Updated with new events: Tourists may go to Rome to see the Coliseum, but it's the side streets, the adventures and the hidden cafes that typically fill their cameras and their post-trip stories. The same is true of the week surrounding the Great American Beer Festival. The event is the centerpiece, but there is so much more to do and see.

It wasn't always that way. Just a few years ago, you could count the number of craft beer-related venues and events inspired by the GABF on one hand. But times have changed, and it's now almost impossible to list every party, dinner, tap takeover, pub crawl, beer class, rare beer rollout and meet-the-brewer night in town -- let alone attend them all. But you can certainly try. Here is a rundown of some of the coolest places to drink good beer in Denver during GABF week. We'll keep updating this list as we hear more. Cheers.

Monday, October 8

The Falling Rock Taphouse gets the week started right with its 15th Annual GABF Kick-off Party, starting today around 5 p.m. When the countdown clock that has been going since January 2 reaches 000:00:00:00, the dean of Denver beer bars will tap ten special kegs it's been saving.

Wynkoop Brewing releases an uniquely ballsy and indigenous stout today at 5 p.m. that has been crafted with roasted bull testicles. Seriously. The brewer's ultra-popular Apil Fool's spoof (and the amazing video that accompanied it) have turned into reality; the beer features flavors of roasted malts, coffee and nuts. Or does it?

Boulder's West End Tavern and bar manager Caroline Johnson will host the Great California Beer Dinner today at 6:30 p.m. It includes a four-course menu from chef Chris Blackwood paired with beers from Stone (16th Anniversary, 21st Amendment, UnReal Black Ale), Firestone Walker (DBA, Wookey Jack), Moylan's (Hop Craic, Barrel-Aged Kiltlifter) and Marin Brewing (San Quentin's Breakout Stout, Star Brew Triple Wheat Ale). Moylan's brewmaster Denise Jones and Marin brewmaster Arne Johnson will lead the beer-tasting and discussions about brewing, the inside baseball of GABF Week and designing award-winning beers. Tickets are $45.

Oskar Blues and the Crafty Ladies Beer Club will descend on Highland Tap & Burger tonight at 6 p.m. to tap First Lady, a special Gubna-Dale's Pale Ale firkin, along with various other Oskar Blues beers. Chris "The Gubna" Katechis will also be there, grilling up his signature beer can chicken and corn on the cob.

Twisted Pine Brewing in Boulder re-releases Ghost Face Killah, the spiciest beer in the world. A small quantity will be available each day throughout the week, and purchases will be limited to four bottles per customer.

Tuesday, October 9

Hops & Pie taps a great lineup of brews from Florida's Cigar City all day today. The beers include Jai Alai IPA, Maduro Brown, Cubano Espresso Brown, Raspberry Saison and Peach IPA.

Beers Made by Walking -- the program that invites brewers to make beer inspired by nature hikes and urban walks -- will tap ten of its beers today from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Wynkoop Brewing Company. Over the past summer, ten Colorado breweries attended hikes as part of the program, identifying edible and medicinal plants along the way and then using them in their beers. For $15, you get to try four-ounce pours of all ten beers; you also get a special drinking glass made for the event. Participating breweries: Crooked Stave, Lone Tree Brewing, New Belgium, Oskar Blues, Phantom Canyon, Pikes Peak Brewing, Ska Brewing, Strange Brewing, Trinity, Wynkoop.

Strange Brewing will tap several kegs of beer made by Tim and Harry for its recurring One Barrel Wednesday series. There will be live music from Indigent Row at 6:30 p.m.

Last year, the Rackhouse Pub brought in Gwen Conley, the Sensory Goddess for California's Lost Abbey/Port Brewing Company (and GABF beer judge), to teach a class on Sensory Training 101. It sold out in three days. This year, Rackhouse owner Chris Rippe plans to take you back to school with not one, but four days of beer classes taught by some of the most knowledgable people in their fields. Oh, and there will be beer drinking as well -- but each class is limited to just sixty tickets. Today's class is Sensory Training 101, in which Conley gives you a full education in palate development, flavor recognition, style guidelines and overall beer enjoyment. It takes place from 6:30-8:30 p.m.; tickets, $35, are available at www.brownpapertickets.com/producer/25220.

Falling Rock Taphouse will tap the famed Goose Island Bourbon County Stout today at 5 p.m., along with Lolita, Juliette, Madam Rose and Bourbon County Coffee Stout.

