Festival of Wood & Barrel-Aged Beer Celebrates 20 Years

One of our favorite beer festivals to travel to is the Festival of Wood & Barrel-Aged Beer, held each fall in Chicago, Illinois. This year the festival that celebrates all things barrel-aged, celebrated its 20th anniversary on November 4 – 5, 2022.

Through its history, the Festival of Wood & Barrel-Aged Beer (FoBAB) has been held at various locations in Chicago. The festival made its debut in the second-floor banquet room at the downtown Chicago Rock Bottom on April Fool’s Day with about 15 or so different beers. Since then, the festival has expanded to larger venues to meet demand and welcome well over 300 entries, all served in one setting!

Held at the Credit Union 1 Arena on the campus of the University of Illinois at Chicago, there was a lot of excitement with beer festivals returning to a bit of normalcy. For the 20th anniversary of FoBAB, over 190 breweries entered over 300 beers in the coveted competition that includes 12 barrel-aged categories, one of which is for cider, mead or perry.

The festival floor is set up by category so it makes it easy to visit one beer style for a portion of your time at the fest. Attendees also arrive not knowing which beers are being served as during the day on Friday, all of these beers are judged. Organizers choose to let all judges be in the dark about which beers have been entered to give this judging the utmost confidentiality.

West coast breweries that entered and had its beers served at the festival included 10 Barrel Brewing, Breakside Brewery, Fifty Fifty Brewing, Firestone Walker, Four Peaks Brewing, Modern Times Beer, Pure Project, The Bruery, The Lost Abbey, and Urban Roots Brewing. Of these, both The Lost Abbey and Urban Roots Brewing took home some nice hardware!

The biggest winner of 2022 FoBAB was Sun King Brewery that took home a total of 4 medals from across their breweries. It also took home Best of Show – Runner Up for its for Caramel Appel Tripel. But the event’s most prestigious winner was The Lost Abbey as it took home Best of Show for its Duck Duck Gooze Anniversary Blend.

Here’s a list of all the winners from all 12 categories from the 2022 Festival of Wood & Barrel-Aged Beer.

Strong Porter + Stout

1. More Brewing Company: Mehndi Special Reserve 2022
2. Masthead Brewing Co. : The Anti-Life Equation
3. Lupulin Brewing Company: Barrel God Cuvee – ‘20/’21/’22 Blend

Specialty Strong Porter/Stout

1. Cerebral Brewing – Aurora Arts: Fuego Reserva
2. Werk Forc Brewing Co.: Barrel-Aged Chocolate Vanilla Rye Sleepy Bear
3. Short Fuse Brewing Company: What The Night Brings

Barleywine + Wheatwine

1. Mikerphone Brewing: Double LP: Side B
2. New Image Brewing Company: 9505
3. Westbound & Down Brewing Company: Bourbon Barrel Louie (2022)

Lagers

1. Cerebral Brewing – Aurora Arts: Chardonnay Barrel-Aged Tactical Maneuver
2. Bhramari Brewing Co.: Two Way Mirror
3. Metropolitan Brewing: BA Generator Doppelbock

Other Pale Beer

1. Ravinia Brewing Company: Spanish Cedar Steep Ravine IPA
2. Forbidden Root – Columbus: Well Positioned
3. Off Color Brewing – Production: Barrel-Aged Beer for Tacos

Other Dark Beer

1. Smylie Brothers Brewing Co.: Rum Barrel Belgian Strong (2022)
2. Pollyanna Brewing & Distilling – Lemont: Orenda Volume 02
3. Sun King Brewery – Indianapolis: Barrel-Aged Churrolicious

Fruit Beer

1. Sun King Brewery – Fishers: Caramel Apple Tripel
2. More Brewing Company: Lucky Bamboo
3. Mygrain Brewing Company: I Have Time Barrel-Aged Belgian Quad

Specialty+Experimental

1. Alter Brewing Co.: Kings Port
2. Sun King Brewery – Fishers: Wicker Swordfish
3. Sun King Brewery – Indianapolis: Soul Shakedown Party

Wild Beer Brett

1. Nine Giant Brewing: Trendy Brett Saison
2. Around The Bend: 1825
3. Lupulin Brewing Company: Lois V.1

Wild Beer Mixed Culture (Acidic)

1. The Lost Abbey: Duck Duck Gooze Anniversary Blend
2. Blue Island Beer Company: 3
3. Perennial Artisan Ales: By & By Blend 1

Wild-Mixed Fermentation (Acidic) w/Fruit

1. Destihl Restaurant & Brew Works: Saint Dekkera Reserve Sour: Ronciere
2. Sahale Ale Works: The Edge of the Edge
3. Urban Roots Brewing: Sometimes Salvation

Cider+Mead+Perry

1. Superstition Meadery: Vermouth Barrel-Aged Aphrodisia
2. Virtue Cider: Belleau Wood
3. Misbeehavin” Meads: Barrel-Aged Caramel Apple Cider

With the twentieth celebration now in the books, the 21st edition of FoBAB will return to Chicago from Friday, November 3 – Saturday, November 4, 2023.