2017 FOBAB

This year the tasting glasses are shaped like piggy banks so you can start saving for next year's $20 increase....

That being said, maybe they are just looking at what Half Acre is charging for Big North and increasing accordingly....

 

Not sure if this is worth the price if the space isn't increased for this event. This is coming from someone who's gone to the last 9 FOBABs.

 

My guess is they're building extra "tickets" into the cost of entry to cover the fact that they haven't been taking them.

 

Can you clarify? I don't understand.

 

So... FoBAB inevitably turns into an unlimited sampling event every year, but, that's actually against the law in the state of IL. They're supposed to be taking "tickets" -- in FoBAB's case the past couple of years, they've used a passport book with stamps. 1 sample = 1 stamp. The past couple of years, I think we've gotten like 20-25 as part of the price.

My assumption is that part of the reason they're increasing the cost is because they know it's become an unlimited sampling thing, and just giving everyone 40-50 stamps and actually forcing the folks serving to stamp the passport gets them around the legal issue.

Of course, it could also just be a money grab from the ILCBG. Wouldn't be the first, won't be the last. It sells out every year at $60, why not jack the price up over 33%

 

maybe they're trying to convince more people to volunteer

 

For $85 they should guarantee me 1 pour each of whatever they have there.

 

Gotta love people freaking out about an $85 ticket to without a doubt the best beer festival I've been to, but talking about how every week they are buying cases or multiple bombers of all sorts of different beer.

 

The difference is you can enjoy the cases or multiple bombers over the course of a few weeks, you don't have to try to down 3 ounces of each in a 3 hour window....

 

$85 is still a steal and IIRC, there was zero (or almost zero) price increase from 2015 to 2016. $85 for unlimited pours of BA beers is a great deal.

 

Who's freaking out?

People noticed the $25 increase this year and are curious why. It's a fair question to ask.

 

Yeah, I don't think it's worth freaking out over, but it is a bit of a price hike in 1 year. Overall, it's still a good deal, but it is certainly getting to the point where I might not be as care free about the beers I try to sample.

The optimist in me hopes that they decrease the capacity by 25% to make it more enjoyable and a bit easier to grab some of the beers, but I somehow doubt that is the case.

 

Shouldn't matter because the breweries have to donate all the beer so the margins on the fest have got to be very high. The venue might have drastically increased the rental fee though.

 

I'm pretty sure they said they had a 3 year contract at UIC. After fees/taxes it's probably closer to $95. Regardless of beer quality, $95 bucks is an expensive night of drinking.

 

Yeah I get that. I was actually trying to point out why they shouldn't have needed to increase pricing. But the devil's advocate in me suggests there might be an unforeseen and truly legitimate need to increase price.

 

FTFY.

 

Just my 2 cents... but after going last year for the first time, I would never go again unless they had a bigger space. The sour side wasn't bad but the BA stouts and barleywine was basically a mosh pit for the first 2-3 hours and made it very difficult to get a pour of anything. Not to mention most of the "whales" besides BCBS (long line, but hey at least there was a line) were tapped out instantly. To each their own, just not my cup of tea for a beer fest .

 

I'd like to see this be a free event where they keep all the beer on stage and then auction off all the 2 oz pours to the highest bidders....

 

It's 6-10 for non-IMBIBE, so that's 4 hours.