There will be a record 578 breweries serving 2,700 beers (the biggest selection ever) in the festival hall at the
2012 Great American Beer Festival (GABF). There are 676 breweries entered into the competition with 154 first-time entrants. 84 categories of beer will be judged, covering 135 beer styles, as well as the GABF Pro-Am.
Texas has its largest showing ever with 30 breweries listed, up from the previous year of 22.
(512) Brewing Company - Austin
Adelbert's Brewery - Austin
Austin Beerworks - Austin
Black Star Co-op Pub and Brewery - Austin
Circle Brewing Company - Austin
Cornel's Brewing Company - Beaumont
Deep Ellum Brewing Company - Dallas
Flix Brewhouse - Round Rock
Fredericksburg Brewing Company, Inc. - Fredericksburg
Freetail Brewing Co. - San Antonio
Hops & Grain Brewing - Austin
Humperdinks Restaurant and Brewery - Dallas
Independence Brewing Co. - Austin
Jester King Craft Brewery - Austin
Karbach Brewing Co. - Houston
Live Oak Brewing Co. - Austin
No Label Brewing Co - Katy
North by Northwest - Austin
Pedernales Brewing Company - Fredericksburg
Peticolas Brewing Company - Dallas
Rahr & Sons Brewing - Fort Worth
Ranger Creek Brewing & Distilling - San Antonio
Real Ale Brewing Company - Blanco
Rogness Brewing Company - Pflugerville
Saint Arnold Brewing Company - Houston
Southern Star Brewing Company - Conroe
Spoetzl Brewery - Shiner
Thirsty Planet Brewing - Austin
Uncle Billy`s Brew & Que - Austin
Uncle Billy`s Brew & Que - Austin (Lake Travis)
Four breweries from Texas took home medals last year, including a Silver to a brewery on its first appearance at the festival:
Gold (American-Style Amber Lager):
Uberbrau - Humperdink's Restaurant and Brewery
Silver (English-Style Summer Ale):
Peacemaker - Austin Beerworks
Silver (Kellerbier or Zwickelbier):
Bottle Rocket Lager - Uncle Billy's Brew & Que on Lake Travis
Bronze (Belgian-Style Lambic or Sour Ale):
Barton Kriek - North by Northwest
The
map of the 2012 GABF convention floor is available on the website. The brewery tasting booths are arranged by region of the country and the attending breweries from Texas are in the Southwest section. If you have any specific breweries and beers that are a "must try", I strongly suggest you download the .pdf file and print the the map and mark the location of those booths. It can be overwhelming and chaotic in the convention center (particularly if this is your first time) and you will definitely miss out on some great beers if you just wander up and down the rows (save that for after you've got to the ones you wanted). Have a smartphone? Make sure you download the free GABF app for
iPhone and
Android.
On Monday, February 4th at 7:00pm, the Flying Saucer (Downtown) and Sierra Nevada Brewing will pair up to host a four course beer pairing. The lineup includes: 
Whether they're stolen from the back alley behind a bar or simply not brought back to the store, unreturned kegs costs the craft brewing industry $5.3 million dollars a year. Every keg that doesn't make its way back to a brewery means one less keg of beer that brewery can turn back out and sell. As kegs are very expensive and a startup brewery cannot typically afford to purchase very many of them, even the loss of only one or two can make a huge impact on their revenue stream.
Here's something handy for people that drive around with growlers in their car. The Growler on Board Beer Transportation Unit not only keeps your growler from rolling around in your trunk or the floor, the low density foam that its made of also helps insulate it. According to the website, it can hold standard 1/2 gallon growlers as well as the 2L swing top style with handles and the holes in the bottom of each cavity can be used to hold the growler upside down for drying. 
The price is $29.95 and available online or at a few retailers. 
The Flying Saucer's Sugar Land location is hosting their inaugural fall beer festival, BeerFeast 2012, on Saturday, October 27th from 1:00pm to 7:00pm. BeerFeast 2012 will feature more then 40 breweries and 60 different craft beers including rare and limited releases tapped on the hour.
