Official FOBAB Countdown Thread

Apple brandy, wine, buffalo trace...what was the last barrel for the bcbs blendorama?

 

Finally got home....

Cabernet BCS was awesome. Tartare from Bear Republic beat out Desthil Hawaii Ale once I had it. Both Freakin great. BA Abraxas also fantastic.

Worst beer tonight... Sticky Monkey. WAY too hot.

 

The moldy one!

 

Low Storage.

 

Thanks!

Baudonia?

 

Perennial's flanders with blueberries was stupid amazing. Far and away the best beer of the night for me. Also really enjoyed Founders Bolt Cutter and Schalfly 21st anniversary from the VIP room (thanks Jake!).

 

Haymarket Clare was Awesome ! I would easily compare it to Bramble Rye. Cheers Haymarket!

 

Some thoughts on what I had during the first session:

-Cuvee de Bubba was pretty good. Was this spontaneously fermented, or just inoculated with local bugs?
-BA 9000 was very delicious. (And no line - thank god for organizing by style instead of brewery).
-Raspberry Wild One was good.
-Destihl's St. Dekkera Sour Hawaii was underwhelming (tasted like fermented pineapple juice). Apricot was better but I'd take Cascade Apricot over it.
-GI Fertile Crescent was quite good (I think it won gold in the barleywine category), but not mindblowing.
-Haymarket Clare's Thirsty Ale: similar to Bramble and possibly better.
-Lagunitas Little Sumpin' Wild Gooze was a bit odd, pretty interesting.
-Track 9 was pretty good.
-BA Abraxas was amazing. There was some dude next to us who said he couldn't handle the cinnamon, but I thought it was one of the smoothest spiced beers I've ever had.
-Straight Jacket was good (and MUCH better than regular Institutionalized).
-Pipeworks BA Sour Smoked Porter was a let down (very smoky, not really sour). I talked to a very drunk Gerrit for a while and he told me they weren't happy with it, and didn't have much time to prepare for the festival. He threatened to bring out a bottle of their new Puerto Rican sweet potato beer from the back but luckily it was buried under some stuff...
-BA Suitable for Cave Aging was quite good.
-Sun King's Pappy Fog and Pappy Van Muckle were both impressive.
-Flat 12's Mustache Ride Red was my last beer of the night, as they were pulling the pitchers off the table...let's just leave it at that.

Ultimately I got through 14 tickets without pouring anything out. Going for all 16 next year...

 

BA Batch 9000 was the best, and first beer I had all night.
Clair's Raspberry was a close 2nd (better than Bramble, IMHO).
None of the BCS variants were noteworthy other than Wine barrel (though Low Shelf/Baudoinia was the tastiest). I got absolutely no Apple or Brandy out of the Koval/Apple Brandy.
Somewhat disappointed by the Firestone Walker beers, Velvet Merkin and Sticky Monkey. Guess Parabola/Sucaba/Anniversary are the pinnacle.
My mouth is so full of beer stickiness/dryness right now. Seems like a long shot to make it to Map Room in 9 hours.

EDIT: Saving Cherry Rye ("best in show") for next Friday

 

Fun night. Finally got to try black note! Missed out on a lot but the sun king pappy stuff were both pretty great. Long line to get I. Was kind of a drag but otherwise pretty awesome.

Went to revolution after and had beane gene and very mad cow. The VMC was better of the two IMO. Too much coffee on the BG. Anyway. Time to pass out.

 

2 Beers I wanna pile on the love for:

• Perennial Blueberry Flanders (my best in show)
• Haymarket Clare's Thirsty Raspberry Stout

Hope to see more of those 2 in my future

 

Pappy van Muckle from Sun King really blew me away and the Lost Abbey Track beers were all extremely delicious.

I didn't have too many disappointing beers. The BA Behemoth was underwhelmed compared to the few bottle versions I've had and the Buffalo Trace and "low storage" BCBS were also nothing insane. The apple brandy however....

Also, I'm ISO of a FoBAB tasting glass. I definitely forgot mine was sitting on my lap in the car and it flew out and hit the pavement as I was getting out of the car. Can offer beers, cash, possibly a ZJ...

 

I really can't say that I tried anything I did not like. I was a first time attendee and don't ever want to miss it again. That beer list was sick! It was interesting to see beers like Black Note sitting on the table with nobody in line. At any other festival, people would be lining up for that beer. The space was pretty cool too. Nice views of the city.

I really liked:

• Goose Island Clybourn's Thanksgiving - Not seeing a whole lot a talk about this, but it was great!
• Lost Abbey's Track 9 - This beer was the best one there IMO.
• Perennial's Blueberry Flanders - so much blueberry taste!

 

Blueberry Flanders was the best beer there. Honorable mentions go to BA Abraxus, king Henry, track 10, tartare, apple brandy BCS and Hansel and gretel.

 

They worked fine for me!

 

I was told once not to use them,but everyone else took them. Counted them when i got in and actually had 95. Towards the end of the night i was just throwing 10-20 on random tables of ppl. Then around 945 i made it RAIN!!!

 

I still can't figure out how BCS cherry won

 

I was amused by all the peeps who rinsed their sampling glasses, then filled them up with drinking water. Does no one else value the yumminess of water with a hint of barrel-aged beer?

 

Who were all the winners for each event?