Commercial Tasting Event
Event Information | Transportation

The Commercial Tasting on Saturday afternoon has been dubbed “one of the best collections of beer ever seen in one place”. This international slice of beer is extremely diverse; Belgians,  lambics, sours and mead highlight the lighter end of the spectrum, while the Barleywines and Strong Ales dominate the other, with specialty beers from some of the most creative commercial brewers in the world. We understand this to be the only place that International Specialty beers are showcased alongside their American Craft Brew counterparts.

The Commercial Tasting includes events throughout the afternoon, including the Big Beers Homebrew Competition Awards Ceremony early on in the event, a Food & Beer Seminar moderated by Julia Herz of the Brewers Association, and two Educational Seminars led by your Featured Brewmasters, Doug Odell of Odell Brewing in Ft. Collins, CO and Tomme Arthur of The Lost Abbey and Port Brewing in San Diego, CA.  For further information about the Seminars, see our Seminars webpage.

The Educational Format of the Tasting portion of the festival is something unique dreamed up by the festival’s founder, Bill Lodge, of High Point Brewing, and has been well received by our guests. Each guest is limited to one sample of each beer for the first two hours of the event, as tracked by the extensive event program dedicated to educating the guest. This system encourages the guest to learn about the various breweries and beers available from around the world, and also slows consumption of the rather high octane brews available. For the record, we define 7.0% as the alcohol by volume minimum to qualify as a “big beer”.

To volunteer to assist with Saturday’s activities, please contact Laura Lodge.

Please consider your transportation options for the weekend:

Evidence of Delirium fun

Free Vail Bus System:  All of our sponsoring hotels are on the free Vail bus routes, whether in-town (Lionshead or Vail Vaillage) or within the Town of Vail.

Complimentary Vail Valley Bus Passes: We also are sponsored by ECO Transit with complimentary passes for Friday and Saturday covering all of the Vail Valley – Vail to Gypsum. 

Discounted Taxi Fare: High Mountain Taxi offers a discounted rate for transportation from Vail to Edwards on Saturday afternoon/evening during and after the Commercial Tasting.

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