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Photo © 2008 Jason E. Kaplan

Every year thousands of brewers, beer drinkers, and beer geeks gather in Denver for the Great American Beer Festival (GABF). To put this event into context, the GABF is the Super Bowl of American Beer. The three-day event plays host to numerous competitions, educational events and brewery samplings. This year was the largest in its twenty seven-year history, with over 49,000 attendees, 3,000 beers in competition and over 2,000 beers for tasting in the event hall. Simply put, the GABF is the beer event of the year.

Sadly, the DCBeer.com team could not attend, and was left to read about it online. Watching the “Twitterverse†was absolute torture as participants tweeted about highlights from this year’s event.

The DC area was strongly represented in Denver, with eight breweries taking home a combined total of 16 awards, including the prestigious “Mid Size Brewery of the Year†going to Flying Dog and Brew Master Rob Malone of Elliot, Maryland.

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Take a look at the other local winners:

Brewer’s Alley Restaurant and Brewery, MD
Brewer’s Alley India Pale Ale won Bronze for English-Style India Pale Ale

Clipper City Brewing Co., MD
Clipper City Marzhon Vienna Lager won Bronze for Vienna Style Lager

DOG Brewing Co. MD
Pub Dog Black Dog Stout won Bronze for Classic Irish Style Dry Stout

Flying Dog Brewery, MD
Horn Dog Vintage 2007 won Gold for Aged Beer
Dogtoberfest won Gold for German Style Märzen
Gonzo Imperial Porter won Gold for Imperial Stout
Barrel Aged Gonzo won Silver for Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer

Devils Backbone Brewing Co., VA
Gold Leaf Lager won Gold for International-Style Pilsener
Natural Born Keller won Silver for Kellerbier/Zwickelbier
Danzig won Silver for Baltic-Style Porter
Vienna Lager won Silver for Vienna Style Lager

Great American Restaurants ( Sweet Water Tavern ), VA
Crazy Jackass Ale won Gold for Rye Beer
Wits End won Bronze for Belgian-Style Witbier

Rock Bottom Brewery – Arlington, VA
Dude! Where’s My Vespa? won Gold for Coffee Flavored Beer

Starr Hill Brewery, VA
Dark Starr Stout won Gold for Classic Irish Style Dry Stout

Click here for a full list of GABF winners (pdf).

This is truly an exciting time for the Mid Atlantic as more breweries emerge on the national scene and promote the ever-expanding beer culture in DC.

Stayed tuned to DCBeer.com in the coming weeks as we bring you in depth reviews of  these award winning beers and the breweries behind them.