A Conversation with Alesong’s Matt Van Wyk

Every year, during the first weekend of October, 60,000 or more thirsty people descend onto Denver for the largest beer festival in the country, The Great American Beer Festival, or GABF. Ticket holding patrons crawl through corridor after corridor, flanked on either side by 800 tents representing breweries from all 50 states pouring 4,000 different beers.

Among these patrons are certified GABF judges, who are accountable for one of the hardest and most important annual decisions made in America. These judges have to decide the best three beers in 107 categories.

With Oregon being so steeped in craft brewing history, it only makes sense that there are a number of Oregonians in the judging pool, one of whom is Eugene’s own Matt Van Wyk.

*News sourced from www.registerguard.com