Why Small Beer Festivals Are Thriving

Beer festivals are a great way for beer lovers to sample many beers in one place. Often, such festivals offer beers not otherwise available in the local market which makes them a draw for even the most seasoned beer lover.

For a time, the biggest beer festivals were the biggest draw. More beer. More people. More fun.

But that seems to be changing.

For the 2024 edition of the Great American Beer Festival, the largest ticketed beer festival in America, the Brewers Association, which hosts the event, rolled out a significantly revamped format—for the first time since its inception in 1982. Among the changes to the event, which is held annually in Denver, CO, the number of sessions was reduced from four to three.

In its heyday, tickets for the Great American Beer Festival would sell out in minutes. But in response to slower ticket sales, the Brewers Association eliminated one session, significantly reducing the number of tickets available, while at the same time introducing theme areas with more varied forms of entertainment.

It is too early to tell whether the changes will revive the Great American Beer Festival, but other “Great” festivals are also struggling. The Great Canadian Beer Festival has been cancelled for 2025 while the Great British Beer Festival returns in a new venue 2025—in Birmingham, England—after being cancelled for 2024—having been held for 34 years in London. Reports are that attendance has been shrinking in recent years.

But reports of the death of beer festivals may be premature.

Across the country, smaller, more focused beer festivals continue to sell out, satisfying the beer drinking public’s thirst for sampling beers.

“I asked myself, ‘What would be the perfect beer festival?’” said Matt Brynildson, brewmaster at Firestone Walker Brewing Company via video call. Firestone Walker hosts the annual Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival in its hometown of Paso Robles, California.

“I’d call up the best brewmasters of the world. We’d bring in the best beer, sent by air freight to ensure it is fresh and brewmasters would be there, so drinkers could meet the maker,” said Brynildson. “And we would have wonderful food and world-class music.”

The first Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival was held in 2012. It sold out in minutes then and now, about 3,500 tickets per year continue to sell out in minutes. “We have a lot of wine-savvy consumers in Paso Robles,” said Brynildson. “They have high expectations in their food and beverage experiences, so we have to set the bar high.”

By keeping the beer festival small, Brynildson says ticketholders are given a better experience. The festival is built on the back of the relationships Brynildson has built during his brewing career and he knows the breweries he invites make great beer. Curation is the key.

On the other side of the country, Good Word Brewing hosts three, small annual festivals in Duluth, Georgia, more or less 40 minutes from Atlanta. The city of 32,000 people has an open container zone within which people can drink alcohol in public spaces. That includes the town green, making it the perfect location for a beer festival.

“I created an event for brewers,” said Todd DiMatteo, owner and head brewer at Good Word, via telephone. “Bigger festivals don’t have the same feeling. They all become the same old, run-of-the-mill events with lots of breweries, mediocre food and maybe some band in the corner.”

“I attend a lot of festivals and a lot feel cookie cutter,” he says. “So I wanted to create something totally different—something that feels fresh.” Good Word now organizes three festivals each with a theme and each with a curated list of invited breweries. According to DiMatteo, the more focused beer list draws a more interested consumer who is actually interested in tasting the nuances of each beer, rather than just trying to taste as many beers as possible. Having the event on the town green also means the festival goers can bring their families.

There was a time when craft beer was a novelty and so was trying them amongst fellow beer lovers. But as the craft beer industry has matured, so have its drinkers. Awash in beer from almost 10,000 breweries in America, craft beer lovers have become more discerning and the curated offerings and more intimate settings of smaller beer festivals seem to be resonating with them.

Here are seven small beer festivals worth visiting:

Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival

About 70 of the best breweries from around the world present their beers each year at the Paso Robles Event Center, at the end of May or beginning of June. As a condition of invitation to the festival, breweries must have a brewer in attendance to answer questions and explain their beers. Consumers’ choice awards, one for beer and one for food, ensure exhibiting breweries and restaurants bring their A game. “Breweries bring something extra special to try to win the award,” says Brynildson.

Little Beer, Le Bon and Mighty Fine Fest

Ironically, Little Beer is the largest of these three annual beer festival hosted by Good Word Brewing in Duluth. Little Beer is a celebration of lower-alcohol beer held in April each year. Each of 80 to 90 brewers offers beers less than 5% ABV to 500 ticket holders. The outdoor festival is held in Duluth’s town square, making it a family-friendly event.

Le Bon is a celebration of saison and oysters held next to Good Word Brewing, in September. A dozen and a half breweries offer their finest saison to be paired with oysters supplied by famed shuckers.

Mighty Fine Fest, a celebration of west coast IPA, is debuting in June 2025. About 50 breweries will have their hoppiest beers available and will help make Duluth the beer festival capital of America.

Denver Rare Beer Tasting

Since 2009, the Denver Rare Beer Tasting has, as the name implies, served rare beers from some of America’s most-respected breweries. Limited to 450 tickets at $200 each, the festival is held each year on the Thursday of the weekend of the Great American Beer Festival, in October each year. Brewers are in attendance to answer questions and proceeds support Pints For Prostates, a 501(c)3 non-profit charity established to raise awareness about prostate cancer, particularly within the beer community.

FOBAB – Festival of Wood and Barrel-Aged Beer

FOBAB is held each year in Chicago, typically on a weekend early in November. The festival primarily pours beers that have been aged on wood or in barrels, ranging from strong, high-ABV imperial stouts and barley wines, to more moderate, but sour and funky barrel-aged sour beers. The festival awards the best barrel-aged beers in multiple categories. Recent editions of FOBAB have added a lager lounge and a non-alcoholic area to offer palates a refresh between the hundreds of palate-wrecking beers.

Alaska Craft Brew & Barley Wine Festival

Alaska is not always cold. But it certainly is in January.

The Alaska Craft Beer & Barley Wine Festival is held in January each year in Anchorage to spread liquid sunshine during the dark winter. With an emphasis on strong, rich barley wines, the festival keeps festival goers warm as the enjoy local food and live music.