The Festival of Wood & Barrel-Aged Beer (FoBAB) is the world’s largest and most prestigious barrel-aged beer festival and competition. Hosted annually by the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild (ICBG), FoBAB invites breweries from all over the world to Chicago to showcase their rarest, most innovative wood and barrel-aged brews. All beer, cider, mead, and perry featured at FoBAB has been aged in a wooden barrel or come into contact with wood during the aging process. Breweries also compete for top honors in the National Barrel-Aged Beer Competition.
This year over 400 barrel aged beers were entered by 210 breweries from 30 states. Here are the 2018 FoBAB medal winners:
Category Cider, Perry, Mead
Gold: Cellarmen’s – Valentine Liberator Gin Barrel Aged Cranpus
Silver: Superstition Meadery – Aphrodisia
Bronze: 2 Towns Ciderhouse – La Mure
Category Wild Beer Sour w/Fruit
Gold: Rhinegeist Brewery – Perpetual Passion
Silver: The Rare Barrel- Playing for Keeps
Bronze: Horus Aged Ales – Goodbye to Beauty
Category Wild Beer Sour
Gold: Hopewell Brewing Company – Crudites
Silver: Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project – L’Brett D’or
Bronze: The Rare Barrel – The Search
Category: Wild Beer Brett
Gold: Off Color – Mousetrap – Wildings
Silver: Blackberry Farm Brewery – Barrel Series Brett Belgo IPA
Bronze: Funkwerks – Sauvin Serve
Category: Fruit Beer
Gold: Werk Force Brewing – Farmhouse Vultures Saison with Raspberries and Blackberries
Silver: Werk Force Brewing – The Legend of Mr. Birger Saison
Bronze: Brickstone – Barrel Aged AfterWorld with Luxardo Cherries
Category: Specialty Experimental
Gold: Fremont Brewing – B-Bomb: Coconut Edition
Silver: St. Francis Brewery – Teotwawki
Bronze: The Dayton Beer Company – Deep Sea Diving Aged in Bookers
Category: Strong Dark Beer Category
Gold: Rock Bottom Brewery(Portland) – 5th Dimension
Silver: Karetas Brewing – Colm Cille
Bronze: Half Acre Brewing – Orin
Category: Strong Pale Beer
Gold: Pollyanna Brewing – Orenda Volume 03 Aged in Apple Brandy Barrels
Silver: Karetas Brewing – Sacre Coeur
Bronze: Nebraska Brewing – Melange a Trois
Category: Classic Beer Styles
Gold: Middle Brow Beer Company – Sassafras Brut
Silver: Church Street Brewing – Holly Moly
Bronze: Black Horizon Brewing – Gin Barrel Aged Fooled Me Once
Category: Barleywine/Wheatwine
Gold: Verboten Brewing Cognac/Whiskey Grow Old with You
Silver: Goose Island Beer Company – Bourbon County Brand Wheatwine
Bronze: Revolution Brewing(Kedzie) – Straight Jacket
Category: Specialty Strong Porter/Stout
Gold: Bottle Logic Brewing – Fundamental Observation
Silver: Freemont Brewing – The Rusty Nail
Bronze: Four Fathers Brewing – Double Barrel Aged Wheelhouse
Category: Strong Porter/Stout
Gold: More Brewing – Barrel-Aged Mehndi
Silver: Saugatuck Brewing – BBA Gramanatrixxx
Bronze: Emperical Brewery – Neutronium
Best in Show: Bottle Logic Brewing – Fundamental Observation
Runner Up: The Hopewell Brewing – Crudites