo – to the biggest beer fan in attendance. She said it’ll be an eye catcher at the festival.
“It’s not just the sheer size of it that’ll catch your eye, but the music blasting and beer being poured from it,” she said.
Robertson said festival-goers can get a chance to win the trophy by either checking in on Facebook or filling out an entry form at the brewery’s booth. The winner will be picked Friday evening at 9 p.m.
Along with the Great Northern Brewing Company, Montana will be well represented by Flathead Lake Brewing Company of Bigfork and Big Sky Brewing Company of Missoula, as well as a handful of brewers from east of the divide, making an appearance at the festival which starts Thursday evening and goes until Sunday.
For more information about the festival, check out www.greatamericanbeerfestival.com