2017 FOBAB

This is a reflection of a craft beer groupthink problem, not a FoBAB problem. Everybody's after the latest whales, which sometimes seem to materialize in an instant with everyone jumping on the bandwagon. Nothing against Wicked Weed who I thought were great, but there were plenty of other beers as good. FWIW I remember SPON kicking pretty early in the Saturday afternoon session.

Anyway I'm not familiar with your brewery and will make a point to try your beers if you come in November!

 

Yeah the Wicked Weed stuff was amazing, just more hyped early on. Spon did catch on with each successive session. One of the other hidden gems was a Calvados Cider. Mind blowing stuff but everyone ignored the cider (and largely that whole back room, comparatively).

 

Half the battle is figuring out what they have there, the text book sized beer list handed out at the entrance doesn't ease the process.

 

In reference to what a few people above have said, personally my favorite part of FoBAB is finding the hidden gems with ZERO line. I usually despise waiting in line for anything, so try to hit the "walk up and grab" booths. A few years ago when they had the Wild Turkey corner I probably hung out there for a good hour, with maybe 3 or 4 people at most in any given line the entire time, most were nonexistent. Not that there's a right or wrong way to do this fest, but if you're one of the people getting frustrated about crowds and lines, maybe try this for a little bit this year, and try not to worry about whatever "whales" you might be missing.

 

Got my persale email today but the access code seems incorrect. Previous years the code was numeric this year was a fairly simple text. Not sure if that was an error or if is the same for others.

 

I got the same thing, doesn't seem right.

 

It said the code can only be used once and only by the Imbibe member, so it looks pretty likely the mechanism to enter the numerical code got screwed up.

 

the password is "password." what could go wrong?

 

Yeah, seems like we all got the same "password". Wonder if emails will be sent out again? To ensure there isint a large amount of people getting rejected to buy tickets Tuesday morning due to an incorrect "password". Ha. Geez that would be something

 

I also wouldnt be to concerned, even if we all have the same password, they likely monitor to confirm a given individual is IMBIBE or not.

 

I think their email mechanism was just messed up.

If you click "update subscription preferences" at the bottom of that email, it will take you to your ImBIBE profile and your Access Code is at the bottom of that page.

 

Not sure if that's correct either. The codes last year were just 4 numbers

 

I misinterpreted that the IMBIBE sales ended on the 31st and not on the 30th, so I missed out on signing up. Oh well, saved $50!

 

1st time in 5+ years I will not be going to FOBAB. The cost increase combined with the overselling of tickets in previous years was just enough of a deterrent for me to

1. not renew IMBIBE
2. not look to get tickets to FOBAB

definitely disappointed as this used to be the best beer fest, period. I'm actually hoping that people & breweries speak with their wallets and pass as well and maybe IMBIBE will take the hint.

I'm sure i'm in the minority anyway, but figured i'd share my $0.02

cheers!

 

Snagged my Saturday AM IMBIBE ticket. Still no updates on why all of the prices went up?

 

I got this response to an email complaining about the price hike for both consumer and brewer fees:

"We do not exist to make a profit, but to advocate for laws that allow our craft breweries to grow, to provide educational opportunities for our members to continue to make better beer, and to host events that promote our breweries and brewpubs to consumers, elected officials, allied organizations, the media, etc. However, we need to ensure we have the revenue necessary to do all of the above.

Festivals have also become more expensive to run so we need to make sure we continue to have the resources necessary to host great events for everyone participating."

Seems like a pat answer so they must be getting a fair number of complaints.

 

Has there been any requests for volunteers yet? I volunteered last year, but haven't seen anything yet.

Maybe they aren't using volunteers this year and are actually paying people to work the event and that's part of the price increase?

 

I was wondering the same thing just today. I would like to try to do the volunteer thing this year.

 

I looked back and last year they asked for volunteers on August 18th, in 2015 they actually asked in July, so they are a little late compared to then. Still plenty of time though. My guess is it's unlikely they will give up on volunteers.

 

They told me the call for volunteers will go out AFTER ticket sales.