Mashing-In News: GABF at 43, 3-Day Fresh Hop Festival
GOOD MORNING, SOUTH PUGET SOUND!
Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025 — Yo-Yo Ma turns 70
Today’s craft beer news climbs from the misty hop fields of Yakima to the alpine peaks of France — a panorama of resilience, reinvention, and reverence for what still makes beer magic. West Seattle raises a pint to harvest season with 40 fresh hop brews; Denver’s Great American Beer Festival faces its midlife reckoning; and the Brewers Association trims its flagship conference for leaner times. Yet amid contraction, new frontiers rise: brewers of color step into hop selection for the first time, Oregon taps farmland-saving ales, and Elysian launches a glowing new “Phaze” of Space Dust. Even Outer Range Brewing proves that great beer—and mountain soul—can thrive anywhere the air is thin and the vision’s high.
West Seattle’s Beveridge Place Pub Hosts Three-Day Fresh Hop Festival
Beveridge Place Pub and the Washington Beer Blog team up October 9–11 for a three-day Fresh Hop Festival in West Seattle, featuring up to 40 fresh hop beers from regional powerhouses like Bale Breaker, Cloudburst, Single Hill, and Breakside—plus a rare pour of Boundary Bay’s final brew—celebrating the fleeting magic of the Northwest’s hop harvest season. (Washington Beer Blog)
GABF at 43: Craft Beer’s Biggest Festival Faces Sobering Times
The Great American Beer Festival turns 43 amid a shifting craft beer landscape—attendance down, closures up, and optimism tested—but brewers’ resilience endures as Denver’s once-rowdy celebration evolves into a more immersive, inclusive experience that honors craft’s stubborn heart and improbable legacy. (All About Beer)
Brewers Association Shortens 2026 Craft Brewers Conference Schedule
The Brewers Association has shortened the 2026 Craft Brewers Conference in Philadelphia from four days to three—now running April 20–22 with the World Beer Cup Awards on the final day—in an effort to offer a “streamlined, more impactful” experience amid tightening budgets and shifting industry priorities. (All About Beer)
Brewers of Color Join Hop Selection for the First Time in Yakima
The Michael James Jackson Foundation for Brewing & Distilling partnered with Yakima Chief Hops to bring 11 awardees and a Lovibond Project guest to Yakima for hop harvest—the first time MJF scholars joined hop selection—connecting brewers of color directly with growers in a transformative, hands-on experience that blended education, equity, and the future of brewing. (The New School)
Cheers to the Land Returns With 18 Oregon-Grown Beers and Ciders for Farmland Protection
The Oregon Agricultural Trust’s Cheers to the Land campaign returns October 10 for its fourth year, uniting 15 breweries and 3 cideries to release 18 Oregon-grown, farmland-saving beers and ciders—each brewed to support the protection of local agricultural lands—with release events planned in Eugene, Portland, and Salem throughout October. (The New School)
Elysian Brewing Launches Phaze Dust, Expanding Its Space Dust IPA Universe
Elysian Brewing expands its cosmic IPA lineup with Phaze Dust, a new Imperial Hazy IPA brewed with Oregon-grown Luminosa hops, joining Space Dust and Juice Dust in the brewery’s signature Space Dust Series. Clocking in at 8.2% ABV, Phaze Dust delivers soft, citrusy waves of candied peach, mango, and tangerine, available now in the new Space Dust Variety Pack and on tap at Elysian’s Seattle pubs. (Brewpublic)
Outer Range Brewing Scales New Heights With French Alps Taproom
Outer Range Brewing Co., the Colorado-born mountain brewery renowned for its hazy IPAs and alpine ethos, has expanded its “Leave the Life Below” philosophy to France with a stunning new taproom in Sallanches, beneath Mont Blanc—proving that mountain culture, great beer, and bold vision transcend continents. (Hop Culture)
LINK: Peaks & Pints beer and cider cooler inventory
