FOBAB 2015

It was in the side cider/sour room. It ran out while I was in line :sadtrombonesound

Overall, I found the event to be fantastic. We got in line around 5 for the 6 session. Check-in was a breeze and we hopped right in the goose line to try Rare. And then hopped back in to try Regal Rye. One could've worked through the 2 goose loops several times and had fantastic choices. It was nice to have '14 Prop again.

From there we moved on to try the Dosvidanya. Right there was a nice area with that, Caliente, and Jones dog. I was literally content from that moment and just moved into relax and just give things a try. I liked Bitch B Crazy from 18th and thought Shorelines Raspberry was quite good too. Crooked Staves L'Bretta D'Cherry was a great beer and a nice palette cleanser. In that regard, it was great to have so many sour choices and not just all heavy imperial stouts.

I agree that the layout was a bit confusing, but keeping a lot of the heavy-hitters in the interior aisle made for a bit of a bottle neck at times, but made navigating the other areas a breeze. A map would have been nice.

All in all it was a great first FOBAB experience for me.

 

What's this "Bourbon County Rare Proprietor's Reserve" that popped up on Untappd?

 

They run out of glasses every year because people take multiple glasses (so they can have a set). And volunteers swipe them, I think they order enough glasses for the tickets sold, but because people keep taking extras they run out.

 

Someone was drunk LOL

 

The Almanac Wakatu was at Binny's in Lincoln Park on Friday. I'm sooo glad I snagged one before our session.

 

No one is mentioning it, but Rivertown Kriek was probably my favorite of the night.

 

Haha that's what I thought.

 

It was good to see Goose Island win an award. albeit, a best music producer in a foreign animated film...

 

Man, with all this early hate for 2015 Prop, Regal and Rare, is there any reason to line up this year on Black Friday?

 

Literally my only complaint about this fest was that I wish there had been a little more space between the aisles. It got a bit bottlenecked in places, but everyone did a great job of letting people through and it was all around fantastic.

 

I did have that! it was top draw. I actually liked the Haymarket barricale myself...that was probably my favorite. I loved the Rare, but not enough for $60+ and sitting outside at 4AM for it..if Haymarket sells their barricale, I'd glady head downtown for some!

 

Agreed with many points above..the check in was incredibly smooth once the line started, I didn't see anyone falling down drunk (as you usually do at some of the other fests). If I go again, I'll do my best to do the afternoon session because that 10:40 train home sucks.

 

2015 Prop was good to me, but definitely sweet and not as good as 2013 or 2014 Prop. Regal had a very faint fruit flavor, which was odd considering the fruited variants in the past have been excellent. Rare was fantastic, but $60 for 500 ml is nuts. So yeah, I think sleeping in is the right choice for Black Friday this year.

 

Honestly I would feel a sense of "obligation" almost if they hadn't changed the bottle format. I used to love the old labels (I also like the original ones too) and having a collection of sorts was nice. The new bottles are so lame.

 

I thought Rare was good really smooth but not so much better than regular to justify the cost and rarity (or maybe i don't have the superior palate to appreciate the difference). Coffee is one of my favorits but this year's had some weird green pepper vegetal thing going on that I really didnt like.

 

Off Color Whiskers was really good.

 

All in all a much better FoBAB experience than last year. I still really miss the killer old loft venue (as do many, I'm sure) but they worked out many kinks in their second year at UIC. As long as they plan for extra coat racks and hangers next year it'll continue to be a great event. I'm sure I drank nearly a bomber's worth of '14 Prop at the afternoon session. During the awards I swear the GI line took less than 3 minutes to traverse. Cheers!

 

Wow, I didn't get that at all from this year's BCBCS. I actually thought it was pretty spectacular, but hey everybody tastes things differently!

Actually liked the Regal too, and appreciated its subtlety.

Psyched for Spiteful, great beers & great guys.

 

Coffee is the best BCBS variant of the year, best in several years. I've only seen 1 person who didn't think it was in the top 2 of this year. He cray

Veritas was kind of a joke. It was gone just as the Friday general session let in (only because the bottle room didn't open for half an hour) and within 15 minutes of the bottle room opening in the first Saturday session. 2 cases each session and most people who got there first just stood around drinking multiple pours until gone. The majority of people missed out on these bottles.

 

I think it's safe to say that this year's variants are weaker than in years past