FOBAB

[Farnsworth]

Did they do bag checks?
Would they care if I had a bottle of beer in my bag?

 

[air]

Did they do bag checks?
Would they care if I had a bottle of beer in my bag?

Yeah bag check was ok, that's exactly what I did and they were cool with it.

I have to dig though the list regarding what I had, pretty stellar event (first time) and imbibe was WELL worth it.

 

[Treebs]

Alright, I'm going to do a run down of the event start to finish (my finish, I was so blasted I left an hour early to catch an early train).

Since they were checking IMBIBE members in at 4:30 I got there a little after 4, maybe 4:10. They were checking everyone's ID in line to give them a wristband stating you're 21. There were two separate lines and they are checking you in by FIRST name. A-K is on the left and K-Z is on the right. I chose correctly which line to get into not knowing that, but it seems like it didn't really matter, at least for the IMBIBE members check in. Since all other GA's have tickets this won't affect you, but thought I'd include it as it was pretty well organized.

They let us in at 4:30 and we had to wait until exactly 5 and they let us in. Most people ran directly to the new Side Project Beers and the Goose Island booth. Lucky, the GI booth is all the way in the corner along the right hand side of the space as you walk in so the line stretches around the outer edge of the place and doesn't interfere with anything else. The "Experimental" beer section is at the back as well so those long lines don't interfere with the overall flow of things also.

The lines were pretty good and they moved pretty fast. Some people were very diligent about tickets, others were very lax. I didn't use all my tickets even though I had well over 20 beers. Basically if you don't go up with a ticket in your hand there's a good chance they won't make you take a ticket out and give it to them. In the photo that dan posted it certainly looks like a cluster, but that was really people just standing around. I would think only 10% of that or so is actual lines. Most things by the end of the night didn't have any sort of line at all, GI always had a line. What's nice is GI spread out a few of the beers in the actual venue so you didn't have to wait in line to try Vanilla, 2014 BW and something else. Can't remember. I went anticipating a huge **** show and it was actually pretty well run and I didn't have to try beers from ****** breweries if I didn't want to. There was enough of everything to go around. JEG was also in a neck brace so he brought all the LOL's.

Now for the beers. I'll start with GI since that's pretty much what everyone cares about. Had everything but the 2014 Coffee and regular. Vanilla has a little too much vanilla right now for my tastes, other people loved it. I'll be sitting on my bottles for a little while. Prop is the truth, great cinnamon character. 2-year barleywine is good, nothing crazy. It picked way more BCBS flavor from the extra year and frankly tastes like a blend (not that it's a bad thing). 2 Year Templeton Rye is awesome, bourbon fudge bomb. Nitro BCBS is awesome as well. Creamy BCBS. Nutulhu was drinking awesome as well. Hazelnut and bourbon explosion. Grimm Vicar was like a butterscotch bourbon soaked fig. One of my favorites from the day.

Transient only brought the Wild Turkey Betise and it kicked before I got a chance to snag a pour (it's part of the Barricale Project which is on the opposite of the venue relative to the GI Booth). Apparently this batch, if it even is a new batch that wasn't part of the bottling run, was drinking ridiculously so get over and get a pour of that one early. BA Abraxas was bottles only, same with Veritas 13. Both drinking well of course. Raspe from Side Project was delicious. That one of the beers everyone ran to, so definitely get that early. Not sure if it kicked by the time I left. Clare's Right Hook and Thirsty Ale from Haymarket were both ******* awesome. Wild VII from Penrose was a must try. All the Off Color was solid with the Yuzu berliner being awesome. Oh, and no lines for Side Project Saison du Ble was very nice as well.

Other than that I sprinkled in new beers I wanted to try and had a great time. I was thinking this might be my last FoBAB with the venue change and all the ****** people, but they captured what FoBAB is about and I will be going back next year. IMBIBE and that extra hour is clutch.

 

[Treebs]

How's the ambient temperature inside? Hot enough where neckbeard sweat is overwhelming or just in the background? Will the place air out by tomorrow morning?

On a scale of 1-10 with 1 being, "No dudes have been thrown out for using the women's room yet" and 10 being, "You have got to be ******* kidding me and, yes, there's a bottle share in the bathroom line", how woefully insufficient are the bathrooms?

How's the coat check? Is there a coat check? Is there a line for the coat check? Does the line move quickly? Is there a bottle share in the line?

I had on a sweatshirt and a jacket and was fine, but there is a coat check. The high ceilings really helped.

Bathrooms are right outside of the doors and they flow smoothly. Way better than the old set up. In and out in 5 minutes, tops.

They were diligently replacing the water and dump buckets so that was nice as well.

