This weekend the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild hosted their 11th annual Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beer, or FOBAB. Dozens of brewers were on hand featuring all sorts of barrel-aged creations including stouts, porters and sours. Join us, won’t you, as we take you a beer-soaked photographic journey through FOBAB.
(Disclaimer: This is a rather short journey because barrel-aged beer)
One of the many things the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild got right with FOBAB is it isn’t too crowded. There were enough people there to fill the space but not so many that you couldn’t get around.
There also wasn’t a long wait for any beer, including the Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout varieties.
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- Even the volunteers were documenting the beers when they could.
It was gloomy and dreary for much of the day outside so the views from the Bridgeport Art Center’s Skyline Loft weren’t as stunning as we’d hoped, but the clouds did break enough at one point to offer a few glimpses of downtown Chicago through a curtain of mist.
There were a lot of beers poured during the event — over 200, in fact — so it’s hard to pick some favorites. But if we had to name a few they would be, in no particular order:
- One Trick Pony’s Kentucky Mountain
- Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout in Templeton Rye Barrels
- Upland/New Belgium Light Side
- Dark Horse 6 Pairs of Legs Maple Porter
- ZwanzigZ Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout on Ghost Pepper
- Ten Ninety Tabasco Imperial Porter
- Atlas Brewing’s Gin Barrel–Aged Anniversary Ale
- Vander Mill Cyser Van Doom
Our hats are off to everyone who had a hand in putting FOBAB together; a very well run event with an overwhelming number of amazing beers.
Here is a list of 2013 winners, compliments of the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild:
Classic Porter/Stout
- gold: Bourbon Barrel Stout- Central Waters
- silver: Perrin Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout – Perrin
- bronze: Jack Stout – Wild Onion
Strong Porter / Stout
- gold: Cthulhu – Goose Island Pubs
- silver: Barrel Aged Blot Out The Sun – Three Floyds
- bronze: Bourbon County Brand Stout – Goose Island Beer Co
Barleywine / Wheatwine
- gold: Cockeyed Cooper – Uinta
- silver: 1100 Wheatwine – Fitger’s
- bronze: Erik – Atlas
Classic Styles
- gold: Afternoon Delight – Sun King Brewery
- silver: Scurried – Off Color
- bronze: Old Mouldy Toad – Rock Bottom Chicago
Strong/Double/Imperial Pale
- gold: Grand Cru – Rock Bottom Chicago
- silver: Downward Spiral – Widmer
- bronze: Tequila Barrel-Aged Gubna Imperial IPA – Oskar Blues
Strong/Double/Imperial Dark Beer
- gold: Working Mom – Revolution Brewing
- silver: Gravedigger Billy – Revolution Brewing
- bronze: The Lost Abbey Track #13 – Lost Abbey
Fruit Beer
- gold: Backyard Rye Bourbon County Brand Stout – Goose Island Beer Co
- silver: Cherry Trouble – Off Color
- bronze: Clare’s Thirsty Ale – Haymarket Pub & Brewery
Experimental
- gold: Barrel-Aged Abraxas – Perennial
- silver: Ross’s’s’s Melange – Avery
- bronze: Bourbon Barrel-Aged Aztec – Breakside Brewing
Wild/Brett
- gold: Le Bretteur – Bells
- silver: Sour Wheat – Goose Island Pubs
- bronze: Misanthrope – Surly
Wild/Acidic
- gold: Fuzzy – Side Project
- silver: Le Terroir Dry-Hopped Sour Ale – New Belgium
- bronze: The Dark Side – Upland Collab – New Belgium
Cider/Perry/Mead
- gold: The Mitten – Virtue Cider
- silver: Hard Knocks – Apple Knocker Hard Cider
- bronze: Cyser VanDoom – Vandermill