Renegade Brewing will release its first-ever beer in a bomber bottle today, barrel-aged Elevated Wood, a version of Renegade's double IPA that has been aging for six months in bourbon barrels. Bombers go on sale at 1 p.m.; the tapping is at 6.

The Cheeky Monk welcomes Ginger Johnson today from 7-9 p.m. She'll talk about women in beer and Belgian beers, specifically St. Hildegard of Bingen. There will also be a tasting of some of their favorite Belgian brews. Tickets are $25.

The Kitchen Denver will host an Afternoon Brewmaster and Founder Meet and Greet with Jolly Pumpkin, Crooked Stave and Upslope Brewing from 3 to 5 p.m. Specialty barrel aged wild ales and beers from all three of these progressive breweries will be available to purchase, in addition to beer flights and food pairings.

Wednesday, October 10

Falling Rock Taphouse will hold a series of tappings today, beginning at 2 p.m. with a Great Divide Yeti Party; it will have multiple years and versions of the brewery's mythical beer. At 3 p.m., Falling Rock will start pouring Elysian Brewing's Night Owl, The Great Pumpkin & Dark O' the Moon. At 4 p.m., meet Marc Antoine DeMees, the brewmaster for St. Martin's, a Belgian brewery that will debut its Quadruple for the first time. At 5 p.m., try Colorambic, a sour beer from Golden's AC Golden. At 9 p.m., Truckee, California's 50/50 Brewing will be pouring At 10 p.m. try Odell Brewing's Deconstruction Ale and Saboteur (2010).

Rackhouse Pub continues its Beer School today with Yeast 101, from 4-6 p.m. Left Hand Brewing head brewer Ro Guenzel and White Lab's yeast guru Neva Parker will teach you about the history and growth of brewing science, as well how brewers use different yeast strains to manipulate the flavor profiles. To make the lesson hit home, they'll be serving four cask beers featuring identical hop and grain recipes but dosed with four different yeast strains. Tickets are $35 and limited to 60 people.

Upslope takes over (many of) the taps at Euclid Hall at 8 p.m. tonight with some beers that you won't find very often outside the Boulder brewery's own taproom. They include Pumpkin Ale (which won gold at last year's GABF), Thai White IPA, Barleywine, Rye IPA and Belgian Wit.

The Kitchen [Next Door] in Boulder is celebrating five of Colorado craft breweries that have consistently been on tap there: Oskar Blues, Dry Dock, Odell, Funkwerks and Upslope. There will ten specialty beers on tap, all paired with eats from the the Kitchen. Tickets to the GABF kickoff are $65. They'll be joined by special guest Christian DeBenedetti, Editor-in-Chief of Weekly Pint, a free e-newsletter on craft beer, and author of The Great American Ale Trail, a travel guide to hundreds of breweries and craft beer destinations around the U.S. (including The Kitchen).

River North Brewery will offer side-by-side-by-side barrel-aged tastings of its classic River North White, plus both white-wine aged and whiskey-aged versions. This way, the brewery says, "you can try the same beer three different ways, to experience how barrel-aging can create entirely new flavor profiles with otherwise identical ingredients."

Fort Collins's two biggest brewers take over the taps at Stoney's Bar & Grill today at 5 p.m. New Belgium and Odell will pour at least eight beers each in honor of GABF. Two of the Odell rareties are Sintium Orange Session and Haven & Hale Peach Ale. There will also be a pig roast and live music starting at 7 p.m.

Star Bar pours Cigar City beers beginning at 5 p.m. The Florida brewer doesn't distribute in Denver, so this is a one-time deal. You'll find Jai Alai IPA, Big Sound Scotch Ale, Florida Cracker White Ale, Vanilla Maduro, and Mango Habanero Red Ale.

Come sample some freakishly exotic rare beer from your favorite Colorado breweries at the Rackhouse Pub's 2012 Colorado Rare Beer Tasting, 6-9 p.m. Details are TBA. Tickets are $25.

Highly-regarded California beer maker Firestone Walker will team up with local celebrity chef Hosea Rosenberg tonight from 6:30 to 9:30 for The Lion, The Bear & The Brewmaster -- or what the brewery is calling, "Firestone Walker unplugged, a rare night of food, barrel-aged beers and brewery banter." The event, at Mile High Station, will feature a vertical tasting of the brewery's last four anniversary ales: XII, XIII, XIV and XV (all of which are now sold out). Firestone Walker will also unveil the latest vintage, XVI. All of the anniversary ales are made by blending various other Firestone Walker beers -- with help from the wine-making community in Paso Robles, California -- and then aging them in barrels. Meanwhile, Rosenberg, the former Top Chef winner who owns Boulder's Blackbelly Catering, will offer a small-plate menu created to pair with the beers. "Along the way, brewery proprietors Adam Firestone (aka the bear) and David Walker (aka the lion) and Brewmaster Matt Brynildson will share unscripted stories and scuttle from inside the brewery," according to Firestone Walker. "The conversation will be moderated by Justin Crossley of The Brewing Network." Tickets are $75.

