The timeline couldn't have been more perfect.  On August 5th we drew a name out of a hat.  That hat contained over 14,000 names.  Rachel Turner had her birthday on August 22md.  On August 23rd she received official confirmation that she had won an all-expense paid trip for two to the 2006 Great American Beer Festival.

Rachel and her husband, Brian, arrived in Denver on Thursday night, and spent a comfortable evening in their room at the Hyatt Regency.  The next day they were given VIP passes to the festival, introduced to Charlie Papazian, President of the Brewer's Association, given a brief tour, then cut loose in an adult's version of Disneyland.

Rachel’s experience, in her own words….

“The festival was truly a unique experience.  Brian and I tried to have at least one beer from every brewery but I'm sure we missed one or two.  There were so many great beers and I have a hard time remembering all the names of the ones I liked.  I should have taken notes, like I saw a few guys doing.  I loved the Odell Easy Street Wheat, the Left Hand Haystack Wheat, and the Brooklyn Brewery Brooklyner Weiss.  As you can see, I love the wheat beers.  To not feel so overwhelmed by the number of breweries, we tried to hit every brewery that offered a wheat beer.  Of course once we were there we tried others.  Brian's favorites were the Avery IPA and the Flying Dog IPA.  Being born and raised in Wisconsin we had to stop by the Pabst table where we had our first Pabst light.  We watched the awards presentation, well only half, and cheered loudly when Piece from Chicago won an award.  On both days to slow ourselves down we listened to some speakers in the brewers studio.  Little did we know they were freely passing around beer.  It was quite inspirational to hear Charlie, Jim Koch and the Sierra Nevada guy talking about their love of brewing beer. 

This festival expanded our love of beer and hopefully we can return every year to try the new beers and revisit our favorites.

Thanks again!!!

You can still sign up to receive your FREE quarterly Coopers Club Newsletter.  Its filled with fun articles, useful information, recipes, and each year we give away a great prize to someone like Rachel Turner…. or you.