07 Nov Festival of Barrel Aged Beers Was a Blast on Saturday, Especially for Sun King Brewery
by Mark E. Lasbury for Indiana On Tap
I enjoy all different kinds of beer festivals. I love homebrew fests because these are people who do it ONLY for the love of the craft. I’m a huge fan of middle-sized events that focus on smaller breweries from the area because it gives you such a great feel for the community of brewing. I like out of state festivals because they give Walter and I a chance to try breweries that we haven’t tried before. And I like large festivals because they have a certain energy that can’t easily be matched.
This past weekend we attended a larger festival (not huge, but definitely substantial) in Chicago called the Festival of Wood & Barrel-Aged Beers. This was the 20th year for the event, and over the years they have developed a reputation for having good beers and providing a good time for the attendees. It was our third time attending the event, and the first time in their new location, the Credit 1 Union Forum. We had fun, saw some friends, and tasted some great beers – each of which had spent time on wood.
The 190+ breweries pouring at the event were spread out around the arena, both on the floor and on the concourse. They were segregated by style, so all the barleywines were in one row, with all the pale beers in another, and the ciders/meads in yet another, etc. There were twelve categories into which the beers were divided, and this was due to the big competition that went along with the tasting event.
image credit: Walter
Beers entered in those twelve categories were judged by professionals before the Friday night session, and the winners were announced during the Saturday afternoon session. The big winner by far was Sun King Brewing, who took home 4 category medals and a runner up for the best of show beer. Dave Colt and his team were on hand to accept their medals, and while Walter and I watched from above in the Lager Lounge, Sun King just kept getting called back to the stage, or asked to stick around after they were called up. You can see a list of all the medaling beers in this Porch Drinking story (here).
Sun King won the following medals: 2nd place in Specialty & Experimental Beers with Wicker Swordfish, 3rd place in Specialty & Experimental Beers for Soul Shakedown Party, 1st place for Caramel Apple Tripel in the Fruit Beer category, and 3rd place in the Other Dark Beer group for Barrel-aged Churrolicious. In addition, it was the Caramel Apple Tripel that was the runner-up beer for Best of Show, second only to the Duck, Duck Gooze Anniversary Blend from The Lost Abbey, a brewery that has sent beers to the event for all of its 20 years.
Having the beers divided by styles (generally), helped Walter and I decide where to spent a lot of our tasting time. She went for the pale beers category area, because that’s where the few IPAs that were being poured were located. She especially liked the Spanish Cedar Steep Ravine IPA from Ravinia Brewing (Highland Park, IL). I made her hang out with me in the Barleywines and Wheatwines area, where there were a surprising number of English Barleywines (my favorite). I thought that the 9505 from New Image Brewing was especially good (it won 2nd in its category).
We both loved the group called Other Dark Beers, which had several different styles represented, including my favorite beer of the day, the Rum Barrel-aged Belgian Strong from Smylie Brothers Brewing in Evanston, IL. In other categories, we looked for breweries we hadn’t tried before, and beers that we know are extremely good from year to year (like the Coconut Medianoche from WeldWerks Brewery in Greeley, CO). We got to try beers for the first time from places like Short Fuse Brewing in Schiller Park, IL, Oozlefinch Beers & Blending in Fort Monroe, VA, Blue Island Beer from Blue Island, IL, is/was Brewing from Chicago, IL, and many others.
image credit: Walter
We also got to taste beers that we love from Indiana breweries. 2Toms Brewing in Fort Wayne served Veraison and Dark Necessity-Vanilla Rye. Four Fathers Brewing from Valparaiso had Wheelhouse Decaf and Derangement there. Misbeehavin’ Meads, also in Valpo, had their Barrel Aged Carmel Apple and Vanilla Blue on tap, 3 Floyds in Munster was serving Dismembers Only and Foeder Fiend, and Taxman Brewing in Bargersville had two beers there, the Mezcal Exemption and the Bourbon Barrel Aged Deduction.
Finally, Jason Cook of Black Dog Brewing was represented by a collab beer he did with the Rock Bottom Brewery in Chicago (Jason was the Rock Bottom brewer in Indy and Chicago for years). Rock Bottom poured the beer called Black Dog Hits Rock Bottom in the Specialty Stouts & Strong Porters group. It was an imperial stout with almonds, coconut and vanilla – a very Jason beer.
Overall, we love going to FOBAB and trying all the wood aged beers; but it has a couple of things that could be improved. The Friday night session has a nice number of people for the space, but the Saturday afternoon session after the first hour does get crowded. I don’t know how they could spread it our further, so perhaps a larger venue could be considered. I know that’s an expensive proposition, but the breweries are paying to enter beers, all the beers being poured are donated, and they do have a considerable number of sponsors, so perhaps a larger venue could be in the budget.
Also, I’d be happier if there was at least a bit of a beer description for each beer being poured. As it is now, there is only a group, a number, a brewery, and a beer name. Even a few words could help to find beers that might be especially tempting for people. The signs are all professionally printed, so I bet adding a few words for each beer would be expensive, and there is an app where you can look up the beers on the list by beer number (in order) but they requires a disconnect from the atmosphere of the event when you have to look down at your phone constantly.
Our favorite volunteer at the festival. He really learned the beers he was pouring. image credit: Walter
Finally, the volunteers are great, and I know that they are moving around from category to category so they can’t know all the beers. However, since the breweries and brewers aren’t pouring their own beers, the knowledge gained is small compared to other festivals. We tried lots of new breweries, but learned nothing about the stories/philosophies/cultures of those breweries. I have no solution for this issue, so I take solace in the fact idea that we now have a list of breweries that we know we want to visit.
Look for the 2023 version of FOBAB next November and get tickets. It’s a bucket list type of festival, and everyone should visit at least once – you might become a permanent fan, or even a volunteer.
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