Official FOBAB Countdown Thread

Just another reason to dislike Pete Crowley?

 

However, this will keep beers from kicking as early if they have to bring two 1/6 bbls of each beer.

 

I agree this is a bad decision on format but Pete has done alot of work for craft beer in Chicago. Also, Haymarket fills growlers of BA Indignant, how bad can he be?

 

I'm obviously not here to get into the politics of it as a lot of the people in charge and the brewers are friends.

But I will say, there are advantages and disadvantages to the direction FoBAB is moving. In order to grow the festival (and interest is at a point where it did need to grow), things needed to change.

It will be interesting to see how this effects things. But with the team running the event, I know it's in good hands.

 

And he recently hosted the open-event for the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild meeting, which was a presentation and Q&A for people interested in opening a brewery. That was a fantastic event and he provided food and beer for everyone free of cost. Pretty generous if you ask me!

 

Agreed that the politics of the decisions made are not worth discussion. I am sure there are a myriad of reasons why the decision was made to make the changes, and it is what it is at this point. The event has always been (and under the current leadership, always will be) one of the best beer events in the country, and this change is unlikely to change that. I am glad, however, knowing this info. My expectations of the event being akin to what it has been since I stared attending in 2009 can now be dialed back in line with these changes.

 

Going off on a tangent (or a tangential rant, if you prefer) here, but I can certainly sympathize. From my perspective as a fan of new/interesting beer, I would love to see more one-off kegs from Goose Island -- unless you attend a 'tap takeover' or a special event like FOBAB, you're SOL. I wish the brewpub could/would get kegs like this but I'm sure it's a complicated business relationship between the two entities (especially since the AB-InBev acquisition; though the brewpub rarely got 'special' kegs from Fulton as best I can recall).

The Fulton & Wood series is fine and I've generally liked what I've had. There's so much talent over there and so many resources, though, that it just makes me wonder what else they have brewing (tempered, somewhat, by the fact that few people will actually be able to drink these uber-tiny batches). Doesn't John Hall mention plans for a new brewery on the river from time to time? Complete with its own tasting room? I wonder how that's coming along.

Back on topic, this will be my first FOBAB since I went to one at the Wrigleyville brewpub (in... 2007, I think?). Talk about a cramped venue! Not to mention everything was a stout, I think, and it all just started to taste the same pretty early on.

 

I am assuming I can bring a growler to the event and have it filled correct?

 

Two ounces at a time.

 

FT: FOBAB Grand Cru ISO Dave

 

We will be bringing along Very Mad Cow (BA Mad Cow Milk Stout), Mean Gene (BA Eugene Porter), Straight Jacket (BA Institutionalized Barleywine), and Burt (BA Bandit Smoked Stout). We hope you got your tickets

From Revolutions Website

 

While I agree the variety might be a little less, it should mean these breweries pick the best stuff. Also, with the increased volume I hopefully won't miss out on the good stuff like I did last year with Veritas.

 

Thanks! Guess I'll go fork out the $20 if there are still bottles....*sigh*

 

I'm a complete outsider when it comes to any Chicago beer politics, but the problem with the keg size change seems to me that it was a solution in search of a problem. Beer geeks are not shy about making their grievances heard, and I've been to many beer events here in CA where a small keg of something like Younger or Chocolate Rain is tapped, quickly blows, and leaves attendees furious because none of the other offerings are on the same level.

FOBAB has never been like that. Sure, a few of the big winners tap out in the last hours, but the beauty of the Festival has been that there are so many outrageous, special, unique beers being poured that it's hard to fret too much about one or two offerings running out. I'm a FOBAB optimist and I'm still really looking forward to the event, but I'm with those that can't quite see the rationale behind this move.

 

Does this move mean we will go back to the larger glasses? I kinda hope not because I was a shitshow disaster at the end of FoBAB two years ago. Last year was a more acceptable amount of drunkenness for me.

 

I'll be at the 1pm session. Looking forward to putting some BA names to drunk faces.

 

Yeah, the girlfriend wants to go to the lights festival after im done at Fobab....kind of put a damper on the evening lol i figured id end up real drunk....now im sure i wont be for fear of a fight lol

 

Not really my place to chime in but doing ANYTHING in public with a sober person after FOBAB seems like a recipe for disaster.

 

Haha i meant i wouldnt drink as much so i wouldnt get drunk lol

 

Has there historically been a food option at FOBAB? This will be my first year going so I want to plan ahead if I'll need to stash a Pleasant House Bakery pie in my pocket