Vail Craft Beer Classic: Everything To Know & Tips For Attending

My friends and I attended the Vail Craft Beer Festival a few summers back! From this I learned so much about the do’s and don’ts of attending a high altitude beer festival.

Read on for everything you need to know about the festival and drinking at high elevation!

When Is The Vail Craft Beer Classic?

Every summer in mid-June. In 2026 the festival is June 12th & 13th.

There is one evening tasting on Friday the 12th from 4 – 7 pm. On Saturday there is also one tasting time, 2 – 5 pm.

You can purchase Vail Craft Beer Classic tickets here.

What Is There To Do At The Festival?

The festival of course revolves around sampling beers. The Vail Craft Beer Classic features hundreds of Colorado beers from crisp ales, to fruity lagers and creamy stouts.

While you could easily spend the entire day sampling beers, that’s not all there is to do! There’s also live music, food trucks, and plenty of space for relaxing and socializing with friends.

Is There Food?

Yes, there a number of delicious food trucks on site. My group of friends ate lots of empanadas while sampling beers!

Are There Bathrooms?

There are ample portable toilets on site.

Does The Event Cancel Due To Weather?

Normally, no. The event is held rain or shine.

What To Wear?

Casual attire is best as the entire event is held outdoors.

Our visit landed on a particularly warm day so most people wore shorts and tee’s or summer dresses.

Be aware that the temperature can drop very quickly at night in Vail. It’s best to bring a light jacket or sweatshirt for when the sun goes down.

Can You Bring Children?

The Vail Craft Beer Festival is strictly 21+ and over. No children allowed, this rule applies to infants in strollers or backpacks.

Can You Bring Pets?

Nope.

Where To Stay In Vail?

Vail is relatively small and has excellent (and free!) public transportation. Therefore you can stay just about anywhere in town and plan to use to bus when getting to and from the event. Check out the Vail bus schedule here.

Popular hotels in Vail include:

• The Sebastian Vail
• The Arrabelle at Vail Square – we booked a condo here for our group of 8.
• Grand Hyatt Vail
• Antlers at Vail

Summer is a great time to snag a deal at one of the many gorgeous resorts here! The event also offers lodging specials with local hotels, be sure to check out those options as well!

For more information, check out The Best Hotels In Vail, Colorado.

Elevation In Vail

The altitude in Vail is right about 8,150 feet above sea level. If you’ve ever had a few beers at this elevation you know you start to feel it, fast. Getting drunk faster at a high altitude is no joke.

Below are a couple tips to get you through a beer festival at high elevation (or any festival for that matter).

Tips For Attending A High Elevation Beer Festival & General Beer Festival Etiquette

Drink A Lot Of Water

I can’t emphasize this enough, drink a lot of water. Go into the event hydrated and bring a water bottle with you to stay hydrated. There are always water stations available for refilling your bottle.

Take It Slow

Craft beers, which are prevalent at a beer festival, often have higher alcohol content than your average “light” beer. Sometimes extremely high, for example Avery Brewing Company (based out of Boulder, Colorado) has a 15.7% ABV beer called, Avery The Beast Grand Cru Ale. Your Coors Light is 4.2% ABV for scale. This is a tasting, not a chugging competition.

Be Patient

The lines, especially for a very popular or unique beer, can be long. You’re not the only one who wants to try it. While you wait talk to your friends, make new friends, zone out and enjoy your buzz. Whatever, just be cool.

Bring Snacks

If you want to look really cool, make yourself a pretzel necklace. I’ve seen people get real wild and add all sorts of interesting things to their pretzel necklaces (bacon, anyone?). The pretzel necklace is as easy as it looks.

How To Make A Pretzel Necklace

• Get yourself a long string preferably one that doesn’t fray like yarn, you don’t want yarn scraps in your pretzels.
• Put a bunch of pretzels on your string, make it as big or small as you’d like (come on, who doesn’t like pretzels? Make it big).
• Tie up the string when you’re done adding delicious snacks… voila!

Now, when you get to the festival, you can snack as you go.

Pro tip: Bring an extra necklace because your friends will start eating your pretzels when they get drunk. Trust me.

Keep Your Glass

When you get to the beer festival, you’ll receive a cute little glass for beer sampling. Initially, you may think this glass seems small. However, you will refill this “small” glass more times than your fuzzy memory will be able to remember. I love to keep the glass as a souvenir and store it with my shot glasses at home.

Don’t Pregame

Know your limits. You will get drunk even with the tiny sample glasses they give you, trust me. You don’t want to spend the money on a beer festival, just to get drunk beforehand and send yourself home an hour into the festival. I’ve seen it happen, don’t be that person.

Don’t Be Shy

Chat it up with the beer rep at each station. I usually ask the brewery rep which beer is their favorite, it forces me to branch out and not drink the same thing over and over again. Often times they’ll tell you a brief something about that beer, you may learn something new!

However, don’t stand there forever if there’s a long line behind you, but asking for their opinion, even with a line, is totally fine in my book.

Don’t Feel Bad If You Don’t Like A Particular Beer

If you don’t like one, dump it, rinse your glass, and move on. Not every beer is for everyone and many breweries use events such as these to test new ideas.

Don’t Forget About The Food & Entertainment

Food! Everyone loves food and everyone needs it at a beer festival. Bring cash in case there’s no credit cards allowed. Many festivals will also have a concert, DJ, or some sort of entertainment during or after the festival. Be sure to check it out and enjoy the entire experience they have to offer.

Don’t Feel Silly

Well you will feel silly, probably the drunk kind of silly. But don’t feel silly if you need to take a break, find some food, enjoy the entertainment and let those craft beers settle before heading on to more beer sampling. 

Slowing the pace at a beer festival is nothing to feel weird about.

Don’t Drink & Drive

High content beers at high altitude can be a bad combination. Know when to call it quits and be sure to send yourself home in an Uber/Lyft/cab.

Enjoy the Vail Craft Beer Classic, be safe, and don’t forget to bring a pretzel necklace or two! Cheers!

Looking for more ideas? Below are additional Vail and Colorado guides or head on over to Vail Craft Beer Classic!

More Information For Your Trip To Vail, Colorado:

• The Best Things To Do In Vail, Colorado In The Summer
• Best Hotels In Vail, Colorado
• Top Hot Springs Near Vail, Colorado
• Vail Oktoberfest: Everything To Know & What To Do

More Information For Your Colorado Vacation:

• Best Colorado Mountain Towns For First-Time Visitors
• Colorado Travel Guide (how to plan your trip!)
• All Colorado Guides