Pub 17 in the Grand Hyatt Denver gets happy with an Avery Brewing-hosted happy hour beginning today at 3 p.m. and featuring Ale To The Chief Pale Ale, a double-dry-hopped beer made to celebrate the presidential election. The bar will also have Lilokoi Kepolo, a Belgian white infused with spices and passion fruit.

Boulder's West End Tavern will tap a firkin of something (it's TBA) from Crazy Mountain Brewing in Edwards today at 6 p.m. to celebrate GABF week. At 8 p.m., the bar will screen Warren Miller's Freeride from 1998.

Freshcraft will hold A Bitter Welcome to GABF at 8:30 p.m. with some hoppy beers from Stone Brewing and Oskar Blues. Details are TBA.

Osteria Marco will welcome beer enthusiasts with the five-course Hooves & Hops dinner, in which chef Burton Koelliker has prepared a menu specifically designed to be paired with beers from Durango's Ska Brewing. The beers include Euphoria Pale Ale and Steel Toe Milk Stout. The cost is $55 plus tax and tip.

Russell's Smokehouse will serve a four-course German beer dinner with San Francisco's Rich Higgins, one of only four Master Cicerones in the country. Together, Higgins and chef Taylor Drew will lead guests through an evening of German beers paired with tender cuts of smoked duck, roasted venison loin and braised short ribs. The meal, which is capped with a marzen beer and carrot cake, costs $55.

Sam Adams will take over a whopping nineteen taps at Lucky Pie Pizza in Denver today from 5 p.m. to close. There will also beer/food pairings, giveaways and a meet-and-greet with Master Brewer Jennifer Glanville and the Sam Adams team.

Thursday, October 11

Oskar Blues is throwing a double top-secret party at Blake Street Tavern tonight - one in which all the details will be revealed to you and you alone - and anyone else who prints off an invite from the brewery's Facebook page! The It's All About the Package Launch and GABF After-Party, starting at 9:30 p.m., will feature The Deuce, Oskar Blues's new, behind-closed-doors collaboration with Indiana's Sun King Brewing, as well as sixteen-ounce tall boys of G'Knight for the first time. And the brewery will reveal a brand-spankin' new package as well - something it calls "craft beer history in the making." The party is free, but to get in, you need to print out an invite from the Facebook page or show it to the doorman on your smartphone. There will also be live music by Halden Wofford & the Hi Beams and gigantic giveaways.

FreshCraft will pour some amazing beers from Florida's Cigar City Brewing from 3 to 5 p.m., in the two hours before the GABF session opens. Beers include Cinnamon Apple IPA, Hotter Than Helles, Guava Grove Saison, Marshal Zhukov's Russian Imperial Stout and Ligero Black Lager.

Rackhouse Beer School continues today with Hops 101, from 3 to 5 p.m. Dry Dock Brewing owner Kevin DeLange and Brewers Supply Group purchasing and inventory manager Justin Livengood will show students how brewers use hops to create balance and bitterness, and how different soil content, regional climates and genetic variations keep things interesting. Oh, and you get to try four casks from Dry Dock that feature beer made with identical grain and yeast recipes, but four different hops. Tickets are $35.

The Kitchen Denver will feature an unusual visitor today from 3 to 5 p.m. when it hosts Golden Road Brewing from Los Angeles, which has teamed up with Oskar Blues for a GABF Pregame Party. Both breweries will be pouring specialty beers, and Golden Road, which doesn't normally distribute in Denver, will release its latest canned beer, Burning Bush IPA. Reps from both breweries will be on hand.

Freshcraft will tap Big Brown Rye, a special beer that it brewed in collaboration with Durango's Ska Brewing and Peach Street Distillers (which has some of the same owners as Ska) tonight at 10 p.m. Big Brown Rye is a high gravity brown made with rye malt and aged for three months in Peach Street bourbon barrels. There will also be other great beers and barrel-aged cocktails, along with ska music and appearances by the owners of Ska and Peachtree. Other Ska beers on hand will include Euphoreigner, a firkin of Euphoria dry-hopped with Simcoe and El Dorado hops; the brand new Mole Stout on nitro; GABF gold-medal award winning Steel Toe Stout; Hoperation Ivy; Euphoria; and Modus Hoperandi.

