More than 450 brewers welcomed beer lovers to the 29th edition of the Great American Beer Festival on Thursday. The Convention Center, buzzing with a packed crowd, served up the chance to taste nearly 2,200 different flavors in easily quaffable 1-ounce pours. The festival lasts through Saturday evening. Photos by Jeff Panis.

We tasted every commercially distributed craft beer we could track down in Colorado, one of America’s true craft-brewing hot spots. (Yes, it’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it.) Here, in nine categories, we rank the very best.