FOBAB 2015

At least two and a half hours

 

Barrel Aged Dark Secret was my favorite surprise

 

Spiteful Chocolate Caliente was a highlight at FOBAB. Better than '15 Prop I thought

 

The afternoon session today was amazing. Bourbon County variants were in tap all day. Found the Regal Rye to be pretty disappointing all things considered. But Prop '14 was killer

Also the Spiteful Caliante was straight fire. MVP of the day.

Nice surprise finding No Rules on tap, as well.

For my first FOBAB, it was pretty wonderful. I look forward to FOBAB 2016.

 

I am looking for my 2015 tasting glass for FOBAB. How do you run out and there were several hundred people behind me so it's not like they ran out by a few

 

My first FOBAB today..while I did have a decent time..I'm not going to lie I was a bit let down. Maybe as a rookie I found the layout confusing. I know the beers were grouped by category, but there was no map or floor plan that showed where each category was located. That would have helped a great deal. Or, a reference that showed each brewery and the beers they're showing by category/style. Alas, maybe it's just me but I found it very hard to find the beers I was looking for.

 

It was weird that the booths weren't in sequential order. Like, the 100's were in the middle aisle, and the 800s were when you first entered. I'm not sure what the layout thought was there.

Also, yes, a map would have been nice.

 

Dosvidanya wins best in show and none of the attendees drank it?

 

lets all be real here for a second.

None of us have the ability to try every beer in that room and I would wager out of the beers that we did try it was probably cause of hype.

Having said that my favorites are:

2014 prop
BA midnight pajamas
desthil disdonyva sp??? wtf you spell it

 

While I partially agree with you in terms of the fact that hype plays a big role in ratings, I'm always curious about these sorts of awards. I rarely find that they reflect my (or hell, Beer Advocate) tastes, so I'm wondering if judges are simply looking for different things than the average beer drinker.

Either way, congrats to all breweries involved, on another awesome FoBAB!

 

If any plastic cuppers want a real glass, let me know. I'd be happy to donate a glass to someone who got shut out.

 

While it doesn't cut into my enjoyment much, I 100% agree with you. The worst thing you can do at FoBAB is look for a specific beer. My biggest issue, though, was simply slogging through the event booklet, which I think could've been much better arranged. For example, a glossary of breweries would've been awesome.

 

FYI Dosvidanya is being released on Black Friday at Binnys in Bloomington and Chicago and there is a Rye Whiskey Barrel Aged variant this year also.

 

Yeah, I'm not trying to be a downer. I did have a good time. But, I think the booklet could have been a bit more informative on what each brewery offered and the general location.

 

Dosvidanya has been on shelves in Chicago for nearly a year now, but temper those expectations. The tap version is significantly better than what they bottle. I have been a huge fan of the stuff since having it for the first time at Stout Fest back in 2012 and was very disappointed in the bottle version. The bottles are hit and miss with a touch of an infection possible as they have yet to dial in the bottling for the stuff. That's an $18(!) risk I'm not willing to take.

 

Honestly I haven't ever given this beer a second look after noticing the $18 price tag and only an 87 ranking on here...

 

Agree that Prop and coffee this year were not good. Maman/ blue label and spiteful chocolate caliente were standouts for me.

Was anyone able to find veritas? I was in the imbibe early seassion Saturday and I couldn't find it...

 

Really? There was tons of nutty pecan. I didn't get pepper though.

 

What a fun night!

Looks like I'm not alone in thinking the spiteful caliente was fabulous. I really liked the Avery sour that I tried. Another winner was black gold.

For the BCS stuff, I have to say that the stuff from last year was much better. Prop and vanilla were simply fantastic. Rare was solid but nothing special, I definitely wouldn't pay the insane retail for it. This years prop is also nothing to write home about. Coffee was a lot stronger on the coffee than I remember in years past but still delicious and the normal stuff is always great. I'm also not sure what they were after with regal rye, I barely picked up anything off it. I'd go...

14 prop > vanilla > coffee = regular > rare > regal = 15 prop

I thought the best in show one was solid but would definitely take the spiteful or black gold over it. The runner up best in show was an odd pick but solid.

I gotta say, the logistics of having that many drunks and beers in the same place, they pulled it off great. My only complaint was the neck beard jerks who would try and push to the front of a line. Chill man, it's beer.

Also, only on BA could you have people saying a line up with black gold, rare, etc is weak.

Cheers!

 

Honestly Prop was just a sugary mess to me. But I'd take any FOBAB rating with a grain of salt as constant imperial stouts tend to overwhelm my palate... I'd like to try several of these beers again in a different setting by themselves.

I didn't see Veritas. I never saw the whiskeys they were supposedly sampling either.

I actually liked 2015 BCBCS. Last year the coffee flavor was so overpowering and this year it seems more subdued and was very smooth without adding any bitterness.

Looking through my notes, the stand out RIS that I tried were Blue Label, BA Abduction, Rare, Malevolence Chocolate Caliente (although not as good as Abraxas, imo), and Dark Star. Madagascar was a little thin but I really liked the vanilla profile. The following were pretty "average" given the competition, and just didn't stand out: Regal, Jones Dog, BA Hunter, Bitch B Crazy, Darkness, Onsiemme huere, Rum BA victory at sea.

Black Gold was disappointment #2 behind Prop. Seemed basically the same as 17; thin, harsh, perhaps low quality barrels. Just not a top tier beer at all and trades too high. Just buy some dragon's milk, add a few drops of bourbon, and you'll have a similar experience. Peruvian Morning tasted like stale coffee, too. Central Waters is such a hit or miss brewery for me.

My favorite wild ales were Transient Artisan Ales Pentameter, Almanac Wakatu, Off Color Whiskers, and Off Color Gin Yuzu. Can't tell you why, as I was pretty tanked at that point. Was disappointed by Upland Wet hop sour reserve (metallic notes; these guys are an up and comer that I wanted to try) and gin-finished Radiolara (great base beer, the gin did not add anything positive).