FOBAB (2019)

November 8-9

 

Curious where/when the dates were announced? This is great news. I prefer when Fobab is the 2nd wknd of November & isn't 5 days before Thanksgiving. It's usually an unproductive weekend for me, and then I have to scramble to get ready for the holiday lol. Plus, the weather has a better chance of being decent as you can still get some fairly nice days in early November...

 

FoBAB.com

 

Looking at that photo on the fobab home page of people jammed into UIC looks so sad. I wish Fobab could be staged in the summer in a spacious Chicago park similar to Great Taste of the Midwest in Madison.

 

Given the dates are generally finalized, and imbibe tickets are already on sale by now with an announced date for tickets for GA, I'd bet they haven't finalized things yet.

 

https://www.illinoisbeer.org/imbibe/

 

"Wood Barrels. Celebrated Styles. Aged to Perfection. This is FoBAB 2019."

"Admission + Ticketing | General admission $85 with three tasting sessions:

• Friday Nov. 8 from 6:00 – 10:00 p.m.
• Saturday Nov. 9 from 1:00 – 5:00 p.m.
• Saturday Nov. 9 from 6:00 – 10:00 p.m."

 

Even though the wording was a little confusing, I don’t think @Ferocious was questioning the dates of this year’s event, just commenting that in the past imbibe tickets had already gone on sale by now (as in by this time of year), with a sale date set for GA tix. Possibly he was speculating a new venue may be in the works?

IMO I highly doubt it, even though I would love a larger, more comfortable space for this event. Last year, ticket sales were delayed as well (relative to past years). Tickets took forever to sell out after they jacked up prices in 2017 ($60 to $85), with only Sat AM Session selling out before Fobab weekend. So my assumption is last year they decided to delay the dates the tickets went on sale in hopes it would improve sales (& hype).

 

But I feel like Fobab is more conducive to a cooler time of year. I completely agree they need to upgrade the space they hold the event in, or at the very least improve how they set up within UIC Forum. Chicago could def use a big summer beer event on par with Madison. Maybe Chicago could have one in a different summer month to space them out. I love The Great Taste, did you go last weekend?

 

Imbibe tickets didn’t go onsale until August 30 last year. Nothing is different this year from any other on the pre-sale timing, though I did notice they no longer send an email asking you to renew Imbibe.

 

I was saying last year they changed up the timing relative to prior years. I’d imagine this year would be similar to last year.

 

Edit: just realizing you’re speaking of imbibe presale, not GA sale. However, last year’s imbibe presale was Sept 5th. If imbibe presale is the same as ever, cool. They def used to announce all the info for everything by early August...

 

According to https://www.illinoisbeer.org/imbibe/ you must have an active membership by August 25th in order to be able to buy the pre-sale imbibe FOBAB ticket. Might want to get on that.

 

People probably aren't that worried about this, but for the purpose of accuracy, I looked back at the sale dates from the last few years. Turns out both the presale & GA sale have been about the same the past 3 Fobab's (2016-2018), with the GA sale being mid-September & presale being the week prior (Last year: Sept 5th & 12th). Going back further, GA sale was Sept 4 in 2015; Aug 25 in 2014; Aug 21 in 2013.

And while I'm at it, price:
$40, 2013
$60, 2014-2016
$85, 2017-present

Note, 2013 was the final year at the Bridgeport Art Center Skyline Loft, so the price jump from $40 to $60 seemed fair enough when they changed to a larger venue. However, I'm still slightly salty with the price hike from $60 to $85 with no upgrades, when the Great Taste is $60 for a much better fest, but what can you do...

 

Does imbibe send you a confirmation email after purchase? I didn't get anything, and don't remember from previous years.

 

I also only got a “Thank you” Page after the transaction went through but no email so far.

 

I received an email a few days after I signed up (last week).

 

Might make you more upset to know that they don't even buy the beer from breweries. That is all donated on top of charging the brewery $100 per brand.