2017 FOBAB

It went up $25 -- roughly a 40% increase. Large, yes, but not "almost doubled".

 

So far both are still available. Maybe if they don't sell out it won't be as crowded?

 

I reside an hour from UIC. So, a friend and I signed up to volunteer the Saturday 9am-6pm shift, then attend the Saturday night session 6-10. Long day, but being it will be spent at one of the best barrel aged fests of the year, I dont mind at all. I think lunch (pizza) is included, plus get too see the awards ceremony. Also, I think I may try for ice duty as others have mentioned.....the point is I get to attend two sessions in the same day for free...sure there will be some work involved, but meeting new folks, trying some great beers and contributing to a hopeful well run event all seem worth it to me. Cheers everyone.

 

Does anyone know if the volunteer meeting is mandatory? I cant imagine it is. As long as you show up for your assigned fobab event, thats all that should matter right? Thanks for any confirmation

 

Can someone post a link to the volunteer sign up please?

 

They had posted this on the FB about a week ago.

 

I did ice duty last year. Overall, it wasn't a bad gig because you get a chance to walk around and scope out where everything is located. You can also get a good feel for what the most popular beers are based upon line length and when those beers run out. Keep in mind, though, that ice duty is also spit bucket duty. I was less enthused to deal with that.

 

Volunteer signup link: http://illinoisbeer.org/fobab/volunteer

 

When do they usually send out more information like dates on the volunteer meeting, etc.?

 

Im not sure what it'll be this year, but it years past it has been highly encouraged but not mandated. I had something come up a few years ago, emailed Art, and was told to review the instructional packet before the fobab.

the meetings are usually fun. There are worse weeknights that having a few free beers and eating pizza with 100 other beer fanatics

 

They......they released a list of the breweries who are attending. I believe this is the first time they've ever done it.

