This is Beer in Front, part of the Odd Pods Media Network. Sometimes
the beer in front of you is the best one yet. I'll talk about
some old school beers that maybe you've forgotten about, some new beers that have
the potential to be a classic. I'll also talk to various people around the
beer world and get their stories all about beer. That's Beer in Front,
and it's coming up now. Welcome to episode one hundred and eighty four,
the October twenty third edition of Beer in Front. I'm your host, Dave
Zalatorus, and Beer in Front is a proud Odd Pods Media Network member.
On the show, this week, I'll talk with Ray Stout, the executive
director of the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild, about the upcoming festival of Barrel aged
Beers and the ill Diversity in Brewing scholarship. Last week there were two episodes
out. I put one on Sober October Choices. I had that out last
Friday, so catch that if you have time. I'm taking next week off
from the podcast my package shot. I have some issues with my L four
and L five vertebrae, and hopefully this week I can get some steroid and
pain injections to get this better. That plus a new round of physical therapy
makes me think I'm going to be in no shape to sit behind my desk
and talk beer. So the next episode of Beer in Front will come out
on Tuesday, November seventh, and I'll have a full recap of the Faux
Bab festivities in Beer News. This week, Revolution is canning their old time
premium Logger. You'll be able to pick this up at the tap room and
brewpub. Bells will expand its oberonline with new Shandy flavors, and that should
probably be out. I'm going to guess next summertime. Goose Island is coming
out with Last Call. This will be a thirty fifth anniversary English bidder,
and according to the label that I saw over on my brew Buzz, this
is going to be the final brew before they move to their new home over
at the Assaults. Sheet Mad Hatter, the iconic IPA from New Holland is
back. You could pick it up now at the brewpubs in Michigan, with
Midwest distribution to start early next year. And finally, Whole Food said that
the non alcoholic category it's growing by leaps and bounds over at their stores and
right now It's the number three category behind craft and imports in the beer categories.
Hi, I'm Tina Hanamio. I'm Hillary Doherty, and we host The
Muck Podcast where we discuss the dark and sometimes weird true stories in American politics.
Etina, did you know that Elvis crashed the Nixon White House for the
sole purpose of getting a dea badge and it worked? Wooa? Or how
a gun control advocate senator out of California engaged in gun trafficking with Notorioa's gang
leader, shrimp Boy. Shrimp Boy I remember him, Okay, So you
know. We cover all of that and more for Maladies, madness, mischief,
and murder in the US politics, and we also host a biweekly interview
segment called Lil Muck. We interview politicians, journalists, activists, and others
who share their experiences in politics. Find The Muck Podcasts wherever you listen to
podcasts, and check us out on social media at the Muck Podcasts. All
Right. The Festival of Barrel Aged Beers is right around the corner. This
year, it will be held on November third and fourth at the UIC Credit
One Arena. Joining Me Again is raced out the executive director of the Illinois
Craft Brewers Guild. Ray, thanks for coming on again. Hey, thanks
for having me back. I'm I think I'm officially a third timer at this
point. Yeah, I know. I think I need to send you a
business card swag. At least need to send you a shirt or something.
This is the twenty first edition, so Foe Bab is legal. It's the
world's largest and most prestigious festival for barrel aged beers, going back to the
original one at the old rock Bottom. Did you ever imagine that it would
be this big. I don't think anybody imagined it would be this big.
You know when this was started originally by Pete Crowley, now owner of Haymarket
Brewing in the West Sloop, while he was at rock Bottom and a couple
of other like minded people. It was held on April Fool's Day for the
first time, and people thought it was a joke because nobody has heard about
this style of beer, and so they put out a pretty wide net,
and you know, they ended up getting some pretty great beer. Sam Adams
sent a five gallon bucket of utopia, and so you know, they received
some pretty ridiculous beers, and you know, it has grown and grown and
grown since then. So we're now we're at the Credit Union one Arena,
which is about as big as a place you can get without going to the
United Center in Chicago. Are tickets still available? Can people still get tickets
for this year? Absolutely? So tickets are available on phoebab dot com,
so foba b dot com. You know, one thing I would say is
that if you are interested in going to phoebab probably buy the tickets sooner rather
than later, because we cap sales to keep it intentionally intimate there. Cool,
Yeah, so definitely, and I'll include the link here. So,
but yeah, pick up tickets to fae bab. When most people think of
barrel aged beers, they're thinking bourbon barrels and stouts. And I saw even
last year that Ravinia took home of gold with an ipa in Spanish seed.
