Great American Beer Festival moves outdoors, tickets go on sale June 25

The Great American Beer Festival is stepping out of the Colorado Convention Center and into Levitt Pavilion in Denver’s Ruby Hill neighborhood, a move that turns one of American beer’s biggest annual gatherings into an outdoor event for the first time. General-public tickets go on sale June 25 at 10 a.m., and the festival is set for October 10 and 11, with tasting sessions running from noon to 4 p.m. both days.

The new format comes with a very different price structure. Main-session tickets are listed at $60 plus $6.53 in fees, or $66.53 all-in, and the Brewers Association says that is nearly 40% lower than previous years. Festival tickets include a tasting glass and unlimited samples from America’s top breweries. PAIRED, the food-and-beer event that has become a prestige part of the weekend, is also returning, with tickets priced at $170.38.

The location change is doing as much work as the pricing. For years, GABF lived inside the convention center, where the experience was defined by halls, rows of booths and the dense logistics of a big-city convention. Levitt Pavilion Denver presents a different stage entirely: an all-ages outdoor amphitheater in Ruby Hill Park that hosts 50 free concerts and community events each summer. The Brewers Association says the move opens a new chapter for the festival, blending beer with live music and an open-air setting that feels more like a summer event than a trade-show crawl.

That shift also brings practical tradeoffs. Denverite reported that the D Line stop is about a mile from the venue, with fewer nearby bus options and more limited parking than downtown. For breweries and staff, the outdoor move means a different kind of load-in, a different crowd flow and a different read on how much beer education and sampling can fit into the footprint of a park venue.

The festival’s business side is already moving on the new calendar. Competition registration runs June 23 through July 9, and booth registration is opening in phases, beginning with Brewers Association member breweries and cideries that have won GABF or World Beer Cup awards in the last five years. Phase two opens later in the spring for other member breweries and cideries. The awards ceremony is set for October 11 at Levitt Pavilion, tying the judging, the beer and the outdoor setting together in a way GABF has never tried before. This year’s reset is not just a venue swap; it is a test of whether marquee beer festivals have to evolve to stay central to the culture.