10 Barrel Brewing
18th Street Brewing
2 Fools Cider
3 Floyds Brewing co
3 Sheeps Brewing co
4 Hands Brewery
4 Noses Brewing Company
5 Rabbit Cerveceria
Against The Grain
Allagash Brewing Company
Almanac Beer Co.
Alter Brewing Company
Angry Orchard
Arclight Brewing Company
Around the Bend
Arrowhead Ales Brewing Company
Atom Brewing Company
August Schell Brewing Company
Avery Brewing Company
Baderbrau Brewing Company
Ballast Point Brewing Company
Bear Republic Brewing Company
Begyle Brewing
Bell's Brewery Inc
Bent River Brewing Co
Blackberry Farm Brewery
Blue Blood Brewing
Blue Island Beer Company
Blue Moon Brewing company
Blue Nose Brewery
Blue Point Brewing
Braxton Brewing Co.
BrickStone Brewery
Brickstone Brewpub
BuckleDown
Burn 'Em Brewing
Byway Brewing Co.
Cahoots Brewing
Carson's Brewing
Cascade Brewing
Central State Brewing
Central Waters Brewing Company
Cerebral Brewing
Church Street Brewing Company
Coppertail Brewing
Coronado Brewing Company
Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project
Cruz Blanca Brewery
Crystal Lake Brewing
Dérive Brewing Company
Deschutes Brewery
DESTIHL Brewery
DESTIHL Restaurant & Brew Works
Dovetail Brewery
Empirical Brewery
Epic Brewing Company
Evil Horse Brewing Co.
Excel Brewing Company
Firestone Walker Brewing Company
Flossmoor Station Brewing Company
Forbidden Root
Forge Brewhouse
Four Fathers Brewing
Four Peaks Brewing Company
Free Will Brewing Co.
Fremont Brewing
Goose Island Beer Co.
Greenstar Brewing
Grimm Brothers Brewhouse
Hailstorm Brewing Co
Half Acre Beer Co.
Half Day Brewing Company
Hardywood Park Craft Brewery
Haymarket Pub & Brewery
Hopewell Brewing Company
Horse Thief Hollow
Illuminated Brew Works LLC
Imperial Oak Brewing
Indeed Brewing Company
Iron Spike Brewing Company
JESTER KING BREWERY
JT Walker's Brewery
Karetas Brewing
La Cumbre Brewing Co.
Lagunitas Brewing Company
Lake Bluff Brewing Co
Lakefront Brewery
Lil Beaver Brewery
Lionstone Brewing
Listermann/Triple Digit Brewing
Lo Rez Brewing
Lunar Brewing Company
Maplewood Brewery & Distillery
Marble Brewery
Mark Twain Brewing Company
Marz Community Brewing
Metal Monkey Brewing
Metropolitan Brewing
Mikerphone Brewing
Mikkeller Brewing San Diego
Misbeehavin' Meads
Miskatonic Brewing Company
MKE Brewing Co
MobCraft Beer
Moody Tongue Brewing Company
More Brewing Company
Mothers Brewing
Nebraska Brewing Company
New Belgium Brewing
New Holland Brewing Co
Noon Whistle Brewing
Oak Park Brewing Company
Obed and Isaacs
Odd Side Ales
Odell Brewing
Old Irving Brewing
Off Color Brewing
On Tour Brewing
One Trick Pony Brewery
Only Child Brewing Co.
Oskar Blues Brewery
Peckish Pig
Penrose Brewing Company
Perennial Artisan Ales
Perrin Brewing Company
pFriem Family Brewers
Pig Minds Brewing
Pipeworks Brewing Company
Pollyanna Brewing Company
Prairie Krafts
Prairie Street Brewing Co
Quaff On Brewing
RAM Restaurant & Brewery - Wheeling
Revolution Brewing
Revolution Brewing - Brewpub
Rhinegeist Brewery
Rivertown Brewing Company
Rock Bottom Brewery Orland Park
Rock Bottom Brewery - Portland
Rock Bottom Brewery - Chicago
Rogue Ale & Spirits
Saint Archer Brewing Company
Samuel Adams
Schlafly Beer (The Saint Louis Brewery)
Scorched Earth Brewing Co.
Seattle Cider Company
Shoreline Brewery
Short's Brewing Company
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
Ska Brewing
Sketchbook Brewing Co
Smylie Brothers Brewing Co.
Solemn Oath Brewery
Speciation Artisan Ales
Spiteful Brewing
Starcut Ciders
Stockholm's Vardshus, Inc.
Stone Brewing
Sun King Brewery
Sun King Tap Room & Small Batch Brewery
Surly Brewing Co.
SweetWater Brewing Company
Temperance Beer Co
Ten Ninety Brewing Co
The Blind Pig Brewery
The Bruery & Bruery Terreux
The Dayton Beer Company
The Lost Abbey
The Lucky Monk
The Rare Barrel
The Sour Note Brewing
Tighthead Brewing Company
Tin City Cider Co
Transient Artisan Ales
TRVE Brewing
Twisted Hippo
Two Brothers Brewing Company
Two Roads Brewing Company
Union Craft Brewing
Upland Brewery
Upper Hand Brewery
Upstream Brewing Company
Urban Chestnut Brewing Company
Vander Mill
Verboten Brewing
Virtue Cider
Warped Wing Brewing Company
Waterfront Brewery
Watermark Brewing Co.
WeldWerks Brewing Co.
Werk Force Brewing Co.
West Sixth Brewing
Whiner Beer
White Oak Brewing
Wicked Weed Brewing
Wild Onion Brewery
Wiley Roots
Wolf's Ridge Brewing
Woodfour Brewing Co
Zaftig Brewing Company

Tickets still available!

 

Probably because of the above bold statement. Looks like they're having a hard time selling tickets this year. I wonder why...

 

" The new and improved Fobab 2017- now with more hints of barrel and money grab."

I think they need to figure out what this fest is. Is it barrel aged GBAF and the goal is to get every brewer to participate in a massive festival, is it an exclusive whale fest of BA one offs and impossible to obtain brewery releases, or is it going to be whatever it looks to be right now which is a lot of the large nationally distributed breweries, local brewers, and a bunch of small brewers we've never heard of looking to get traction? Personally, I'd like to see them trim out a lot of the non-in-demand breweries attending to make it feel a bit more selective and higher end.

 

I think they already have the answer to this. It's a "barrel aged GABF" (in so much that it's a judged competition) that's used to raise funds for the IL Craft Brewers Guild to help them lobby on behalf of the member breweries. Most of the "non in demand" breweries you're referring to are ILCBG members, so you're essentially saying they shouldn't be able to participate in something that directly affects them.

