A Look Back at the 2024 Festival of Wood & Barrel Aged Beer

This past weekend the Festival of Wood & Barrel-Aged Beer (FoBAB) made its return for the 22nd year to the Credit Union 1 Arena in Chicago, Illinois. Held each fall, the 2024 edition of FoBAB took take place over two tasting sessions from Friday, November 22 through Saturday, November 23.

Each year, FoBAB brings out the best of barrel-aged beer from across the country. Over 170 breweries served over 350 various barrel-aged beers over the course of two sessions. This year FoBAB expanded from 12 categories to 13, adding the new Blended Beer category to the mix. The other categories include Strong Porter & Stout; Specialty Strong Porter & Stout; Barleywine/Wheatwine; Other Pale Beer; Lagers; Other Dark Beer; Fruit Beer; Specialty & Experimental Beer; Wild Beer-Brett; Wild Beer-Mixed Culture/Acidic; Wild Beer-Mixed Culture/Acidic with Fruit; and Cider/Perry Mead.

All beer sent to FoBAB is judged and donated for fundraising for the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild. Each brewery needs to send enough beer, at least one 1/6 barrel or equivalent, for judging and each session. The judging that consists of judges from around the world takes place during the morning and afternoon of the first day of the festival. Then once the judging is completed in time for the kickoff of FoBAB, the beer list is revealed to the public.

Since the festival is held in the Midwest, many of the participating breweries were from this area. This is great for attendees like us from afar to sample beers from breweries we normally not available to us. It is the Midwest breweries that started the barrel-aging movement and these breweries continue to commit to the process. Entry was just $85 and includes all samples.

But that’s not to say that breweries from the Pacific Northwest did not show up. It was slimmer than past years with 10 Barrel Brewing not participating after laying off its innovation staff. Last year alone, 10 Barrel took home three awards from a possible 36 for a fantastic showing.

This year the roster of Pacific Northwest breweries was to include Breakside Brewery, pFriem Family Brewers, Fremont Brewing, and Reuben’s Brews. Unfortunately, the two Washington breweries beers did not arrive in time for the competition and festival.

With only two Pacific Northwest breweries in the competition this year, it was nice to see that Breakside Brewery received an award. The brewer was awarded 1st Place for its Somebody New In The Old West in the Strong Porter & Stout category.

Here is the list of winners from the 2024 Festival of Wood & Barrel-Aged Beer from all 13 categories, Best of Show and the newly created Fan Favorite.

2024 Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beer Winners:

STRONG PORTER & STOUT

1. BREAKSIDE BREWERY & TAPROOM – Somebody New In The Old West
2. WHITE OAK BREWING – Into The Thick Of It
3. FIRESTONE WALKER – Paramburana

SPECIALTY STRONG PORTER & STOUT

1. CAHABA BREWING COMPANY – Romulus
2. OLD IRVING BREWING COMPANY – Champurrado Krampus
3. HALF ACRE BEER CO. – Benthic 2 x 4

BARLEY WINE & WHEATWINE

1. VERBOTEN BREWING (FORT COLLINS) – Double Oaked Cognac Grow Old With You
2. KROS STRAIN BREWING – Barrelywine Vol. 12 Single Barrel
3. BROTHERSHIP BREWING – Noble Cask

BLENDED BEER

1. THE LOST ABBEY – Serpent’s Kiss Imperial Stout For The Rare Beer Club 30th Anniversary
2. THIRD EYE BREWING COMPANY – Barrel-Aged Private Consciousness
3. VERBOTEN BREWING AND BARREL PROJECT – Grow In Darkness

OTHER PALE BEER

1. BUBBLEHOUSE BREWING COMPANY – That Escalated Swiftly
2. FORBIDDEN ROOT – Well Positioned – Oak Aged Saison
3. SKETCHBOOK BREWING CO. (SKOKIE IL) – Tripel G – Belgian Style Tripel

LAGERS

1. ELMHURST BREWING COMPANY – BA Elevator
2. KROS STRAIN BREWING – Barrel-Aged Czech Dark Lager
3. SOLEMN OATH BREWERY – Foederface 

OTHER DARK BEER

1. HALF ACRE BEER CO. – Orin
2. LOOSE ENDS BREWING – NPN – Applejack Brandy Barrel Aged
3. SUN KING BREWERY – Diddy Muckle

FRUIT BEER

1. REVOLUTION BREWING – Cherry V.S.O.J.
2. SUN KING BREWERY – Soul Shakedown Party
3. CRUZ BLANCA BREWERY – La Locura

SPECIALTY & EXPERIMENTAL BEER

1. BLACK HORIZON BREWING – From Earth To You
2. G5 BREWING COMPANY – Eternal Burning
3. CRUZ BLANCA BREWERY – Tepache Cowboy

WILD BEER BRETT

1. OFF COLOR BREWING – Funky Beer For Tacos
2. BENCHTOP BREWING COMPANY – Baby
3. BOULEVARD BREWING COMPANY – Foeder 7

WILD BEER MIXED CULTURE/ ACIDIC

1. MILIEU FERMENTATION COMPANY – SMOL.
2. IKE & OAK BREWING CO – Cutbow
3. IMPERIAL OAK BREWING BROOKFIELD – Blanc

WILD BEER MIXED CULTURE / ACIDIC + FRUIT

1. PRYES BREWING COMPANY – Idyll Forest: 2024 Soirée
2. FIRESTONE WALKER BREWING COMPANY – Primal Elements With Pink Guava And Pineapple
3. LUPULIN BREWING COMPANY – Star Damage – Calamansi & Sabro

CIDER PERRY & MEAD

1. MISBEHAVIN’ MEADS – Clint’s Apple Pie
2. MISBEHAVIN’ MEADS – Stake In The Tart
3. RIGHT BEE CIDER – Barrel-Aged Clementine

BEST OF SHOW – WINNER
HALF ACRE BEER CO. – CHICAGO, IL
Orin – Other Dark Beer

BEST OF SHOW – RUNNER UP
BLACK HORIZON BREWING – WILLOWBROOK, IL
From Earth To You – Specialty & Experimental Beer

FAN FAVORITE
NEURONOVA BREWING – CHICAGO, IL
1 Ceres – Strong Porter & Stout

To learn more about FoBAB visit fobab.com or follow the festival on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.