This Summer's Wyoming Beer Festivals With Our Friend’s Brian & Jen
Written By: Sarah Reish
Nothing beats summer vibes and a great beer festival. Unfortunately our schedule did not allow for us to attend all of them, but our wonderful friend’s Brian and Jen of Cody Craft Brewing were attending them all and were happy to provide all of the content for this article. They attended the festivals as vendors and introduced their wonderful beer to Wyoming. Special thanks to Juli of Libations for continuing to sponsor all of our Wyoming beer and spirits content.
Each festival has live music creating a great atmosphere for the entire event. So, here it is! This is a look at Wyoming’s amazing beer festival scene!
Name of Beer fest: Old West Brewfest (Jackson)
How many attendees: approximately 1,000
Who won what? People's Choice - StillWest Brewery - Jackson
Brian's honorable mentions: Wildlife Brewing Hopstafarian IPA: Really good IPA from the other side of Teton pass in Idaho.
How would you describe the ambiance? This is a great way to visit Jackson and try a bunch of regional breweries in the heart of town square. While rainy the large tent made this a fun outdoor activity for the weekend and early summer.
What makes this festival amazing? Amazing for breweries because it kicks off the beer festival season. We get to see a lot of our peers we haven’t seen since last summer.
Name of Beer fest: Thermopolis Brewfest
How many attendees: a few hundred (300-400)
Who won what? No competition, just beer, food and fun.
Brian's honorable mentions: Snowy Mountain Aspen Alley -Amber (Annie Wood brewery operations manager)
How would you describe the ambiance? Close. It is a small group of beer lovers getting together to make a difference in the community.
What makes this festival amazing? Thermop is a cool town and given the smaller crowd size it was great having one on one time with other beer lovers. Attendees can really appreciate each brewers beer without being overwhelmed by so many beer choices that come with a larger event.
Name of Beer fest: Lander BrewFest
How many beer vendors? Approximately 40
How many attendees: 2,500
Who won what? Gruner Bros IPA - UTOG Brewing Sour
Brian's honorable mentions: COAL Creek - For the love of hops IPA - I think this beer is outstanding.
How would you describe the ambiance? This is a great festival and located in Lander city park in the shade. It’s a day in the park with really good beer.
What makes this festival amazing? The location, hands down! Also it was a two day event which makes it worth the trip to attend.
Here is that link to Brian's interview at Lander Brewfest:
https://county10.com/jerrad-and-charenes-beercast-with-cody-craft-brewing-from-lander-brewfest/
Name of Beer fest: Wyoming brewers festival in Cheyenne
How many beer vendors? 40+
How many attendees: No cap, it was crowded
Who won what? People's Choice WYOld West Brewing for favorite brewery
Ironhorse competition
Snake River Brewing - Jenny Lake Lager
People's Choice
Brewers Choice
Brian's honorable mentions: Cream Ale - Sparge Brewing Crushable Cream Ale (Wellington, Colorado)
How would you describe the ambiance? It is festive, it was located at Depot Plaza, has a splash pad, 5 - 10 each night, multi-day and more of a party and a very well organized event and the weather was perfect.
What makes this festival amazing? The organization of the event, from a brewery standpoint and the location made it a lot of fun.
Name of Beer fest: Laramie BrewFest. Saturday July 9th
How many beer vendors? 38
How many attendees: 2,500 and sold out!
Who won what? Cody Craft Brewing - IPA, Dalerium - Belgian, Oscar blues - European Lager, Bonds - fruit beer with their sour.
Brian's honorable mentions: Accomplice Brewing’s Peach Habanero beer
How would you describe the ambiance? Really fun place and we had a great location with shade trees in Depot park in the old downtown Laramie area. Beautiful day with a great breeze. Everyone was super nice and they had amazing volunteers. The attendees are all beer lovers with great energy and excitement. We ran out of our Mai Bach before general admission opened. Those VIPers are great!
What makes this festival amazing? Personally I love Laramie, it’s a great place. The location of the festival was amazing and close to the Jubilee Days carnival and loading and unloading was easy. The energy from all of the events is contagious. It really is an engaging event
Name of Beer fest: Yellowstone Beer fest
How many beer vendors? 40+
How many attendees: 2,400
Who won what?
Best overall Brewery Pat O’Hara Brewing
Best IPA Pat O'Hara Brewing Co. Juni Ripper
Best Hazy Cody Craft Brewing Much Obliged
Best Specialty Millstone Pizza Company & Brewery White Stout
Best Fruit Toppling Goliath Brewing Co. Cherry Fandango
Best Wheat Pat O’Hara New Wonderland
Best Dark @ Pat O’Hara Sybil’s Coconuts
Brian's honorable mentions: Toppling Goliath Cherry Fandango Sour
How would you describe the ambiance? It was fun, close to home hehehe, tons of room to roam so attendees aren’t on top of people. They do a great job at keeping people hydrated and fed with all of the food trucks. Loading and unloading is easy. Snake river and Melvin were on either side of us which was fun because we are all friends and peers in the industry.
What makes this festival amazing? The camaraderie between brewers is fantastic and more like a big get together with friends and patrons.
Name of Beer fest: Dubois Wild West Brewfest
How many attendees: Approximately 500
Who won what? There was no contest, just beer lovers enjoying good beer.
Jen’s honorable mentions: WYOld West Brewing’s new Hef!
How would you describe the ambiance? It was a lovely day in the park. The whether was perfect and with the music it made for a festive experience.
What makes this festival amazing? The small brewfest made for an intimate gathering of people. The great whether combined with the high energy of a larger beer festival make this event both enjoyable and one we want to attend again.
Special thanks to Brian and Jen for all the work they did getting photos and taking the time to share each festival with us! If you are in the Cody area be sure to stop by Cody Craft Brewery and try their Award winning beer!
Did you enjoy a beer fest this summer?
While the summer beer fests are over it’s never too early to plan for next year. Let us know if you made it and post your photos on social media. Tag us @LiveWYldMag and use #LiveWYld.