Craft beer continues to be the star performer of alcoholic beverages.

Following the Brewers Association announcement in late August that craft beer brewers posted an 11 percent sales increase for the first half of 2006, the third straight year of increases, the 25th annual Great American Beer Festival in Denver looked poised to set a few records as well.

There were 1,650 different beers available on the festival floor, and attendance soared to 41,000, up from 29,500 last year. But the real sign that this event has become a major happening was the plethora of ticket scalpers in front of the convention center. As any Devil Rays season ticket holder can tell you, it takes a winner to bring out the scalpers.

Another sign of the growing appeal of craft beer is that the world's largest beer producer has jumped wholeheartedly on the bandwagon. Anheuser-Busch unveiled several new beers at the fest, including Michelob Porter, Michelob Bavarian-Style Wheat and Michelob Celebrate Chocolate.

"We're really following consumers. ... We're just trying to meet their desire for variety and give them good-tasting products in different styles and give them the ability to go out and sample new things and new taste experiences," said Michael Sundet, director of innovation for Anheuser-Busch.

The Michelob Porter is a new recipe and not a re-labeling of the older Michelob Black and Tan Porter, said A-B brewmaster George F. Reich. While I found the new porter to be well-made, it was fairly underwhelming. It had toned-down, lightly toasted malt notes like in English porters but lacked the more robust chocolate and coffee notes of American standouts like Anchor Porter and Rogue's Mocha Porter.

The new unfiltered Bavarian-Style Wheat, however, was an utterly enjoyable brew with soft, clove-accented spiciness along with banana and grain notes in the aroma. It also had an authentic feel and flavor highlighted by banana, apple, light caramel notes and more cloves. This beer, like most of A-B's beers, is subtle. But here that subtlety doesn't come at the cost of flavor. This beer proves the big guys can make beers that appeal to and even delight the connoisseurs.

The real point of the Great American Beer Festival from a brewer's perspective is the competition. You may have seen the Samuel Adams commercials in which owner Jim Koch repeatedly takes the stage to claim a medal. These medals are a big deal and a fine way to honor brewers who most of the year labor quietly doing what amounts to cooking and janitorial work.

But even those who fail to win a medal walk away with valuable comments from judges they can use to improve their beers. This helps ensure continual improvement in the quality of beer every year, which is the real contribution the fest makes to the consumer.