This Week's Beer News: Fresh FoBAB News & A Closure Blip?
Powered by the promise of a FoBAB Fan Favorite
The Illinois Craft Brewers Guild officially announced their plans for this year’s FoBAB and they’ve got a couple of fun new options for attendees.
The fundamentals aren’t changing, though: There’s still 350+ barrel-aged beers at UIC’s Credit Union 1 arena, plus ciders, meads, perrys, etc. along with the popular Lager Lounge and Revolution’s Super Zero Lounge. We’ll also see the return of the Bardstown Bourbon sampling station this year as well.
This year, however, attendees get a chance to sound off on their favorites for a new award. Per the Guild:
This year, FoBAB is inviting attendees to step into the judging seat by nominating their “Fan Favorite” FoBAB pour. Attendees can nominate fans on Facebook, Instagram, or X by sharing the name and photo of their favorite beer, tagging @FoBAB, and including #FoBABFanFav. Nominations will be open through 2:00 p.m. CT during Session 2, and the Fan Favorite Award will be announced at the end of the FoBAB award ceremony.
I’ve often been curious about the disconnect between the beers that win medals at FoBAB and the beers that kick first due to reputation and general hype. Social media awards like these are easily gamed but I look forward to seeing what the inaugural winner ends up being — especially if it’s the only award it wins that weekend.
There’s also this:
New this year, attendees will have the opportunity to purchase raffle tickets to SKIP THE LINE and be named the ULTIMATE FOBAB VIP. Five winners each session (plus a friend) will get a special badge to skip any line throughout the festival (just can’t hit the same line back-to-back). One grand prize winner each session (and a friend) will be named Ultimate FoBAB VIP for an experience that includes one-hour early entry to the festival, a skip-the-line badge, and access to our Brewers and Sponsors Lounges, which are stocked with beer and catered food!
Other than the line to the Goose Island BCS car, lines for beers at FoBAB are generally fairly chaotic so it’ll be fun to see how they manage this. But let’s be real: Access to the food and beer in the Brewers and Sponsors lounge is the true prize here.
Tickets remain $85 each, and it’s pretty cool that prices for tickets have remained the same since 2017, when we covered that year’s price increase. At that time, then-Guild-president Kevin Cary of Begyle told us that they wanted to “rip the band-aid off” and build in a price for years to come. Nice to see that they’ve stuck with that.
With summer drawing to a close, something else is starting back up again that we wish would hold off for a lot longer: Closure reports. Here’s a handful of the ones that crossed our desk - it was a rough week for beer bars.
In Palos Park, Great Lakes Beer and Bourbon Bar announced their closure after a year in operations.
In St. Cloud MN, Whit’s Craft Beer taproom closed after just ten months in business.
In Wausaw, WI, Bull Falls Brewery announced their closure, and in Menominee Falls, craft beer bar Wisconsin On Tap has closed.
That’s on top of a few other non-Midwestern closures we saw announced as well. Here’s hoping this is just a blip to a year that’s been roughly static1 as far as openings and closings are concerned … and that the big Chapter 11 bankruptcy mentioned below doesn’t turn into another closure.
As for our Oktoberfest roundup, we just added Hopewell, Church Street, Bitter Pops, Hubbards Cave and the Oak Park fest coming in the next couple of weeks. Check it out. Anyone make it to German-American Fest in Lincoln Square?
After lots of legal wrangling, Ravinia Brewing has agreed to change their name to settle the trademark infringement lawsuit filed by the Ravinia Festival. No word on what the new name will be, but may we suggest “Definitely Not a Snobby Suburban Music Venue Brewery”? Patch has more here.
Arlington Heights is getting a nanobrewery soon in the form of Spent Grain Brewing. (How was that name not already taken?) More here.
Job alert: Go Brewing is looking for a cellarperson and brewer; salary is listed.
Old Bakery Beer Co. announced a new menu along with the release of their Oktoberfest, and the holiday turkey sandwich sounds delicious.
The Journal-Gazette headed out to the Brewed IN the Fort craft beer festival and chatted with a few of the thousand attendees.
Another job alert: Revolution is looking for a sales rep based in Des Moines. Salary is listed.
New Holland announced a new collaboration with Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Dungeons and Dragons with a special barrel-aged stout and whiskey release. More here.
Longtime brewer Dave Hoops looks back at 30 years in the craft beer industry in a nice piece for the Duluth News-Tribune.
Urban Chestnut announced plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as part of a “strategic reorganization” with a new investor coming in to help keep the place going.
Feast Magazine looks at the evolution of Civil Life Brewing, and what they changed to make them better than ever.
Happy tenth anniversary to Erie Ale Works.
Here’s a cool idea: Broken Bat Brewing hosts evenings where you get a free beer by locking away your phone.
This week is Suicide Prevention Week, and Lakefront Brewery has re-released their Save a Weiss beer with $1 from each pint donated to charity.
The Milwaukee Record’s Meet A Brewer feature introduces us to Jamie Bone, head brewery at Component Brewing.
The Door County Pulse also has a feature on the founder of Sway Blending + Brewing, Matt Sampson, and looks at his journey from Lisle, IL to his own space working from Hacienda and Door County Brewing.
Milwaukee Magazine has a fun story looking at the history of Wisconsin’s love of taigating.
Tilray laid off 10 Barrel’s entire innovation brewing team, including pioneering brewer Tonya Corbett who led the brewery to be the first ever brewery to sweep an entire category at the World Beer Cup. This whole story from New School Beer is worth a read just to recognize everything that this team did.
Most-clicked link in last week’s email: Well, nothing, because last week we were off but TWO weeks ago it was the Vinepair piece featuring a round of “the Best Macro Light Beer(s)” that somehow didn’t mention High Life.
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Strictly anecdotal judgement here, not data based. Just feels. Vibes.