Remember when you could go to a beer festival and speak directly to a brewer about what their motivations and inspirations were for creating the beer you’re drinking? Those opportunities seem to present themselves much less frequently these days. Anymore, many brew fests are overcrowded, forcing you to wait in long lines, only then able to talk briefly with the volunteers serving you beer they know nothing about and didn’t make. This experience is what the creators of the first inaugural Fort Love Brewers Jamboree yearn to get away from. It is part beer festival, part beer dinner and part brewers’ conference with the hopes of being more personal. The motivations for this jamboree stemmed from the brewers from around Northern Colorado who call themselves the “Loose Affiliation of Fort Collins Craft Brewers” (LAFCCB), who wanted a beer festival where they felt more connected to the beer drinker.
“Many of the [LAFCCB] brewers wanted their own festival, where the focus wasn’t about how much beer you can drink, but rather a focus on the craft.” says John Yeast, who leads the organizing of the Fort Love Brewers Jamboree. John further explains, “Some festivals have become so big that many of the [LAFCCB] brewers just felt they couldn’t express their motivations and craft to the curious beer drinker at these venues. It’s going to be a journey through craft beer at a slower pace.”
The Fort Love Brewers Jamboree brings together 15 breweries from Fort Collins and Loveland, and on its first year the brewers have concocted and collaborated on craft beer styles of all sorts. Some of the beers included this year are the Bourbon Barrel Aged Tripel from Black Bottle Brewery, Hoptitude from Fort Collins Brewery, Raspberry Provincial from Funkwerks, Biere de Mars vintage from New Belgium Brewing, Brazzle Sour Golden Raspberry from Odell Brewing, Bourbon Barrel Aged Angry Banjo from Verboten Brewing, HopfenPils #3 from Zwei Brüder Brewing, and many more that must be experienced. Admission to the Fort Love Brewers Jamboree will also include small plates of food that will be paired with much of the craft beer.
The Fort Love Brewers Jamboree includes 4 large food tents with 4 breweries serving 2 beers each from each large tent, and each tent will have a different food theme. There will be a snack tent, a taco tent, a tent with sliders and a sweet tent. The snack tent will feature cheese and crackers from the Fox & Crow cheese shop and meats from the Boar & Bull. The taco tent will have tacos made by Austin Taco and Atacolypse Now. The slider tent will feature meatball sliders made by Bear's Backyard Grill, and the sweet tent will have donut bites and other sweet and savory bites of food. There will also be several other vendors with snacks at their tent, and they include Jackson's Honest Chips, Mouco Cheese, and Nita Crisp Crackers. All this paired with locally made craft beer for you to savor together, as it should be.
The Fort Love Brewers Jamboree will be on Saturday, May 16th in Legacy Park (300 Woodlawn Drive, Fort Collins, CO 80524) and tickets can be bought for VIP (1pm-6pm) or General Admission (2pm-6pm) and for designated drivers as well. Proceeds will also go to help water advocacy at Save the Poudre and to promote safe transportation at the Fort Collins Bike Library while you’re enjoying some finely crafted beer. So, get your tickets and get ready for a unique craft beer experience that’s right around the corner.
Cheers!