There's food at the back of the venue and a food truck outside if you want that.

Any more questions just let me know.

 

[IronDave]

Good summary of the event, Treebs , I volunteered last night in the "category 6" area ("strong/double/imperial dark beer" - i.e., the one with Dinosmores). The Dinosmores and Grimm Vicar were the most popular among folks, with Rev's Working Mom and Half Acre's Mecha Hugs getting a lot of attention too. I thought the attendees were well-behaved - there were really no lines (except the GI, as you said), especially at the end of the night when everyone was fading.

Glad to hear you enjoyed yourself. Hoping to enjoy myself tonight. Got the game plan worked out, and (gasp) there is no GI Props or BA Abraxas in my top 10 "must hits." Instead, going to Veritas, La Fosse, Rasp, Nutuhlu

 

[IronDave]

And, oh yeah, that neckbrace . . . smh

 

[stxSS07]

Alright, I'm going to do a run down of the event start to finish (my finish, I was so blasted I left an hour early to catch an early train).

Since they were checking IMBIBE members in at 4:30 I got there a little after 4, maybe 4:10. They were checking everyone's ID in line to give them a wristband stating you're 21. There were two separate lines and they are checking you in by FIRST name. A-K is on the left and K-Z is on the right. I chose correctly which line to get into not knowing that, but it seems like it didn't really matter, at least for the IMBIBE members check in. Since all other GA's have tickets this won't affect you, but thought I'd include it as it was pretty well organized.

They let us in at 4:30 and we had to wait until exactly 5 and they let us in. Most people ran directly to the new Side Project Beers and the Goose Island booth. Lucky, the GI booth is all the way in the corner along the right hand side of the space as you walk in so the line stretches around the outer edge of the place and doesn't interfere with anything else. The "Experimental" beer section is at the back as well so those long lines don't interfere with the overall flow of things also.

The lines were pretty good and they moved pretty fast. Some people were very diligent about tickets, others were very lax. I didn't use all my tickets even though I had well over 20 beers. Basically if you don't go up with a ticket in your hand there's a good chance they won't make you take a ticket out and give it to them. In the photo that dan posted it certainly looks like a cluster, but that was really people just standing around. I would think only 10% of that or so is actual lines. Most things by the end of the night didn't have any sort of line at all, GI always had a line. What's nice is GI spread out a few of the beers in the actual venue so you didn't have to wait in line to try Vanilla, 2014 BW and something else. Can't remember. I went anticipating a huge **** show and it was actually pretty well run and I didn't have to try beers from ****** breweries if I didn't want to. There was enough of everything to go around. JEG was also in a neck brace so he brought all the LOL's.

Now for the beers. I'll start with GI since that's pretty much what everyone cares about. Had everything but the 2014 Coffee and regular. Vanilla has a little too much vanilla right now for my tastes, other people loved it. I'll be sitting on my bottles for a little while. Prop is the truth, great cinnamon character. 2-year barleywine is good, nothing crazy. It picked way more BCBS flavor from the extra year and frankly tastes like a blend (not that it's a bad thing). 2 Year Templeton Rye is awesome, bourbon fudge bomb. Nitro BCBS is awesome as well. Creamy BCBS. Nutulhu was drinking awesome as well. Hazelnut and bourbon explosion. Grimm Vicar was like a butterscotch bourbon soaked fig. One of my favorites from the day.

Transient only brought the Wild Turkey Betise and it kicked before I got a chance to snag a pour (it's part of the Barricale Project which is on the opposite of the venue relative to the GI Booth). Apparently this batch, if it even is a new batch that wasn't part of the bottling run, was drinking ridiculously so get over and get a pour of that one early. BA Abraxas was bottles only, same with Veritas 13. Both drinking well of course. Raspe from Side Project was delicious. That one of the beers everyone ran to, so definitely get that early. Not sure if it kicked by the time I left. Clare's Right Hook and Thirsty Ale from Haymarket were both ******* awesome. Wild VII from Penrose was a must try. All the Off Color was solid with the Yuzu berliner being awesome. Oh, and no lines for Side Project Saison du Ble was very nice as well.

Other than that I sprinkled in new beers I wanted to try and had a great time. I was thinking this might be my last FoBAB with the venue change and all the ****** people, but they captured what FoBAB is about and I will be going back next year. IMBIBE and that extra hour is clutch.

OLD MAN STRONG.

 

[sherm10161]

Thanks Treebs

See you homies in the afternoon session.

 

[LSMroz]

Treebs:

BCBBW better fresh or with age?

Best BW other than BCBBW?

Best sleeper/new BW?