What other types of barrels or types of beers are gonna to be out there
this year at full Babu. So it's not only a foe bab is a
festival, but it's a competition, and it's actually a competition across twelve different
styles of beer, right, and so you're gonna obviously have the big stouts
that you automatically equate with with with with barrel aged beers, but you know
we're having wild wild beer with mixed cultures, fruit beer, perries and ciders,
laggers and you know some of these descriptions. I'm just looking at them
in front of me. Just just make make me thirsty. You know.
There, there's there's there's things being aged and gin barrels. There's laggers and
gin barrels are a great combination. People are using tequila barrels, people are
using wine or sherry barrels, and it all imparts, you know, such
distinct notes to the beer, and so it's it's it's an exciting competition this
year across those twelve different styles, and you know there's something for everybody there
for sure. Yeah. I saw going through like the list of past winners,
there was one with port as well. So yeah, I'm looking forward
to trying all the different ones. Definitely that Spanish seater, hopefully they put
that out again this year, because that sounds really interesting. You know,
what's really what's really cool about it is that all of these bottles, if
you went into a bottle shop and bought them or walked into a brewery and
bought them. These are twenty thirty dollars bottles of beer just for a large
format bottle of beer. And so for the price of admission of Poe Bab,
you could try beers the best beers in the world from twenty you know,
twenty four different states, all major beer markets, bringing you know,
unique one off beers that you're never going to be able to try again without
spending a significant sum of money to get. This is going to be my
first fae Bab. What can I and other first time attendees expect walking into
the UIC Credit one arena. You know, with two hundred breweries and four
hundred beers, it's a lot to kind of take in, right, And
so the biggest faux Bab veterans I've spoken to, they say, come with
a plan, so do your research and so you know, we you know,
prior the day of the festival, we will post all of the beers
and the locations, and so before you stop in or while you're waiting in
line to get in, you know, do some research and figure out where
things are. We break everything out into different sections, so you know,
on the floor there'll be certain beers of the arena and around the concourse there'll
be certain beers and so you know, and one thing I will say is
that you know, this might be the only time in your life when you
get to try a barrel aged perry, and so go and do it right,
or you know something that's barrel aged in port wines, or you know
what is people are getting into now is malort barrels, so God bless them.
And so you know which is the strict distinctly Chicago. But you know,
come, come with a plan. You know, just don't go to
those hype breweries that you know about, because you know, more often than
not gold metal metal winners at phobab or are smaller, local, independent breweries
that people have never heard of that are making amazing beer. All Right,
so I'll have to get my map out and plan out my attack. Okay.
I see that there's also going to be a lagger lounge and a non
alcoholic lounge with the new Revolution hop Water. I mean, I think this
is going to be good for people to kind of paste themselves and cleanse their
pallet a bit. Yeah. So the logger lounge is something that we had
last year for the first time that people went, you know, absolutely bananas
over and so you know we have about twenty breweries bringing some of their best
loggers, and so you have an opportunity to kind of go up there and
it creates a different vibe. And I like to say there's you know,
multiple areas in Phoebab. You know, there's the arena, which is all
barrel aged beers, many different kinds, but you know, barrel aged beers.
Then you have the logger lounge, which is kind of like a cool
hangout spot where you can kind of sip on a beer, relax and kind
of plan your next steps. And also the NA Lounge. And so something
that's important about a festival like poe Bab beer festivals in general is hydration.
Right, you want to be able to take breaks and have a couple a
couple of SIPs of something delicious that maybe is not alcoholic. And Revolution Brewing
is sponsoring NA Lounge, which is gonna be filled with their new hot water.
