Burning Can Festival 2018: Lyons, CO

We’re not going to tell you about every little thing that happened this past beer soaked weekend, except to say that if you weren’t tipsy in Brohn Park this weekend with the thousands that came out for Burning Can Beer Festival and Lyons Outdoor Games, you really missed out. Truth be told, we were there for the beer fest: 75 breweries from Colorado (and a few from out of state) – see the whole list here – came together to share suds, hock hops, and make a whole slew of sun tanned, sun burnt, trucker hat wearing, sunglass rocking, Brikenstock and flip-flopping revelers hoppy. Sorry, I meant happy.

If you haven’t heard of Burning Can, shame on you. Ok, fine, we forgive you. It’s actually a pretty new festival, but quickly growing in popularity. Here’s a quick description of BCF from the website:

Craft Beer & Rocky Mountain Revelry
The 2018 Colorado Burning Can Fest at the Lyons Outdoor Games is the perfect weekend for lovers of adventure, beer, music, and camping. Nestled at the base of the Rocky Mountains, Lyons Colorado boasts a natural playground for runners, riders, kayakers, dogs, and climbers. Featuring adventures to see and watch, a mountain-side beer fest with close to 100 breweries, world class athletes, beautiful camping, and a huge concert, the Burning Can Fest at the Lyons Outdoor Games is quickly growing to be one of the top outdoor lifestyle festivals in the U.S.

A quick rundown of the breweries we were able to get to (no, we couldn’t drink through them all, but damnit, we tried) includes: starting with a dozen samples at the Oskar Blues blind taste test booth – data collection can only improve beer – before we began our crawl with Sanitas Brewing. We quickly followed that up with Vail Brewing Company (the only brewery in Vail, they tell me), Wibby Brewing from Longmont, Telluride Brewing Company, Stem Ciders (Denver and Lafayette), Steamworks Brewing Co from Durange, Two Roads Brewing Co from Stratford, CT, Tommyknocker from Idaho Springs, Ska Brewing, Roadhouse Brewing and, before a much needed hydration and digestion session, Renegade Brewing Co from Denver.

Shout out the organizers for several epic options for keeping bellies full while drinking. We had the burritos and, much later, way too much pizza.

Following our recovery period and after gathering strength, we recommitted ourselves to drinking our fair share of beer. Our second session included River North Brewery (Denver), Outer Range Brewing Co (Frisco, CO), Odyssey Beerwerks Brewery & Taproom (Arvada), Ninkasi Brewing Co (all the way from Eugene, OR), New Planet Brewery (Boulder), New Image Restaurant and Brewery (Arvada), and Nebraska Brewing Co from, you guessed it, Nebraska.

Finally, a huge shoutout to Gravity Brewing Company in Louisville who hosted our team after hours and hooked up some brautwerst. Thanks to Sandra and Julie for making friends with Gravity and getting us the inside track. Their beers are amazing and we’ll definitely be following up with a site visit for a more robust, shall we see, examnition of the offerings.

Ok. Done. Well, close. Last, to all the athletes who impressed with incredible feats of strength and endurance, including our four legged dock dogs who made a heckuva splash, good job. Congratulations. And we’ll see you next year.

Here, have some pictures (courtesy De La Vaca and Catherine DeMuro):