Beer Director for the Flying Saucer – sounds pretty cool, right? Flying Saucer is a concept that has been around since 1995 selling great beer to great people (you probably already know that if you are reading this though). My job is not just a fun title, but I get to attend, work at, and help set up beer festivals around the globe. I look forward to this part of my job each and every year.
This year was a bit different for me, though. I was nervous about the upcoming festival season because I heard noise that festivals may be dead in America. Specifically, Todd Alstrom posted about this subject in a forum on Beer Advocate. Here’s a link to that forum. However, I was pleased to discover that this year’s beer festivals I attended were nothing short of amazing. Come with me as I share this year’s festival experiences with the hopeful, adventurous, beer-loving Beerknurds.
First, let’s start with my trip to Germany. It’s not America, but I frequently referenced this experience with what Todd wrote about, as it turned out to be one of the best work trips of my life. We flew into Munich, Germany where we took a short trip over to Freising, home to Weihenstephan brewery. Freising is considered the heart of old Bavaria. Saint Corbinian founded the monastery that would later become Weihenstephan in 725 A.D. Rich in Bavaria beer-making history, they have been making incredible beer for around 1000 years from this location.
After a tour of the amazingly old brewery that has been combined with the world’s best beer-making technology, we headed to a hop farm in the Hallertau region. We received an incredible heartfelt thanks from the farmers that grow, cultivate and process the hops for all of the German beers we imbibe. Their hospitality was incredible.
Later, we changed into some lederhosen and participated in a parade by walking to the opening night of the Freising Volksfest. Oktoberfest is a celebration in Munich for Prince Ludwig’s wedding in 1810, whereas Volksfest celebrates the hop harvest outside of Munich, and started in 1818. When we were there, nearly 10,000 people showed up for the first night of Volksfest. The attendance is around that amount every night for 10 straight days. Everyone comes to Volksfest to try a festbier by Weihenstephan, which is the star of the show, not some bourbon-barrel-aged whale.
Walking in a parade through downtown Freising on our way to volksfest. 
Downtown Freising Germany 
Hallertau hop farm
Next, I went to the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colorado. Our company has the pleasure of taking our some of our long-term customers around the town to meet up with our best brewery partners. Every year, it’s so exciting to meet up with Knurds who haven’t had the chance to see this experience yet, or those who love going so much that they make it part of their yearly routine. It’s a great chance for the breweries to say thanks to our customers for all the beers they have consumed, and for us to show them a great time in one of the best beer cities in the world.
Great American Beer Festival is the largest beer festival in America. There are events all over the city, and breweries submit beers to a highly educated judging committee to be awarded for their beers. This year, there were 263 breweries that won 303 medals for some extremely great beer making. The events around the festival in Denver are equally impressive with some of the best tap lists and tap takeovers imaginable to an excited Beerknurd, like me, and countless others. I ran all over the city to try great stuff, such as Cohesion’s lager program, Finn’s Manor tap list, and countless tap take overs.
Another amazing festival I was a part of was in Sugar Land, Texas. The 2nd annual Sugar Land Town Square Oktoberfest hosted nearly 7,000 attendees. It was an incredible day of Dachshund races, a stein hoisting competition, a beer tasting with several rare beers, over 30 Oktoberfest beers, and awesome live music. The amount of beer we sold was something that I hadn’t seen in one single day of my career. It was so moving to see the amount of Beerknurds show up and tell us what a great time they were having. We also put together similarly amazing festivals at our San Antonio Flying Saucer and Fort Worth Flying Saucer that brought Beerknurds out to try some of the rarest beers available.
Huge crowd at Sugar Land Oktoberfest 
Rare beer tent at San Antonio Beerfeast
I’ve been in the craft beer business for 20 years, and I can tell you that beer festivals are (still) alive and well. I am very proud to keep beer festival traditions going, and I stand by the fact that every festival we are a part of as a company is well worth it to our customers. Being able to try beers from all over the world in one setting is an incredible experience to this day for people who love adventure. When you’re looking for that experience in 2024, don’t listen to the noise. Push “click” on that festival purchase. I promise you won’t regret it.