So it's an exciting time to try something new and and you know,
take take a little bit of a reprieve from from some of the more high
alcoholic beverages. Is there gonna be food available, Like if people need to,
you know, put something else beside the thirteen beer in them. Yeah,
there's there's gonna be arena food available. So I advise people to stop
and eat a hot dog or eat eat a pretzel and break it up a
little bit, you know, but eat before, eat after. Spend lots
of money in Chicago, we need it, and so it's gonna be.
It's gonna be a great festival for everybody. Now, the UI S Credit
One Arena, it's about a three minute walk from the racing Blue Line station
and that's back open. I know earlier in the summer they were doing some
shuttle buses, but I checked the CTA's website out yesterday and it looks like
the station is open, but like you have to use a different entrance,
but it's only a quick, you know, three four minute walk from racing.
If somebody's not taking public transportation, is there parking available? And I'm
assuming since it's that big of a festival, there's gonna be plenty of ubers
and lyfts around without a doubt, And so you know, we advise people
not to drive it is it is an alcohol festival, so public transportation is
the way to go. We purposely do it close to the blue Line station
at Reccene because it is by far the best way to get to the event.
Of course, you know, ubers and lyfts are going to be available.
It's a pretty highly trafficked area right off of two ninety, so you
know, people you're gonna have no problem getting ubers or lyft. Feel free
to ride a bicycle. There's gonna be plenty of BIA school parking as well,
you know. But you know, one thing we are hyper focused on
is people getting there safe and people getting home safe. Although I don't know
if you want to see me on a bicycle after a bunch of beg beers,
I'll stick with taking the blue lights. Yeah, that'll work. Yeah.
Are there beers that you're excited about trying this year? I'm most excited
to try some of the more barrel age loggers. That was That was a
category that started last year that just really kind of opened my eyes to what
this, what this could be. Obviously, there's some really great breweries in
Illinois and especially the Chicago Land area then that I'll of course flock to because
they have great barrel programs. But you know, I'm I'm most interested in
trying some of these smaller, smaller, local regional breweries, maybe even some
of the out of state breweries that are coming, because it you know,
I most likely won't get another chance to try these beers ever again. Last
year, sun King out of Indiana, I think took home the most metals
we got to get this back in the state. You know, I don't
know, you need to tip the scale or something if you need me to
come and throw my thumb on the scale for some Illinois brewer's here. You
know, the thing, the thing I love about Poe Bab in comparison to
like, you know, the World Beer Cup or a Brewers Association festival like
that, is that the judging is done on a very different criteria than you
know, the World Beer Cup or any one of those other Brewers Association events.
And you know what makes it really cool is judge judges are primarily judging
on taste, and so they're judging on what they like. And obviously these
are highly qualified judges for that have international credentials. But you know, but
the Phoebab judging seems to be like, all right, does this beer taste
freaking awesome? And you know, those are the beers that win and and
and believe you me is that every time there is a winner announced, there
is almost a stamped to that brewery to try to get that beer that just
won. So kind of position yourself strategically during the awards. In addition to
FOBAB, the Guild just announced yesterday that the Illinois Diversity in Brewing Scholarship is
coming back for twenty twenty three. That's really cool. What can you tell
people about the scholarship? You know, that is one of my favorite things
we've been able to accomplish during my time at the Guild, and so this
is this is a scholarship and an opportunity we give out two every year in
partnership with the Civil Institute, you know, to bring underrepresented voices into the
brewing space. And so you know, Blair Turner from Turner House Brewing,
which is opening up on the South Side, was one of our recent recipients.
Jay Westbrook who goes by the alias the Black Beer Baron and as a
Simpsons fan, I absolutely love that, you know, but he's been he's
done projects with with Haymarket Brewing, the Heralds, Honey al and Sketch Foot
brewing and so he's kind of a nomad brewer, is a past winner and
so to see you know, these folks, you know, use these credentials
to to to really improve the diversity and the voices and and and the perspective
of the community is something that's been so empowering to see. And so you
know, you could find out more about our scholarship on Illinois beeer dot org.
