FOBAB 2015

judging takes place during the afternoon session tomorrow.. soooo.. sometime around there. probably late afternoon

 

It was pretty packed. I only found solice in the cider and the fruit beer room.

 

Welcome to the 21st century.

 

Was the no tickets rumor true or false?

 

True. There was a "passport" in the back of the book that was supposed to be stamped, but not one booth had stamps.

 

No its not. Maman is the BA version of Abrax and Sump with no Ahjuncts. What they brought is a special version of Maman in 23 year evan william blue label barrels.

 

Also. Rare was awesome.

 

Awesome. I'm planning on waiting it out to try this and Prop. Looking at the other available brews, I probably will just drift and find things I want as I go. Nothing really jumped out as "can't miss."

But I have to ask if anyone has any dark horse can't miss brews.

 

What were the other perennial beers?

 

A glorious evening and very well organized. Rare and Proprietors were on the floor and had no lines at one point, but even when the Goose line was huge, they had you moving very quickly and we waited just a few minutes. They had many people pouring and helping with the lines and nobody was marking your booklet/passport.

BIG beers with no lines most of the time: Sucaba, Abyss, Straight Jacket, Mean Gene, Peruvian Morning, Black Gold, Abominable, BA Darkness, Madagascar, Black Ops, BA Neopolitan Stout, The Stoic, Angel's Share, and SO MANY MORE! Surprises around every corner (Victory at Sea aged in Rum Barrels?!?).

Over 35 beers tried, and only 3 "scribbles" out of 16 squares in my booklet. The other 4 squares are for the whiskey tasting (yes, they had whiskey...hilarious!).

The Barricale section near the stage had whiskey tasting, and a dozen or so beers that were aged in those barrels such as BA Jones Dog. There were food items for sale and people were sharing the snacks they brought in (chips, popcorn, pretzels, Ritz). They allowed bags/backpacks so I put my coat in my backpack ... the coat check line at the end was just as long as the Goose Island line, but much, much slower. (Think of many tired, drunk people trying to leave but waiting 15min for your coat!?!)

Don't be afraid to ask for just a sample and not a full pour, and they won't take up one of your drinks. And don't be afraid to pour out a beer if you don't like it - just move on to another.
They had lots of water stations for drinking and rinsing too. So after a rinse, get some water to drink - you will feel better the next day.

Bottom line: it's FOBAB - the best day of the year. So relax, and get some beers. Cheers!

 

funky wit and savant beersal

 

So how is the logistics of going to the other rooms? Easy or bottleneck city?

Also, can someone upload quality pics of the program. Looking through those twitter pictures is annoying and hard to decipher.

What stuff tapped out first?

Reading peoples comments elsewhere on their highlights, there are many beers I do not see listed in those twitter pictures. Good stuff too.

 

Tin cups were in the swag bag given to the Brewers.

 

No Side Project this year?

 

Nope

 

How long did Rare last?

 

Not sure when it tapped out. It is available at its own booth and also at the main Goose tent. It must have been a couple of hours into the event when it ran out.

 

That was one of my highlights. Jason from Spiteful and Chris from Beer Temple were sipping the Malevolence when I walked up, very fun to hang with them a bit. Trickery was great. Grab some Bitch B Crazy and BA Hunter from 18th Street. The BCBS Onsieme Heure is delicious. Enjoyed Rhinegeist's Sherry Ink quite a bit.

 

For those that are disappointed by Ba Abraxas' absence, do yourself a favor and get on the spiteful Ba malevolence chocolate caliente. I poured it last night and can confirm it is amazing... I was pushing it on everyone that stopped by and everyone loved it... Get it early though, it was one of the first to go in my section.

 

Yeah, it was my favorite beer at Stout Fest this past year, and my girlfriend and I were really happy to see it pouring at FoBAB.