2017 FOBAB

I thought VSOD was way too hot and preferred the regular (last year), but I will agree VSOJ is damn fantastic. One of my favorite of the day. Karma has a fantastic base but way too much cinnamon for my liking. Had plenty other stouts I preferred.

 

I thought it was great. The most memorable beer of the show for me.

 

GI during IMBIBE last night had 17 BCBS the entire hour and not a single person in line. After that on the hour everyone was in line in anticipation for DB BCBS, which was good but not great for me. Prop 17 was really nice and probably my favorite. Northwood was surprisingly really solid and I don't like blueberries. Not as sweet as reviews have stated. Almond is really balanced with the blueberries. Coffee as usual was fantastic and biased as I love coffee. Reserve also really good but by then i had palate fatigue.

Medianoche reserve not worth the hype. Rum DB Medianoche was. BA Karma freaking amazing. Sleeper was the little beaver rye and quaff on blue Hawaii. Brew2K was impressive as was atrial rubicite. Thought Cable Car was ok. Scotch Parabola was the worst thing ever and dumped it immediately.

ok correction coat check was the worst thing last night

 

Didn’t make it this year, but has anyone had Clare’s Thirsty - always top notch every year. Very underrated beer.

 

Hah, thought the same thing about Scotch Parabola. No complexity at all, just tasted like peat to me.

 

I thought it was a requirement for entry?

 

Guessing you're not a peaty Scotch fan then. I thought it was pretty damn great.

I'll second Arclight's Black Raspberry and also say that Speciation Incipient Blueberry Tequila, Lemon, and Salt was awesome.

Goose line was dumb. I also think they were telling people the wrong beers. They poured something for two friends of mine that they said was 2017 BCBS, but it tasted thin, oxidized, and just poor. Nothing BCBS about it. I'm not saying 2017 BCBS is bad, I just think they ran out and poured my buddies something else and said it was BCBS. Fourdre Project #1 was quite good, though, as was Double Barrel BCBS.

Rare Barrel Hyper Paradise was horrendous and reeked of plastic, acetone, and rotten fruit. Shades of Cool was very good, though.

Rev VSOJ was awesome but VSOD was pretty pedestrian.

Fremont was amazing with both Brew2000 and Rusty Nail.

Lil Beaver was great. I'll be visiting them as soon as they're properly open. I hate that name, though, even if it's a reference to the brewer's name.

Haymarket Clare's Thirsty was phenomenal as always. The Temperance berried Might Meets Right was pretty blah, though, since it was all berry and no stout.

Forbidden Root Amber Eyes was delicious. I quite liked Mikerphone's Fernet stout as well (Fernet is awesome).

I don't really remember any others. The place seemed more crowded this year than ever, but maybe I'm just getting older and more annoyed.

 

Took the strategy this year of going in about at about 1:20 or so. Ate at the Bracket Room (meh), and walked over when the line was non-existent. Spent no time standing in the cold, and didn't really feel like I missed anything. Arclight Soursmith was gone by then, but there were so many other great (and not so great) beers to try that it made the whole day's experience a lot better overall.

Best thing about the last couple of years is the lack of any real ticket taking policy or policing of pours. And I mean that not as someone who was there to get drunk, but someone who was there to try a lot of beers. When they had the 15 ticket policy, the rule of thumb was to keep going back to the volunteers that either did heavy pours or didn't take tickets in order to one's moneys worth. With unlimited pours, I was actually asking for smaller pours. I didn't want to get trashed, I just wanted to sample a lot of different things. Well run event this year.

 

Oversold. Understaffed. Unorganized. Some Attendees seemed to have forgotten the basic lessons taught in kindergarten- how to use patience, wait in line, and be polite. This is a money grab and there wasn’t one beer at this event that justifies the cost, the time, or mental sanity that came along with it. Many kind people were present, but the organizers obviously give no cares about the above issues to take care of those folks. 2nd year- likely never again.

 

Worst festival ever! I really don't get the hype behind fobab at all. Seems like the breweries that come here just do so so they can party and be like rock stars. The lines for GI are just pathetic and speaks volume about the state of the current culture of #whalezbro.

Also, would someone please explain to me why is the GI team is responsible for tapping all the kegs at the festival? Are they the organizers?

