WIN TICKETS | Avery Brewing Marks 30th Anniversary with Return to Festival Glory

Before hard seltzers and Hazy IPAs, before Collaboration Fest and the WeldWerks Invitational, heck before even WeldWerks and Casey Brewing and Blending, Colorado’s craft beer scene looked a whole lot different. But in many ways, the evolution of today’s beer landscape can be traced back to a simpler time when many early adopters gathered over sweet potato tots paired with hoppy, sour, and big barrel-aged beers in an unassuming, industrial, Boulder alleyway.

This weekend one of Colorado’s craft beer pioneers, Avery Brewing Company will celebrate its 30th anniversary with an invitational-style beer festival reminiscent of the extravagant festivals it helped popularize during its heyday. Originators of iconic events like the Avery Strong Ale Fest, IPA Fest, Sour Festival, and earlier renditions of the Avery Anniversary Festival, the Boulder-based brewery brought a level of pomp, circumstance, and excitement each and every time.

While much more prevalent at beer festivals today, Avery was able to curate some of the country’s best and brightest producers, who in turn also brought some of their most sought-after beers. But most importantly, an Avery festival was always guaranteed to put the experience of attendees paramount to everything else.

And while Avery has also evolved over the last decade, moving to a 5.6 acre, $30 million facility in 2015, then selling to Spanish-based Mahou-San Miguel two years later, this Saturday’s 30th Anniversary serves as the perfect nod to the brewery’s storied roots.

“We used to host Strong Ale Fest, Sour Fest, IPA Fest, AND an Anniversary party, but got to be a lot,” said Rachael Burrell, Community Partnerships & Activations for Mahou USA and longtime festival organizer for Avery. “So we wanted to find a way to consolidate down into one. We did the Invitational in 2018 and 2019, and then…COVID hit. We didn’t feel like we could do the event justice last year, as we were still climbing out of the COVID funk. This year seemed like a no-brainer. We felt like we’d recovered enough, and it also happened to be our 30th. It felt like time.”

This weekend’s event will once again feature a world-class lineup of beers and breweries that were either recommended by current Avery employees or are now owned by or employ former Avery employees.

“Mahou, as a family-owned and run organization, loves to celebrate milestones with family and friends,” said Greg Neale, Director of Marketing for Avery Brewing. “They have been extremely supportive of the event, especially the truly invitational aspect of how breweries are identified and selected.”

In addition to a host of high-profile guest beers, the Avery 30th Anniversary Invitational will of course showcase some familiar fan favorites including several vintages from their barrel-aging program. Iconic brands like Mephistopheles, Rumpkin, The Beast, and Samael’s will be dusted off for the special occasion, and to commemorate the milestone Avery will also release Thirty, a Strong Ale aged in Stranahan’s Whiskey barrels with hops added.

Tickets are currently still available for Saturday’s Avery 30th Anniversary Invitational Beer Festival taking place from 1-5pm at Avery Brewing Company. But if you’re feeling lucky we’re giving away a pair of tickets to the event as well! Tag a friend in the comments section of either our corresponding Facebook, Instagram or Threads post for your chance to win. You must also follow PorchDrinking and Avery Brewing (were applicable) as a requirement to be entered. Winners will be notified by Thursday, July 27 at 5pm and will be contacted via DM from @porchdrinkingco disregard messages from any other accounts. Must be 21+ to enter and must show proof of age to redeem tickets.

We’ve got a sneak preview of the tentative list of breweries and beers that will be poured at Saturday’s festival. Please note that all beers are subject to change.

Buy Tickets to the Avery 30th Anniversary Beer Festival

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