Vail beer festival donates to nonprofit

VAIL, Colorado – The Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines Festival presented a record donation amount of $8,500 to the Vail Valley Charitable Fund on Monday.The festival, held at the Vail Cascade Resort in January, has donated all profits to the charity for the past 10 years, and chose the charitable fund specifically because the VVCF’s outreach stays locally focused.The Big Beers, Belgians and Barleywines event is open to the public and commercial breweries from around the world. The 2011 event recorded more than 1,000 people enjoying the three-day event, which annually includes educational seminars, two brewmasters dinners, a commercial tasting, a homebrew competition and other tastings and pairings. Each yea,r breweries from around the globe offer hundreds of choices, some of whom bring special beers created solely for the festival. The next festival will be held on Jan. 5-7, 2012.For more information on the Big Beers, Belgians & Barleywines Festival, visit http://www.bigbeersfestival.com. Information regarding the VVCF is located at http://www.vvcf.org and for more information on Vail Cascade Resort, go to http://www.vailcascade.com.