Star Bar "wraps your lips around some barrels," beginning at noon with a big selection of barrel aged and sour beers, special releases, and colabeerations. This will be mostly a local affair, with a couple of non-natives thrown in. Beer's include Odell Shenanigans, Saboteur, Deconstruction and The Meddler; Funkwerks Leuven; New Belgium La Folie, Tart Lychee, Brett Beer, Biere De Mars, Clutch, Kick, Super IPA, Peach Porch Lounger.

Falling Rock will serve up its daily dose of awesome beginning at 2 p.m. with some brewers from Boulder Beer Company, followed by: 3 p.m.: Portland, Oregon's Rogue Brewing John/John and Chatoe Orgasmic. 10 p.m.: Try a trio of barrel-aged Beers from Oskar Blues, Ten-Fidy aged in a Jim Beam barrel, Gubna aged in a Wild Turkey barrel and Old Chub aged in an Austin Nichols barrel. 10:45 p.m.: Chaka, the first Oskar Blues/Sun King collaboration beer, will be on tap, followed by... 11 p.m.: A tapping of beers from Indiana's Sun King. Try Osiris, Cream Dream V, Velvet Fog and Pappy Van Muckle.

Breckenridge Brewery will hold its first annual Brews Cruise RendezBrew today from 1 to 3 p.m., featuring beer from each of the cities that the Brews Cruise touring company serves, Denver (Breckenridge, Strange, Renegade, Wit's End, Colorado Cider), Asheville, North Carolina (Pisgah Brewing), Atlanta (Jailhouse Brewery), Bend, Oregon (Good Life Brewing, Deschutes Brewery), and Charleston, South Carolina (Holy City Brewing). Breck will be serving Avalanche Amber Sausages. Tickets are $15.

Renegade Brewing kicks off the GABF festivities with a mellow evening of music and by bringing back its Black Gold Peanut Butter Cup Stout, one of the most interesting beers of the year. The band starts at 7:30, beer will be flowing from 1-10 p.m.

Strange Brewing will tap two new beers made for its recurring One-Barrel Wednesday series. The brewery will also show the movie Strange Brew, host author Ed Sealover for a book signing and showcase live music from the McKenzie Bros at 6:30 p.m.

River North Brewery brings back its Barrel Series No. 3, Quandary Quadrupel aged in whiskey. Oak and whiskey notes blend with the dark fruit characteristic of a Belgian-style Strong Dark Ale, elevating this already big beer to another level.

Pub 17 at the Grand Hyatt Denver submits to the Left Hand and Ska breweries, who will take over the taps today and tomorrow beginning at 7 p.m. Some of the beers include: Left Hand's Chainsaw Ale, Widdershins Barrel Aged Barley Wine, Java Lava Vietnamese Coffee Infused Milk Stout, and Fade To Black, Volume 2 Smoked Baltic Porter, along with Ska's Modus Hoperandi, Mole Stout, Hoperation Ivy and Euphoria Pale Ale.

Copper Kettle will feature a few beers on tap this week for one night only. Tonight's beer is Imperial Black IPA, followed by Black Quad tomorrow and Anniversary Barleywine on the following day, along with a live band and food truck.

SOLD OUTEuclid Hall debuted its Midnight Breakfast with Avery Brewing during last year's GABF to rave reviews and a handful of beer celebrities. The draw: an intense, palate-pounding menu by Euclid chef Jorel Pierce paired with an equally overwhelming series of some of Averys' rarest, most delicious and most sought-after brews. This year's breakfast starts at 11 p.m., after the end of the GABF Thursday night session, and includes nine decadent culinary creations that Pierce designed specifically to match nine of Avery's beers, most of them barrel-aged and created by Avery's Andy Parker.

Lucky Pie Pizza and Taphouse will host three tapping parties today at which you can meet a brewer from three different renowned breweries and taste some of their more rare beers The first is from noon to 2 p.m. with Rogue Brewing out of Oregon, followed by Sierra Nevada from 4:30-7 p m. and Stone at 8 p.m.

Straight from the New Belgium Brewing's wood cellar of LOVE, Star Bar taps Funky Friends, Dunkel Apple, and Prickly Passion Peach tonight at 9:30 p.m. There will be live Music with Mad Dog & The Smokin' J's.