 

Is Fobab a fundraiser for ILCBG's work or a marketing tool for IL brewers? If the latter they shouldn't invite other brewers in so they can showcase the IL members, if the former then they could make more money by not having the non-in-demand member brewers there thus raising more money to advocate for them...

 

You think they're going to make more money by having less beer? That's an...interesting take.

 

Here is a little experiment called quantity vs quality. Go buy a bottle of 2015 Rare and a 24 pack of Budweiser.... Which was more expensive?.Did less beer cost more in this case?

 

That's not a valid "experiment". They don't pay a dime for the beer poured at FoBAB. It's all donated. $100 entry fee, 1 keg (or <X> bottles) of beer per session, and a few bottles for judging is the cost expected from every attending brewery.

Brewers like Goose/Revolution pay big money to the guild for their non-competition corner booths.

Providing less "choice" to customers isn't ever going to net them more money. Ever. It's not a thing.

 

There are none so blind as those who will not see....Providing more quality options over quantity options might help them sell out the fest at $80+ a ticket....

Getting back on topic:

Very interesting news about GI not getting invite to GABF...how long before Fobab limits big beer representation?http://www.chicagotribune.com/dinin...-great-american-beer-fest-20171005-story.html

 

And yet, the article about the Off Color taproom discusses how Laffler views the curated spirit and wine programs (read: less choice) in a positive light. Curation is a thing. I'm not disappointed that I probably won't get Jack, Jameson, and Barefoot at Off Color's bar.

That said, part of the point of FOBAB is discovery. Heavy curation works against that.

Given that AC Golden (Coors's experimental arm) won a medal in 2014, probably never. ICBG likes money and FOBAB's mission statement is barrel-aged beer, regardless of producer.

Plus, AB/InBev-Goose is a huge underwriter. That booth isn't free...

 

How much do people usually drink during there shift as a volunteer?

 

It’s stll going to sell out. It’ll just be a little later than usually. They’ll be fine.

 

Right. Curation has it's place, I'm just saying FOBAB isn't it. It doesn't work with the competition model. One would have to assume that an "in demand brewery" is unable to attend/compete because a "not in demand/small IL brewer" took their spot. In reality, it's... probably not that cut and dry.

But let's take the competition away and dissect the opinion a bit.

Firstly, who even determines what "in demand" means? I know which breweries up there I'm itching to try, but....are they the same as yours?

Second, why do some of the "in demand" breweries not attend? We know for certain that some don't do it because of the cost. 15 gallons of "high end" (to them, to us..whatever) barrel aged product is a big ask, right? We know from prior threads that some don't attend because they know what we all want out of their portfolio and they either can't or aren't willing to send the required quantity.

And finally. This. This exactly. People are acting like this is the first time tickets have made it into October. Is the price increase hurting sales? Maybe...in fact, probably. It's still going to sell out.

 

I love how some facts conveniently get overlooked in the name of entitlement and rare chasing around here.

The ICBG is a trade organization whose mission is to raise money for Illinois beer. It's a political lobby, an advocate, and in so many ways an aide and educator for it's member breweries.

The BA is all of this too, only amplified. Is it really such a jarring and hurtful surprise they are limiting big beer's involvement in their events? Big beer advocates for laws and policies that directly impede if not outright harm small brewers.

Despite big beer's diminishing involvement at GABF, the competition grows larger and tougher every year. I'm ok with it. But even if you're not, at least try to understand the reasoning and move on. Frankly, the BA accepting large donations (end cap booths could cost as much as $32,000 for large brewers) is like a democratic presidential candidate taking money from the NRA or a Republican accepting donations from Planned Parenthood. Yeah it's still money, but it's not going to make their constituents happy or help them forget their true goals.

Goose Island wasn't banned from entering, ABI chose to make the BA pick which breweries attended (their own political stance). As such GI got shut out. If they were the best brand to rep and best bet on a medal ABI should have hand selected them to go. Notice I don't see any complaining that Elysian and Breckenridge missed out... GI just conveniently has the rarest beer.

As for breweries at FOBAB, it's simple. FOBAB is a competition so any wholesale limitation on number of breweries tarnishes the quality of the competition. Any can enter, and the rules clearly require them to pour beer to enter. If your favorite rare brewery isn't there contact them. It's not FOBAB's fault. Many choose not to attend for a multitude of reasons. Suggesting they should only pour the rarest most sought after beer is arbitrary, would destroy the competition, mean they take in less money, and STILL wouldn't even mean every brewery you think should attend would.

