FOBAB 2016

I'd be on board for this, because I think it's silly how people are about the "whales" anyway. I was at Binny's LP when they had CBS on tap last year, and each person was allowed one good pour. Would I have liked more? Sure. But it was a good amount of the beer, and this allowed way more people to have a pour (and also cut down on the dudes just gulping their beer to maximize the total oz. of whale consumed).

The only downside to this, I would think, is that if all these people weren't spending 40 minutes at a time in the GI line at FoBAB, they'd be elsewhere clogging up all the other lines!

 

Its funny in that I probably spent about the same amount of time in the GI lines this year as I did last year. The big difference is that I tried 2 GI beers this year, where I probably tried 6 or 7 last year (and doubled/tripled up on 2014 prop).

 

I skipped the GI line entirely this year. I grabbed a pour of the barleywine when I was working and prop from the table. No way im spending 40 minuts in line for beer i either own or will own in 10 days. They 100% need to go back to the dual booths.

 

aside from when people were stalling right after the tap announcements, the line from the main entrance took 15 minutes, and I could hop out and grab pours from adjacent booths while I waited. helped me stay sober'er too.

 

The GI line set-up was great. Yes, you had to wait 30-40 minutes, but I tried a bunch of beers I wouldn't otherwise have tried because they were close to the line and I had nothing else to do as I was waiting.

 

I never waited more than 5 minutes in the Goose line. I got into it when I first got there and had Barleywine. I then got in line towards the end of the night and got one of the last pours of the '13 Templeton Rye (which was amazing).

Luckily that did keep the rest of the event SOMEWHAT thinner.

 

Maybe... but then that also:
-flags out the rarez so everyone crowds into those lines
-Slows down the lines as you have to check stamps/tix for a specific beer
-Invites people to game the system by stealing books or swapping tix
-Misses any new hotness that slipped under the fest organizer's radar... like, it'd work for DDG, not so much for the Weldwerks stuff. Also remember that BA Abraxas had like 0 line the first year it was there

I mean, it's an idea that works when you have a couple hundred people at a bar... but it may not work at the scale of 1,000+

The current requirements already lock out some breweries (see Cory King's post earlier in the thread). So, it'd solve the problem, but at the cost of number of beers there.

This is of course the solution, but at the cost of pissing off lots of people who can't go.

Yeah, that's what I did, and my wish as well. Plus, there's only so many big beers you can have in 5 hours before you lose all taste anyhow.

 

Did they even have stamps or tokens this year?

I don't recall seeing them.

 

No they didn't use them this year. He was recommending them for the most sought after releases so you wouldn't have people chugging the whales to get onto the next one before they kick.

 

Officially, yes. The stamp thing is a IL legal requirement. They aren't allowed to give away beer at an event like this, so they include 20 tickets with your entry and give you the option to buy more.

Unofficially.......

 

Were the tickets in the booklet? I never saw them.

 

There were spots for the pourers to stamp on the inner back page of the program.

 

Yeah. One of the last pages. They were supposed to be stamping it like a passport when you got a pour.

They play very loose with that rule at FoBAB (and other Chicago area fests in general) which is cool for us, but it's important to remember why they're there (speaking in regards to @RexKramer's suggestion)

 

Each brewery was instructed to send 3 kegs of each beer or the equivalent in bottles, presumably so there would be 1 per session. The beer sent was also a donation, so not sure how much more beer the average brewery could afford to give to the fest assuming their beer was likely to run out.

I guess like it or not that's the real benefit of early entry, as I don't recall seeing anything I wanted to try running out until after the doors opened each session except in one instance where I assume the brewery sent too few bottles or the staff hadn't cut bottle pours off early enough in the previous session.

Overall I had a great time at my first fobab and there was really never a line for 95% of beers there. In fact I got stuck waiting in line several times for the wrong beer because it was so ambiguous where people were standing sometimes.

I think I only went to the GI booth twice all weekend which was before the.last line formed. Frankly the only thing worth a 30 min wait at the fest was Spon, which mostly never had much of a line while it lasted.

Tons of great beer and a lot of superb new brewery finds for me. Hopefully a few people enjoyed our beer, it managed to run out each session which was a good sign. We'll post up with a full 3 entries next year for sure.

 

Hey guys, just wanted to clarify a few points that have been brought up here, as I'm a part of the festival. Firstly, 3 sixtels or bottle equivalent is required by the festival in order to have the beer available at all sessions. As to ticket sales, I wouldn't expect the volume to go down and price to go up. That's counter to what the festival has historically been about: bringing these beers to as many folks as we can. Is it perfect? No, but selling less tickets just adds in another layer of exclusivity that this community doesn't really need. Also, keep in mind that there were over 400 barrel-aged beers/meads/ciders there this year. Less tickets means less beer gets drunk and less variety. Also, there was a time when it wasn't crazy crowded back at the Plumber's union hall, true. But to say that Bridgeport was less crowded is kind of silly. The layout of that space made only the perimeter usable for beer pouring (and there were less than 200 beers) and it was a real challenge to get many of the beers. Plus, it was a stuffy space with elevator issues. This year was crowded, but mostly due to less congregation area as a result of the increase in beers. We had nearly 60 beers more than last year.

As to the GI situation, that was a decision that GI made this year as a scale back due to the internal changes and issues that they experienced. It remains to be determined if they'll grow back to 2 booths in the future or if other breweries will be brought in to have booths. I will say that GI helped a ton in setting up all draft systems this year.

As to bottlenecking, this is always an issue and is a pretty complex challenge to overcome, though we have some ideas and look to improve upon the layout on a go forward. I can assure you, we're doing all that we can to continue to host one of, if not the best festival out there. Feel free to PM me your thoughts as well.

 

I think the repeat attenders validate that IMBIBE is putting on a hell of a beer fest and at the end of the day we are just splitting hairs over very minor things.

Also, when the heck are we getting a spring or summer event in Chicago as is to hoppy beers what fobab is to barrel aged beers? Seriously, someone get on this.

 

Thanks for all of the well thought-out responses and insight from those who are better in the know.

Ultimately there have to be tough decisions made for the overall good and I get that Focusing on eliminating the outlier problems is fun on a message board, but counter-productive when running an event of FOBAB's scale.

And like most of the beer 'problems' in the Chicago area, a lot of it is reliant on us, the consumer, not acting like a bunch of spoiled brats and having a bit of common courtesy.

 

The guild puts on the Welles Park Fest & Chicago Craft Beer Week organizing, so that's where most of those events occur. Personally, I'd love to see a Lagerfest at some point! Thanks for all the responses, btw. Just wanted to let everyone know we're definitely not just resting on our laurels.

 

I don't think anyone is disappointed overall. I think there is just room for improvement.

As someone who hadn't attended before, it did seem really crowded. It sounds like you might have added an additional row of tables to facilitate the extra beers?

 

I can't speak for everyone, but I like to think this has been more of a sounding board than a thread of people angry about FoBAB. As I mentioned early, I didn't go this year, but each year I've been, it's been fantastic. Sure, there are issues, but that's to be expected.

Interesting point on the almost 60 more beers than last year; that'd definitely explain why people seemed to think it was more packed than last year.

I think I can think speak for everyone on the following, however:

1) Thanks for sounding off here, because it's always nice to hear the perspective of someone behind-the-scenes.

2) FoBAB is akin to Christmas for beer nerds; just fantastic beer as far as the eye can see. Thanks for the effort in making it great, and hope to be there with everyone else next year!