Friday, October 12

Avery Brewing and Denver Off the Wagon, a local boozehound blog, will host the Pucker Up Poker Run today from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For $45, players get a four-ounce taster of a rare sour beer from Avery at each of five locations around town, along with a six-ounce pour of an Avery "palate cleanser" to wash it down. They'll also get a playing card; the person with the best hand at the end of the day wins a prize. Oh, and you'll need a bike, a designated driver or a solid pair of walking shoes to get from location to location. The beers are Odio Equum at Star Bar; Sui Generis at Falling Rock; Dihos Dactylion at Highland Tap & Burger; Bad Apple at Euclid Hall and Immitis at Lucky Pie Pizza &Tap House.

Beer lovers are invited to the First Annual Colorado Brewers Brunch this morning from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. at Freshcraft, which will be pouring beers from Colorado Brewers Guild members (including Great Divide Espresso Oak Aged Yeti, Upslope Pumpkin Ale, Left Hand Java Lava, Denver Beer Company's Pueblo Chili Beer and a barrel aged sour from Dry Dock). There will also be some fancy grub from Freshcraft. Fifty percent of the proceeds go to the guild, which will be on hand, along with some brewers. Tickets are $30 and can be purchased at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/274033.

Hops & Pie will give you a chance to sample perhaps the largest variety of beer from Indiana's Sun King Brewing today; the brewery doesn't normally distribute in Colorado, but made an exception for GABF week. You'll find Osiris Pale Ale; Velvet Fog, a Belgian quad; Cream Dream V imperial IPA; barrel-aged Oktoberfest; Grapefruit Jungle, the highly-regarded IPA; Sunlight Cream Ale; and Pink Taco, which is described as a raspberry and hibiscus sour made with a Sunlight Cream Ale base.

Falling Rock's daily dose of tappings begins at noon with the annual Sierra Nevada Kill-A-Keg, in which the bar's patrons attempt to kill a keg of the brewery's Harvest Ale as quickly as possible. 1 p.m.: Boulevard Brewing from Kansas City, Missouri, taps Saison Brett, Double Wide Double IPA and Collaboration #3. 2 p.m.: Green Flash beers 2:45 p.m.: Green Flash/Cigar City Collaboration beer -- Candela (Candelas are a green wrapped cigar), followed by... 3 p.m.: Florida's Cigar City brings in its Oatmeal Raisin Cookie, Humidor IPA, Good Gourd, Apple Brandy Barrel Aged Hunahpu's, Cucumber Saison. 4 p.m.: Anderson Valley, Booneville, California, taps Mendo Mello Wet Hopped Beer and Bourbon Barrel Aged Barney Flats Oatmeal Stout. 10 p.m.: Stone Brewing brings its Japanese Green Tea IPA aged in red wine barrels, CaliBelgique aged in red wine barrels, a 2004 Old Guardian and a Smoked Porter 10:30 p.m.: Head downstairs at Falling Rock for the annual CHEERS fundraiser that Delaware's Dogfish Head Brewing holds for the Colorado Brewers Guild. There will be twenty beers from twenty CBG breweries along with a specialty keg from Dogfish Head. Tickets are $40 ($30 for members of the Guild's SOCIAL) and include tasters of all 21 beers and a T-shirt. Tickets are limited and go on sale at 10:15 at Falling Rock.

Denver Beer Co.'s brewers both went to college in upstate New York where they spent four years drinking Saranac Brewery beer, and last spring at the Savor Beer and Food event in Washington, D.C., Rich and Nick of the Saranac Brewery had a few beers with DBC owners Patrick Crawford and Charlie Berger. The result is Continental Collide, an east-meets-west collaborative effort that will be tapped at 4 p.m. The beer, which celebrates both the Adirondacks and the Rockies, uses Colorado malted barley and rye from the foot of the Rockies along with Galena and Cascade hops raised at the base of the Adirondacks. The result is a vermilion Rye IPA with a touch of Colorado honey to compliment the citrusy New York hops.

Wake Up Dead this morning at Left Hand Brewing in Longmont, which will host an early morning Friday kickoff from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. today featuring draft specials, tours, cigars and live music. The party is named after one of Left Hand's beers.

Rackhouse Beer School wraps up today with Sours 101, from 3-5 p.m. with Chad Yakobson of Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project, Andy Parker of Avery Brewing Company and Troy Casey of AC Golden, who will talk barrel-aging, souring, blending, Brett and everything in between. There will also be a specialty guided tasting of select sours from Crooked Stave and Avery.