I get the frustrations but there's sound reasoning behind all of these decisions and I don't think either organization is going to change their model much anytime soon. Also, both events are still very enjoyable, at least for me.

 

Who’d like to do this Aussie a favor and recommend a few non-Chicagoan brewers to check out?* (I say non-Chicagoan because I’ve already done my homework on the local scene.)
* 3 Floyds excepted - their fame extends as far as Australia.

 

Are you talking for Fobab or outside of Fobab? Unless 3 Floyds all of a sudden brings a Dark Lord variant to Fobab, I'd say they have consistently been one of the most disappointing brewers to attend based on what they've brought- stuff that is readily available at their tap room.

 

How far out of Chicago? Some notable local suburban breweries include Mikerphone in Elk Grove, More in Villa Park, Noon Whistle in Lombard (close to More), Hailstorm in Tinley Park and Solemn Oath in Naperville.

 

I'll give it go mate, you going outside of Chicago?

 

Sorry, that was a bit unclear - I meant were there any non-Chicago brewers who’ll be at FOBAB whose stands I should make a bee-line for? Although I’m sure that’ll become obvious from the crowd surges!
In my travels, November, I’ll be doing Chicago and Portland OR - 1 week each. (Yeah, baby!)

 

Oh boy. Good lucky tallying up all the recommendations you're gonna get to make an overall recommendation. I'll limit myself to four must-trys and one underrated option: Central Waters, WeldWerks, Fremont, Firestone Walker, and 3 Sheeps.

 

Portland is great. Be sure to drive to Tillamook for de Garde. The drive to Seattle along the coast is pretty incredible. I recommend it if you can rent a car and have that much time.

 

Weldworks was the word of mouth hit of 2016. We’ll see if Perennial brings BA Abraxas or Maman as either would be a huge get

 

They are bringing BAA to the STL Beer Fest. I know that's IN st. louis and they are IN st. Louis, but still - I'd like to hope given the size and magnitude of FOBAB that they'd bring one or the other.

 

Honestly, it’s really hard to do it that way. There’s just so much beer.

Looking at the brewery list, here’s a few of highly regarded breweries that are known to make quality beers. If you see these, you can’t go wrong, and a number never make it out of their city in Texas/California/Colorado etc, so seeing them at a fest in Chicago is kind of a big deal.

Jester King
Arclight
Bells
Central Waters
Firestone Walker
Perennial
Perrin
The Bruery
Rare Barrel
Lost Abby
WeldWorks

 

I'll give a list a go: 18th Street, 3 Floyds, 3 Sheeps, 4 Hands, Allagash, Arclight, August Schell, Avery, Ballast Point, Bell's, Blackberry Farm, Cascade, Central State, Central Waters, Crooked Stave, Deschutes, Dovetail, Epic, Firestone Walker, Forbidden Root, Fremont, Goose Island, Half Acre, Hardywood Park, Haymarket, Jester King, La Cumbre, Lagunitas, Metropolitan, Mikerphone, Mikkeller, More, New Belgium, Odd Side, Odell, Off Color, Oskar Blues, Penrose, Perennial, Perrin, pFriem, Pipeworks, Revolution, Rhinegeist, Saint Archer, Sierra Nevada, Speciation, Spiteful, Stone, Surly, The Bruery, Lost Abbey, Rare Barrel, Sour Note, Transient, TRVE, Upper Hand, Urban Chestnut, WeldWerks, Whiner, Wicked Weed, and Zaftig.

Good luck!

 

Cheers for the recommends! I hope others find them as useful as I do.

 

Thanks! A number of those I hope to sample during my Chicago/Portland stints. Also a few already export to Australia (true story). Not so bad when you’re talking high-ABV, malt-driven ales that can survive the journey.

Speaking of which, a real US hit in Australia is Founders. I love their beers! I wonder why they aren’t going to be at the show...

 

The Sam Adams booth for Utopias if you haven't had it....

 

Couldn't agree more. Just got back from the Great American Beer Fest in Denver and they had one of the most disappointing beer offering lineup. I wasn't expecting BA DL but when they bring Zombie Dust, Lasersnake and Flying Tigersault, it's pretty disappointing for those that do not live in the Midwest/Great Lakes region.