Okay, so definitely check out that and I'll include that link as well
because that's really cool. And looking at like the press nodes, Blair ache
in to a one last year, I believe that she's going to open a
brewery in Brownsville, So that's really cool. Also, Yeah, no,
Blair Blair is a great recipient. Yeah, so for for a brewery to
go into Bronzeville is just like a great step in the right direction for this
industry, you know. And it's and it's something that you know has has
traditionally been pretty exclusive, and so it's taking a lot of time and effort
and intentional intention to make it a more inclusive industry. And that's something that
I'm proud that our organization is doing and that you know, almost all the
brewers in the state of Illinois are bought into and so it's pretty cool to
see. Yeah, I mean that's awesome, So definitely I'll include links in
the show notes for that. Ray, thank you so much for coming on.
Before I let you go. Is there any kind of like training I
need to do for Faux Bab? Do I need to like run the steps
like Rocky? What kind of training do I need to go into for this?
I would suggest heavy hydration? Okay, you want to be you want
to be well hydrated. You want to be you want to have some food
in your belly walking in the door. But other than that, Dave,
I know you're a pro and you're gonna fit in just fine. All right.
I'll have my like liquid IV packets with me for the water to stay
hydrated. That's right, all right, Ray, thanks again, and I
will definitely see you at fae Bab see you there. Okay. The beer
that's in front of me now is from sketchbook. This is their Skulkie location.
This is Triple G. This is a Belgian style triple aged in wine
barrels. Since we were talking Poe Bab earlier with Ray, I figured I
would have a barrel aged beer as the beer in front, and I don't
think I've ever had a wine barrel aged beer. I've always liked everything from
Sketchbook, so this should be good. This is ten point three percent alcohol,
and let's crack it open. It looks really nice, good amber color,
good, couple fingers of foam, smells really good. I almost it's
almost a cross between the Belgian yeast and I do get like a white wine.
I'm assuming they age this in a white wine barrel because the beer doesn't
have any like red tannins in it. But yeah, it almost smells like
a cross between a Belgian and a white wine. So let me just shut
up and have a sip of this. That's really interesting in a good way.
You do get that Belgian yeast taste there, that juicy fruit gum,
but it's very subtle, and I do get some white wine notes out of
here. There's a little you definitely know it's a ten percent beer. You
get that little alcohol burn at the end. I think this is really good.
Yeah, that's excellent. I've never had this. I hope they have
some other stuff like this over at Faux Bad because I'll definitely be going to
the Sketch Book tent if there have some stuff there. But this is really
good. Now. I pick this up at my local bottle shop Bottles and
Cans, So if you see this, I would definitely put this one in
the cart. Grab yourself some triple g from Sketchbook. I've gotten away from
ramblings on social issues the last year or so on the podcast, but something
happened over the weekend that really made me stop and think. Aris Brewery and
Cider House released a new sider aged in milorc barrels, and I had to
go pick up my order because I ordered one and I wanted to pick it
up. On the way there, I saw two families of refugees sitting on
a corner of Irving Park and Pulaski and it just it made me think,
what the hell is wrong with this picture where my thumb ass is picking up
a twenty dollars bottle of cider while these families are hoping for a couple of
bucks from strangers to get food from a gas station. I don't know the
answer. Hell, I don't even know what the question is. But there
has to be a better way to take care of people than having families of
human beings sitting on a corner somewhere in Chicago. All right, that's going
to wrap things up for this edition of Beer in Front. I thank you
very much for listening. I want to thank again Ray Stout, the executive
director of the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild, for coming on and talking about phae
Bab and the Illinois Diversity and Brewing Scholarship once again. I'm taking next week
off, so the next show will be out in a couple of weeks and
I'll have a recap of pae Bab. If you need to get a hold
of me, you could email me Dave atsberinfront dot com. You can find
me on all the social media channels apt Beer in Front. Have a great
couple of weeks. I will talk to you in two weeks, and remember
or sometimes the beer in front of you is the best one yet. All
Right, have a good couple of weeks. I'll see you then.