FOBAB 11/16/2013

ya, its kinda a bummer. Being a quasi one myself, I've met a lot of newer guys within the tri-state area and I start to geek out or get into minutia and I see the blank look in there eyes. I feel like they'd rather talk merchandise or deals on kegs.

 

Yea, I will be buying a membership for next year. For some reason, I thought the "state ID" requirement for early entry meant that you had to have an IL state ID, so I thought that buying a membership would not have gotten me in early with my WI state ID.

 

I agree on the BBPt5. I was very impressed with Sixteen though

 

FYI: http://centralwaters.brownpapertickets.com/

 

anyone know if there are any fobab 2013 pictures? i saw a lot of photographers and i'd imagine some blog has pictures (i don't follow many blogs on the topic)

 

This is correct. I got in at noon and didn't have BA Abraxas and don't know when it was gone. It was available for awhile in the 2nd session. A lot of info got to people standing in line outside for 2nd session - who won, how room was laid out, which ones kicked early in 1st session. I also had trouble finding the sours room and GI blending, so had no Fuzzy or BBBW.

 

Couldn't agree more and, by the way, great meeting you at Northdown Friday night.

 

My party of four arrived promptly at 11:45 and walked right in. Headed into the elevator not five minutes later and enjoyed quite a long spell of short lines and great ticket-less pours before the crowds rolled in. I must say that the entire first session seemed much less crowded than last year. I don't think I waited more than 2-3 minutes for any pour all day. I think we were lucky that we knocked off most of the obvious whales in the first hour. After that we enjoyed exploring the lesser-known beers and enjoyed quite a few unexpected gems. FoBAB is the best.

 

I don't know..my experience in session two was waiting for the BA Abraxas to have it kick when I was 4 people away, waiting for the BCS Backyard Bramble and seeing it kick when I was 5 people away, and then waiting for Cthulhu and having it kick when I was a few people away.

 

Gotta disagree. Like it or not, a 100% Brett beer aged in French Chardonnay barrels is not average.

 

Yeah didnt make it over into the sour room until later. My one complaint was that they picked the worst possible location for the GI station. Way too crowded in that room, poorly lit, nobody had any idea what was there until they were at the front of the line.

 

Another reason I prefer evening. You can lurk on untappd during the day and get your ducks in a row, lurk on twitter and find out the winners, then talk to people on the way out of the day session to find out layout = First in line for Fuzzy at 6pm and sequential game plan formed for the next 6 or 8 beers. Once you get your "must haves" out of the way it's stress free party time.

 

Sure, but you ignored the caveat of "for a beer that won FOBAB".

 

Unlike most attendees, the judges look for the best all around beer, not just the biggest .walez. Le Bretteur was a delicious, funky, drinkable beer.

 

Arguing over personal tastes is always productive.

 

Isn't that kinda the point of this site?

 

personal tastes aside, these beers were probably judged on a relatively formal scale involving categories besides taste like carbonation level, color, & head. Bells brett was technically pretty damn spot on in all those categories where as fuzzy and side project saison probably took hits on color, head, and/or carbonation. At the end of the day, I could give two sh*ts about color & head but if your judging a beer those things are involved, hence the outcome. Chris who said is wasn't average is like a third degree black belt cicerone so to him it was probably the most technical/beautiful beer there, while others prefer taste alone and thought it was average. diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks.

 

Didn't go to the event but had Le Bretteur at the brewery and while I thought it was amazing, I was surprised to see it win best of show considering all the other stuff available. Here's hoping this leads to more Bell's sours!

 

Yeah, Le Bretteur was pretty freaking awesome. I'm glad that I was standing right there when it was announced as Best in Show because it was delicious.

 

This is my feeling as well, especially after discussing with people (including Chris). It was a technically well-done beer in the style with amazing flavor and overall quality. Subtlety vs. bold flavors certainly makes it difficult, as well as the perception of what FoBAB is for people.

I tasted it after having Cthulu, Backyard BCBS and BA Abraxas. So while I loved it and could appreciate it for how difficult and well-made it was, I wanted another big pour of any of the others I just mentioned. On Sunday after the event, give me LeBretteur all day. Caveat - I didn't have or see Fuzzy, which many people have raved about. I did enjoy the Side Project Blueberry Flanders quite a lot.

Also very nice to meet FINEBEERGUY and his wife at the 2nd session. Glad you were able to score that ticket.