As if IPA Day wasn’t reason enough to celebrate craft beer on August 2nd, the Brewer’s Association recently announced that public admission tickets to the 2012 Great American Beer Festival will go on sale starting August 2nd, until they are sold out.

For those lucky enough to be Brewer’s Association members (aka breweries), American Homebrewers Association members, members of the press or prominent beer bloggers, pre-sale tickets will go on sale starting July 31st. Sales start at 10am (MDT — aka Mountain Time) on each of the days and the ticket pricing for general admission is as follows:

Presented by the Brewers Association, GABF is the premier U.S. beer festival and competition. Each year, GABF represents the largest collection of U.S. beer ever served, bringing together the brewers and beers that make the U.S. the world’s greatest brewing nation. Over the course of three days, more than 49,000 attendees will have the opportunity to meet hundreds brewers and sample a variety of diverse beers from today’s large and small U.S. breweries.

Additionally, the GABF competition awards gold, silver and bronze medals for excellence in 84 beer style categories. The awards are recognized around the world as symbols of brewing excellence and are among the most coveted in the industry.

Beer Blogger Tweetup at GABF 2010

It is my favorite beer festival, by far, and I highly encourage anyone even so much as thinking about going to bite the bullet and attend — it is well worth the time of and the expense!

For more information visit: GreatAmericanBeerFestival.com