The festival is poorly run and misorginzed. There is a reason they can't find people to volunteer and are always understaffed.

 

Coat check was simple if you weren't dumb about it. I checked my coat 25 minutes after we got in and picked it up 25 minutes before it was over. Total coat check time spent, maybe 2 minutes.

VSOJ, BA Karma and Prop 17 maybe my top 3, but so many good ones to choose from.

Medianoche reserve must have bottle variance because the pour I had was really good with tons of fresh coconut. Rum DBL Medianoche was very good as well.

Rusty Nail was my favorite reg BA Stout, so damn thick.

Shout our to Shorts Hooper in the Cage, solid mango sour, pour was room temp because it was probably overlooked with so many options to choose from.

Hyper Dog, Hunter Coffee, BCS Coffee all incredible.

Yes its busy, yes there are dicks, but if you keep your focus on just having fun I really don't see how you can leave fobab upset.

 

As someone wasn’t just there to chase whales, I thought the whole process was great. Almost everywhere i went people were polite and said excuse me, apologized when they bumped, even the goose line was reasonably managed and self-regulated.

Perhaps I didn’t experience the worst of the festival some others are whining about since I didn’t consider the whole festival to be a bust just because I missed 3 whales. Still got to try the entire bcs lineup and most medal winners just by waiting a few mins at a time with my friends.

 

I agreed with this until the last part. Friday night the GI line was definitely not well managed. The closer to the roped area you got, the faster the line moved, and this was because of rampant line-jumping. The back of the line was essentially at a standstill at times. I thought the GI pourers were hustling the whole time and doing the best they could, but the further away from their station the worse the line was.

 

If you really think about it, there are no whales at Fobab with the exceptions of maybe 2-3 beers max.

Some of the BA stouts, BW and few of the sours were good but everything else pretty much was gross. Did you try that wine barrel aged kolsh? The ciders? All the fruit beers? 12 different fruit beer next to the cider section were all pretty much undrinkable. Temperance brewing had Esb with cherries aged in koval rye barrel, did anybody try that or were you all busy drinking banana beers? (I actually enjoyed prob 17 lol) how about that IPA with cinnamon, vanilla and apple and aged in oak barrels from twisted hippo?

I was focusing on trying beers from lesser known breweries and styles that I won't normally drink to expand my palate and broaden my knowledge of up and coming breweries. That's my favourite part of going to festivals and that's why I think Shleton and GABF are much better experience overall.

The people who I know who have been going to Fobab for years, they're doing it still because it became almost a ritual for them and I get that part. It's just not a festival worth flying for at all.

Also, the music was terrible but pairs well with a brandy barrel aged vanilla pumpkin spice beer.

 

For the second year in a row I tossed the booklet in the trash, turned off my phone, avoided the Goose Island fiasco and have zero regrets. I sampled many fine beers including some of the medal winners which always has me scratching my head afterwards.

Oddly enough the beer I remember most today was Wooden Universe from Horse Thief Hollow. A wood aged IPA that tasted like fresh peaches. I could drink it by the bucket on a warm day.

 

I get why people complain about FOBAB but at the same time I still think it's the best beer festival out there. I had an awesome time last night. I'd say my top 5 beers of the night were...

1. Soursmith Black Raspberry (I cannot believe this did not medal)
2. BA Karma
3. Rum Double Barrel Medianoche
4. Atrial Rubicite
5. 2017 Prop

Underrated ones people should definitely check out... Big Bad Baptisa, Cocoa Coconut Narwhal, Brew 2000, Dosvidanya, BA Darkness, Almanac Strawberry and Basil, Spon

My only regret was having Cable Car kick like 5 people in front of me, still have not tried it. I thought the double barrel BCBS was nothing to write home about and nobody in my group even liked Northwoods. The Islay stout was really really peaty, not my cup of tea.

Overall just an awesome time as usual.

 

I don't blame you feeling this way as it was my first of the day, but you aren't missing much. It was good but probably one of the most overhyped beers I've ever tried.

 

Yeah I've heard it's not all it's cracked up to be but still would be cool to try.

 

Also meant to mention this in my post above but the hype for BA Caliente really has calmed down. I was able to get a pour like two hours into the event with no line. Still a very good beer IMO but not what it was in 2015.

 

Loved Wooden Universe. Randomly tried it walking by and went back a few times