Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beers 2012 Video Release

Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beer 2012 (FOBAB) from Skalawag Productions on Vimeo.

By D.J. Paul

One of the best (okay, I say THE best) annual beer festivals in the country is Chicago’s Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beers (FoBAB). Now two months behind us, FoBAB was properly documented to capture the celebration of the festival’s 10 th Anniversary.  This FOBAB documentary is a collaboration of www.BeerFX.com, www.ChicagoBeerGeeks.com, and www.Skalawag.com.

Directed, Shot, & Edited by:
Mark Skala/Skalawag Productions. Produced by: Kent Weber & Nik White. Audio Recording, Editing, & Mixing by: Kurtis Garza-Rupp. 2nd Camera & additional Audio Recording by: Stephen Poon.

FoBAB began on April 1, 2003 at the Downtown Chicago Rock Bottom location. Coming out of the gates with  twenty-some barrel aged beers ten years ago was quite the milestone for that time. FoBAB was at the forefront of barrel-aged beers from its humble beginnings. Over the years the festival has grown exponentially. Has moved to bigger locations over the years from Rock Bottom to the back garage of Goose Island Wrigleyville to the Plumbers Union Hall of Chicago featuring the best flushing toilets around to this past year’s new venue of Bridgeport Art Center just down the
street from the home of the Chicago White Sox. Now always held during the month of November, FoBAB should be on any beer aficionado’s schedule. I’ve been to 9 of the 10 festivals with many more in me.

Anyway, take a look at this 13-minute documentary on this past year’s FoBAB that featured 60 breweries from  throughout the United States and over 180 different barrel aged beers. And the sole Oregon brewery represented, Oakshire Brewing, took home a gold medal for their Bourbon Stout that also happens to be their forthcoming Hellshire III being released on February 16th.

D.J. Paul is an Illinois native hailing from Rockford, IL. Follow him on Twitter @hopapalooza