Freshcraft will dedicate the evening to barrel-aged beers from Firestone Walker and Odell at 10 p.m. by pouring Firestone Walker Parabola 2012, Odell Bourbon Barrel Stout 2011, Firestone Walker Reginald Brett, Odell The Meddler Oud Bruin, Firestone Walker Anniversary XIV, and Odell Deconstruction 2012.

Get it the way you like it with Avery Brewing Co.'s Hardcore & Softcore at Star Bar tonight at 10 p.m. The place will go big -- and small -- by tapping four of Avery's high ABV beers (up to 17 percent) and eight of its low-ABV beers, down around 3.5 percent. "Who knows how this will end? We're sure it won't be in the back of a van," the bar says.

Twisted Pine Brewing in Boulder raids its own cellar, bringing out some 2011 Bough Breaker Barleywine and 2011 Northstar Imperial Porter at 4 p.m. There will be live music from Danny Schafer from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Lucky Pie Pizza & Taphouse in Denver will feature beers from Pennsylvania's Victory Brewing today from 1 to 3 p.m., when you'll also be able to meet one of their brewers. That will be followed by a similar event with Idaho's Grand Teton Brewing from 4-6 p.m.

Saturday, October 13

The Cheeky Monk hosts its annual Breakfast with the Bruery today at 8 a.m. with Patrick Rue, founder of the Orange County sensation. Special beer paddles will be served with some great food choices.

Denver Beer Co will dish up a Brewers Breakfast today, serving breakfast burritos and barrel-aged barleywine starting at 10 a.m. Ten bucks gets you a burrito and a twelve-ounce pour of barleywine aged for twelve months in a French cognac barrel.

At noon, Freshcraft will break out its small supply of beers from Sun King, which will be pouring in Denver for the first time ever this week. Beers include Osiris and Pappy van Muckle. Then, at 4:20 p.m., hit Freshcraft's Lagu-F'in-Itas celebration by hanging with representatives of the California brewery and trying a firkin of Undercover Investigation Shutdown Ale, along with Hop Stoopid and Fusion #10.

Pub 17 cedes its taps to Oskar Blues today at 2 p.m. for a tap takeover that includes Ten FIDY, Smitty and Chaka. Customer will get a free OB pint glass while supplies last.

Star Bar hosts Beer & Booze Not Divided, and an Oskar Blues Fuh CAN Rally (all craft cans are $3, $4, or $5). At 2 p.m., there's a Beer Advocate Cocktail Party, with six beer cocktails being made featuring brews from Oskar Blues and Great Divide, local spirits, and recipes from their own in-house team and The Beer Wench. Oskar Blues and Great Divide will also be sending over some specialties from their cellars.

Falling Rock Taphouse will get things started at 4 p.m. with a 2009 (or possibly 2008) keg of Avery Brewing's Beast, along with a few other Avery treats. 6 p.m.: English Beers with Melissa Cole (Beers TBD) 10 p.m.: Firestone Walker taps Velvet MerLIN Firkin and a Parabola. 11 p.m.: For its final 2012 GABF event, Falling Rock digs into its stash for a keg of New Belgium Vrienden (2010) and Abbey Grand Cru (2010), along with a couple of single-barrel experiments (called 'Love') that the brewery has brought down.

What, it's over already? Say goodbye to GABF week in mild style with the Avery Lounge Party at Freshcraft, which takes place at 10 p.m. after the final festival session. Avery will be tapping some of its low-alcohol beers that have never been tried outside of the Boulder brewery's taproom.

Twisted Pine Brewing in Boulder hosts Twisted Tastes with Ginger Johnson: "Start GABF-Saturday off on the right foot with small bites paired with rare beers, accompanied by an edutaining seminar by Ginger Johnson, founder of Women Enjoying Beer. The tasting will take place at the Twisted Pine tap room from 9:30-11am. Those purchasing tickets through October 7 will be entered into a drawing and two lucky participants will each win a pair of tickets to the sold-out GABF! Visit www.twistedpinebrewing.com for more details."

Sunday, October 14

San Francisco-based Master Cicerone Rich Higgins will join forces with Lou's Food Bar chef Mike Peschek for a three-course beer-driven brunch paired with Belgian beers. It involves hangover-curing veal brats, waffles, chicken-fried pork belly and house-made pastries. The brunch is priced at $35/person, exclusive of tax and gratuity.

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