2023 FOBAB Thread

Still enjoying it, of course, but this has been the least impressive FOBAB I can remember—nothing stands out. And the entry names have really jumped the shark—few if any good puns, names apparently completely unrelated to the beer, and some just gratuitous obscenities.

 

I can mainly speak to the 18 barleywine I tried but there is a *clear* winner and potentially best in show depending on how judges like the category vs others.

I just don’t know whether to name it or let others find it? Kind of want some placeholder for how confident I am in how good it was. Maybe someone who was there tonight DM me?

 

The 2021 toasted was the 2021 db toasted double barrel, no coconut involved.

Goose was super disappointing in terms of what they offered, miss the days where they went through most/all the new releases. Surprised that neither HA or Rev put up a beer they’re releasing this week

 

I'd say just name it. It's your favorite, I'm sure many others (including the judges) may disagree.

 

Hopefully its not Opus. That was cloyingly sweet.

 

Big bummer from Goose, nothing from '23 variants, just the original and Backyard. They did have '21 Double Barrel bottles when the fest started tho.

My standouts:
Brothership Oumuamua and Annunaki
Resident Culture Ego Death w/Vanilla
Cerebral Mysterious Forces b3

 

With a clearer head, here are my Barleywine picks.

Stray Barrel Project — Flitch (best in show contender)
Cruz Blanca — El Petito
Brothership — Anunnaki

Others in mix for bronze could be Jukes Bayonet, Whiskey Hill Opus, False Idol Two Faced Terror, New Image Intent, Forager Taking Flight.

Arabesque was OK but would be surprised if medals.

 

I don’t think they took it to fobab but Cruz has another double barreled barleywine this year, Gigante, which is worth seeking out. Rum and rye whiskey.

 

No ‘23 Prop? Egregious! That’s a bit disappointing heading into this afternoon.

 

Does Goose Island typically do the same offerings on the hour for Saturday as they do on Friday?

 

Goose Island offerings were disappointing. Only backyard and Original available from the 2023 lineup, not great if you were hoping to try some of the new lineup.

Best barleywine of the night was Jukes Bayonet. New Image 9505 is also very good.

Was not a fan of More Roaming Elephant this year. It has a chocolate and fig thing going on, which sounds great but it came across as too harsh for me. Whiskey Hill Opus is super sweet,

Alesmith Mexican Hot Chocoalte Speedway was vile... something was wrong there.

Henna Karma was great but a sugar bomb of course.

Seedz Fuzzy Nights and Lost Abbey Ghosts in the Forest were both great.

Bruery One & Dunn Grand Reserve is quite good.


First thing I saw tap out was Half-Acre DB Catch Hell Nitro, followed by Maplewood Cuppa Select. But there was no real lines and you could easily get either for the first ~2 hours.

 

I had this last night at the Beer Temple...PHENOMENAL beer.

 

I had the Oakriginal and Money Barrel at Hopleaf this afternoon. Really enjoyed both as expected

 

Another great FOBAB! Agree with some who said that it seemed a bit lighter this year in terms of attendance, made getting everything a bit easier.

So many great beers, too many to list. Really agree with the decision to award Mendhi the stout gold, and also to name is as the runner up for best in show. The guy I was with, that was the first thing we tried when we went in, and we both absolutely loved it as well as the Special Reserve.

That said, the actual best in show, Hidden Hand's Oaked Val D'or was legit bad IMO. Tried several other beers in that category that I thought were much better. Can't believe it medaled, let alone won best in show. Bizarre.

Also yeah, the Goose offerings were very weak.

 

Nice. Good for them. They've won gold for Mehndi a few times now, correct? We're long past the whole "Shaun barrels" talk and timeline that was going on for a while too.

 

They must be doing something right if they are opening a new brewery near Fort Wayne, Indiana…

https://www.wane.com/news/local-new...raft-beers-to-downtown-fort-wayne-riverfront/

 

I finally have a few minutes to sit and gather my thoughts about FoBAB. This was my 9th time and it's still such a blast. Before we went over there my friends and I were talking a lot about easing up on drinking in the new year, and many of them talked about how they just like to drink a Lager these days and I was starting to get a little nervous that maybe we didn't care as much anymore.

But as soon as we got our first pour of something real good it all came rushing back how special this event is and how delicious a lot of these beers are. I really enjoyed the double barrel nitro Catch Hell, the Destihl pickle beer, Wicked Weed Oblivion, Cruz Don Mustache, Bhavana Puncheon, Broken Brix Solera Farmhouse Cider, and Maplewood Barrel Aged Cuppa Stuff.

Once again pretty disappointed by what Goose brought, I think the Backyard Stout tastes like gummy worms, entirely too sweet. Original was just as good as ever. I thought the Bardstown tasting was a lot of fun. I should have had a can of Super Zero in my hand the whole time.

The End

 

I like to think of this year as a good year for brewers new to the BA scene.
Really loved both Brothership offerings, I think they trumped Arabesque with their barleywine, pure creme brulee in beer form, Arabesque didn't taste like much after.

Mehndi's were awesome as always, but Resident Culture killed it with Ego Deaths (my favorites on friday before they won!) and Cerebral's always bringing the heat.
I didn't get to try Whiskey Hill unfortunately, but lots of good beer there. Loved the lager lounge this year.

 

This is an interesting descriptor, and I hope you can elaborate. Creme brûlée really isn’t a flavor I associate with barleywine…like, at all. Eggs, slight toasted/carmelized/burnt sugar. Lots of creaminess from the custard. But, none of that would I ever associate with a BW- not even the sugar, which for me is never like the carmel flavors you get from something like SJ, which is more of an actual caramel, sometimes butterscotch-y taste. But, in terms of creme brûlée, that’s certainly not what I walk from a creme brûlée thinking about anyway.

Appreciate any elaboration.