FOBAB 2016

Didn't go to FoBAB myself, but:
1) Prop 16 is THE worst, honestly? If so, I'm really excited to plunk down cash on it.
2) Totally agree on HA, although that just means the typical Half Acre madness for their bottle releases, I'd assume.
3) Glad to hear Clybourn getting some love, as I've been a little underwhelmed with their BA choices lately.
4) Haymarket is a dark horse in Chicago that I'm surprised is always so overlooked. Clare's Thirsty Ale is ridiculously good, and they've done 12+ month aged versions of their BA stout which are uniformly excellent. Always happy to hear them get some love (although not TOO much; gotta keep the hype down!).

It sounds like it was more crowded this year than last? That's kind of a turn off to me, honestly; it's already been tough enough to navigate the last couple years when I went.

 

Yea it was pretty packed. Yes, Prop 16 was the worst beer I had. Its awful.

 

Eric Ponce. Really nice guy too, met him back in March on a private tour of the Barrel House. Him and his wife are off to the West Coast to open their own place.

 

It certainly seemed like the Sat PM session was more crowded than last years. They did a great job getting everyone into the venue quickly which was nice. I also appreciated the better signage for the styles. It made hitting up a couple of my wants much each and made instructing friends where to grab things easy, too.

The stout area was pretty much asses to elbows. I'm not sure how to go about solving that problem, though. The nice part of everyone jamming into that one row and standing in the Goose line meant that almost any other beer was really easy to grab. Thanks to the gentleman who gave me a heads up on the Spon location as I was walking into the venue.

For reference sake, how many people are able to get early admittance with the IMBIBE membership? While I like the Sat night session due to knowing the winners and no early entrance beforehand, it might be a good tradeoff to be able to walk the room freely for an hour before the crowds enter.

 

Do you know if Brett Porter is still involved in the barrel program? Or still at GI at all? He was always a super nice guy and heavily involved with Backyard, Prop 13/14, and VR. I remember him pouring BCBCS out of a pitcher to the people waiting in the Goose line at '14 FOBAB.

 

Do you like spicy food? What pepper beers do you enjoy? I much preferred this to all the cinnamon beers at Fobab.

For reference, Chicago Tribune's beer writer, Josh Noel, sampled all the 2016 stuff and said "The best beers tell a story, and Prop does it: heat and sweet, in beautiful harmony. This is the opposite of a beer to taste in a 2-ounce pour at a festival and then rate on an app. Proprietor’s is something to sip and savor by the fire."

I just love all the people who are claiming the sky is falling on it, but are still going to buy it.

Anyone who thinks Fobab was crowded this year hasn't been to Fobab. This was the easiest one to navigate yet.

 

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Thanks for the info. You make it seem like losing him is a bad thing for GI. Under him they had lost an entire years worth of BCBS and aren't having a great finish to 2016 missing a variant and having Prop derided....

 

all of this super anti-Prop 16 hype is hilarious. The beer isn't bad. I actually enjoyed it, and it seems like a lot of other people did too. It's most definitely not "gross" or "the worst beer" it just seems like the anti-hype train has taken this one for a real ride. I've had a fuck ton of beers that are a hell of a lot worse than Prop 16 in my days.

 

Just to be clear, I know someone who happened to get a bottle early. He opened it before FOBAB and had a full pour at home. He wasn't sitting by a fire as far as I know, so maybe that's the trick, but he did not like it either.

 

I love spicy food, absolutely hate spicy beer. It's just not something I want in my beer. Every non-BA pepper beer I've had that I've also had a BA version of has been improved (to my taste) partially due to the lessening of the pepper burn. Maybe Prop '16 will be the beer to change this, but it doesn't sound like it. I'm still very interested to try it, though; Goose Island has earned my trust at this point, so I'm not gonna pass just because it sounds bad.

Wasn't sitting by the fire? What's the point, then?

 

Maybe sitting by open flame makes the beer seem less hot?

 

Spicy food = <3
Abraxas, Mexican Cake, Huna, Bomb, pretty much all of them. This one just blew. Only way to say it.

 

I love how people argue about something that is so intrinsically subjective.

"I didn't like it."

"Pfft. You're obviously just going with the crowd, because I loved it."

A lot of people didn't like Prop 15. I thought it was alright (before the infection set in). But I never told people they were wrong for not liking Prop 15.

 

Agreed. I actually liked Prop '15 a lot (I like sweet stouts, and it sure was sweet), but definitely get why other people wouldn't. I think a lot of people just discount how different everyone's palates are.

 

I'll chime in as another person that really, really did not enjoy this year's Prop. I would not be interested in purchasing it at any price. And of course this is all subjective! But to my palate, it was pretty bad. And honestly Abraxas is probably my favorite adjunct stout, so it's not the style itself.

It might have varied across the several sessions, but Friday night it was almost impossible to move around by 7:00 or so. It was the furthest thing from the "easiest one to navigate yet." It was easier (though still crowded) at the Bridgeport Arts Center, and much easier at the Chicago Journeyman Plumbers' Union Hall back in 2010 or so.

 

My main descriptors for '16 Prop are:
1. Very sweet (similar to '15 Prop before infection)
2. Very smokey. The heat from the spice was no worse than that which one may get from say cinnamon or a dash of cloves. It's not Habanero Sculpin hot. It tastes like a mild chipotle.
3. Complex but currently favoring unbalanced. Gonna be interesting to see how its flavors evolve

 

It did seem to be. Little oversold

As a volunteer, I was under the impression that Saturday night was the only session we were allowed to attend for free unless you contacted them.

 

That wouldn't really solve the problem I was referring to.

Imbibe gets you in an hour early, but there are still thousands of people cramming into that small space after the early bird hour is up (and I don't think the Imbibe count is particularly small, either, for what it's worth)

Venue is too small for what they're trying to do, imho. I'd gladly pay additional money to offset the revenue hit they'd take from selling less tickets.

 

I feel like this and/or overselling tickets is a problem at a lot of these beer fests, and it's a shame. Some of my favorite fests have been at GI Clybourn, but you really have to work at crowd-surfing at them. I agree that a larger venue would help FoBAB out a lot, but I assume they've decided it's too expensive to pull off (or just couldn't find a good local venue).

 

Glad to hear I am not the only one upset about the crowds. There were nice little pockets of space, but it was damn near impossible to get anything in the middle of the stout area.