Danny Williams, a Boulder beer lover who had one of the most unusual jobs -- and one of the most unusual cellars -- in the world of craft beer died last night of cancer.

Williams, who was 52, had worked for the Boulder-based Brewers Association for ten years as, among other roles, the organizer all of the beer that arrives for judging and sampling at the annual Great American Beer Festival in Denver; in 2011, that included around 4,000 kegs or bottles. He had a similar job with the World Beer Cup.

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Unlike most breweries, Denver Beer Co doesn't have any year-round staples, and owners Charlie Berger and Patrick Crawford like it that way. In fact, when they opened on August 12, Berger said he wanted the brewery's tap list to be compared with those at the city's chef-driven restaurants, full of seasonal flavors and specialties that come and go.

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Copper Kettle

Copper Kettle owners Kristen Kozik and Jeremy Gobien got the gold.

In a presentation before a group of journalists in town for the Great American Beer Festival last Friday, Tony Simmons, the owner of Pagosa Springs Brewing Company, pointed out that brewpubs often get short shrift. Since most don't package their beers in bottles and cans, beer writers -- and sometimes drinkers -- have a tendency to forget about them. That shouldn't be the case, he said, since brewpubs make beer that's every bit good as the breweries that make their product shiny and available in stores.

On Saturday, the GABF judges poured on exclamation points to that sentiment, especially when it came to the awards they handed out to Colorado breweries.

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The announcements highlighting Colorado's big wins at the Great American Beer Festival have been coming fast and furious from local breweries since the three-day event ended on Saturday. But nothing was as entertaining as the correction/clarification issued by Oskar Blues concerning its three-medal performance. Here is the correction, sent by brewery spokesman Chad Melis, followed by the original announcement:

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Colorado breweries won fewer awards at this year's Great American Beer Festival (39) than they did last year (41), but the bling was spread out more evenly between corporately owned companies, big-name independents and small or new breweries.

But the biggest winner was Longmont-based Oskar Blues, which won three awards: a silver for Mama's Little Yella Pils, a bronze for Old Chub Scotch Ale and a silver for Deviant Dale's IPA. The brewery hadn't taken home a GABF medal since 1999 (it's sole victory) and, astoundingly, had never won for one of its signature canned beers.

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Brewer Jim Robertson, right, was on-hand for the re-premier of Courage Imperial Russian Stout.

As GABF parties hit full stride downtown, a small crowd gathered at Falling Rock Tap House on Friday afternoon last week, and everyone was buzzing with excitement for the main event: the reemergence of a once-iconic beer that hasn't been made since the early 1990s.

That beer was the Courage Imperial Russian Stout, which can trace its origins back to the 1800s, when Thrale's Anchor Brewery first started making the beer in London for Russian nobility, creating a recipe that would survive a long journey to the people who would drink it.

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There are the cute ("Smokey the Beer," Blind Tiger Brewing in Topeka, Kansas), the mysterious ("Hoodoo Voodoo IPA," Three Creeks Brewing in Sisters, Oregon), the sexy ("Sexual Chocolate," Foothills Brewing in Winston-Salem, North Carolina) and everything in between when it comes to beer names spotted and drank at this past weekend's Great American Beer Festival. Below is a sampling of silly beer names being poured at GABF.

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Laura Shunk

The spread from Fruition.

At an extra $55 on top of the $60 you spend to get into the Great American Beer Festival, the additional cost for the ticket to the Farm-to-Table pavilion is a little hard to swallow. But each year we attend, we're more convinced that it's worth it: It's a meal ticket, a respite from the chaotic beer hall in the Colorado Convention Center and a chance to sample some geeky beers all at once.

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Left Hand Brewing will make a big splash tonight by becoming the first craft brewer in the United States to release a nitro beer in a bottle. Milk Stout Nitro pours like a draft beer, complete with a thick, billowy head and bubbles that cascade up from the bottom, similar to the way that bars are able to pour Guinness drafts with special taps.

But instead of using a device known as a "widget" to recreate that effect in the bottle, Left Hand spent two and half years and hundreds of thousands of dollars figuring out another way to gas its beer with a blend of carbon dioxide and nitrogen.

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Cheating on your pretzel necklace? Shocking!

The pretzel necklace is a common sight at the Great American Beer Festival, and many GABF regulars spend considerable time creating just the perfect accessory for the event.

And while sure, pretzels go great with beer, sometimes you need a change of pace -- and carbs. How about pepperoni? Crackers? Doughnuts? And, for those who like to drink dangerously, cantaloupe?

See our suggestions below.

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