 

[Treebs]

Treebs:

BCBBW better fresh or with age?

Best BW other than BCBBW?

Best sleeper/new BW?

I like regular one year BW better than the two year.


Clare's Right Hook.

 

[ClCardinal84]

LULZ.

Treebs nailed it all.

Standouts for me were Raspe, Prop, Du Ble, Veritas, BBomb and Pappy's Ink.

Oh yeah. CLARE'S. So damn good.

 

[stxSS07]

LULZ.

Treebs nailed it all.

Standouts for me were Raspe, Prop, Du Ble, Veritas, BBomb and Pappy's Ink.

Oh yeah. CLARE'S. So damn good.

HAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

 

[stxSS07]

See you homies in the afternoon session.

I'll be there to ******* stab you.

?

 

[daniel1]

Either he was in a car accident or Larry David was wrong and there's a third way to hurt your neck. No way JEG got that from cunnilingus.

 

[BobCobb1]

 

[Bill2]

Also, Ghareeb Nawaz and Jim's Original are adjacent to the venue. Best (cheapest as well?) Indian in the city and the finest (also cheapest?) greasy Chicago fast foodery, respectively.

 

[Chest Rockwell]

Wait the carb fell on middle brows beer and the brett ain't punchy. Dunt was right, ****** amateurs. I think it just might be this keg, but I ain't insanely proud of it. **** me. Please skip, sorry for the confusion.im goin home to lick wounds.

It had nice peach flavor and nose but the carb. Ended up mixing it with Penrode Wild V. The mix was good.

 

[sherm10161]

I'll be there to ******* stab you.

?

Bring it homie.

 

[stxSS07]

Bring it homie.

I gotsta defend my FIB turf.

 

[SecretSquirrel]

I gotsta defend my FIB turf.

how you getting there, heading in with Erik?

 

[stxSS07]

how you getting there, heading in with Erik?

On da metra.

 

[jeblikesbeer]

LULZ.

Treebs nailed it all.

Standouts for me were Raspe, Prop, Du Ble, Veritas, BBomb and Pappy's Ink.

Oh yeah. CLARE'S. So damn good.

Either he was in a car accident or Larry David was wrong and there's a third way to hurt your neck. No way JEG got that from cunnilingus.

JEG's sister may have some strong legs....

Treebs thanks for the rundown

 

[CharlieMurphy1]

Also looks like I now have an extra ticket for tonight's evenings session. Face value (or less) obviously.

 

[sacrelicio]

I like regular one year BW better than the two year.


Clare's Right Hook.

Had that at Haymarket last night...awesome

 

[middlebrow]

A great lesson was learned last night courtesy of goose island, stouts and barleywines should never be left in a barrel for 2 years.

 

[Treebs]

A great lesson was learned last night courtesy of goose island, stouts and barleywines should never be left in a barrel for 2 years.

I liked the templeton, but dat Barleywine....nah.

 

[BobCobb1]

Thanks to guys who let me hop in with my buddy. Will pass on favor at some point.

 

[sherm10161]

Manny's for lunch. Hnnnnngggg.

 

[thewimperoo]

La Fosse was ridiculous. Best beer of the night for me by far. Raspe was also good. Loved the fact that there was no line for Saison du Ble. Props is the best. Vanilla is meh. Wild Turkey BCS was not good. I missed the Nitro, don't believe they had a randall at all never saw it. GI Clybourn Vainglorious was pretty interesting. Loved the coffee and raspberry together. Nuthulu was way too sweet for me. Off Color Yuzu berliner smelled amazing, but I was let down that the fruit flavor didn't match the explosive aroma. Penrose Wild V and Woodfour Farmhouse Sour were surprise winners for me. I liked the Upland Permission Slip and the Jolly Pumpkin Persimmon Ship as well as Jolly Pumpkin Saison X. Haymarket Clare's Thirsty Ale was as good as it always is.

There weren't lines to get stuff besides GI and Side Project sours, but the whole thing was just overly crowded once the general admission was let in. It was difficult to just move besides the perimeters based on the way they had the tables set up. The aisles were just clusterfucks of fart clouds. The venue itself was fine. As Treebs said the line to get in was very fast and efficient.

If your goal is to drink the rarest stuff there is no point for you to go to the session that has IMBIBE if you're not in IMBIBE because pretty much all of them were cashed by the time they let in general admission. La Fosse, Raspe, BA Abraxas, Veritas 013 were definitely gone by 6. Props wasn't shortly behind.

 

[JulianC]

Great event, well run, but the venue lacks the character the Bridgeport location had. Although you can walk back to the metra and el so there's that.

I'll be back next year for sure.