Thousands of Brewskis on Tap at Great American Beer Festival in Denver

(Sept. 18) -- It's a beer lover's trifecta: Drinking a beer while surrounded by beer while watching a movie about beer.

And it's available for the first time at the 29th annual Great American Beer Festival in Denver, which is launching the Short Pour Film Festival.

The three-day festival is no mere beer garden. There are 2,200 beers from more than 455 U.S. breweries available to taste, the largest selection of American beers ever served, organizers say.

Courtesy The Brewer's Association

The Great American Beer Festival is being held in Denver, Colo., and there are some, 2,200 beers available to taste.

By the time the event ends tonight, about 49,000 people are expected to have attended. On Thursday and Friday, crowds of people milled about in orange wristbands, sniffing and swigging beer in commemorative 1-ounce glasses.

"At first you're like, 'One ounce! That is so tiny. So little liquid, I'll never get anywhere at this pace,' " Lauren Salazar of New Belgium Brewing Co. told the online magazine A.V. Club Denver.

"And then 40 samples at 10 percent ABV [alcohol by volume] and above, and you're like: stumble, hiccup, 'Oh boy, pretzels on a string for dinner.' "

For beer aficionados, there are classes on cooking with craft beer and on pairing food and beer. There are lectures from brewers, and a home-brew competition. There is even a brewer bookstore. But mostly, it's about the beer.

Nearly 3,600 beers are entered in the competition for commercial beer -- a 9 percent increase from 2009. There are 79 categories, including coffee-flavored beer; herb, spice and chocolate beer; gluten-free beer; and new this year are pumpkin beer, field beer, American-style India Black Ale, and wood- and barrel-aged strong stout.

Tim Myers and John Fletcher of Denver opened the Strange Brewing Co. in May after losing their jobs with the Denver Newspaper Agency. They are among the 56 new breweries to enter the competition and have eight beers in the running.

"We've been living off of word of mouth," Myers told The Denver Post. "Getting in front of 40,000 people this week will be our coming-out party."

In all, there are 522 breweries representing 48 states in the contest. The division with the most number of entrants is American-style India Pale Ale with 150. The results from the 150 judges are being posted on the contest's Facebook page.

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There's so much beer that both BeerAdvocate.com and A.V. Club Denver published survival guides for participants, reminding people to moderate, take breaks, hydrate and stay enthusiastic among the crowds and an overwhelming number of samples.

In fact, so popular is the event that local media began writing about it in June, and tickets sold out five weeks ago. The enthusiasm overflows into the rest of the city. Also in Denver this weekend are Oktoberfest, Brew at the Zoo, a "suds safari" with more than 40 Colorado breweries and the Tour de Fat, New Belgium's bike ride-cum-costume party. (It should be noted that American Craft Beer Week is in May.)

But for those at the Great American Beer Festival who have lost their oomph, there is always the Short Pour Film Festival. People can sample live-action and animated shorts, music videos and commercials. The 2010 winner is "Swagger Stagger" (caution: adult content and language).