FoBAB Fantasy Draft: Power Rankings 2019

If you’re playing along at home with your own FoBAB Fantasy Draft for the 2019 season, we the non-experts at ABV Chicago have drafted up our Double-Barrel Power Rankings for your draft preparation.  (Check out the results of our very own 10-team draft.)

The list was prepared by two people using their arbitrary opinions and limited experience, so take it for what it’s worth. Since there are 229 participating breweries listed on the FoBAB website, this list isn’t even half of what is there – so we undoubtedly missed a lot of great stuff. Honestly, there are more breweries on the overall list than we can ever remember, and we were surprised that there were about two dozen we’d never heard of prior to this list. 

The rankings were made based on a combination of several factors:

• Medal history: Using our master spreadsheet of Medal History, we gave higher placement to breweries that have won the most medals, but especially if those medals have come over the last few years. Previous Best of Show and Runner-Up awardees were valued somewhat highly.
• Multiple locations: For simplifying our Fantasy Draft, each team manager is only allowed to pick one brewery that has multiple locations. As far as we understand, multiple locations means more entries which of course means a higher chance to win. We also didn’t want to bog down the draft with separating out each location. So, they are drafted as a collective. This gives great value to picking Rock Bottom or DESTIHL or any other multiple-location brewery. (They are marked in the rankings with an asterisk.)
• Style variance: Some breweries enter beer in multiple, distinctly different categories, while others focus primarily on producing beer that fits in just a handful of categories. Though, the number of categories are pretty split in terms of “sours” vs. “stouts”, which we know is reductive. But certainly, choosing a cider-producer or mead maker has its limitations, as there’s really only one category for those to compete. But the number of competitors is much smaller as well, so choosing a cider or mead producer might be a late-round value pick. 
• Reputation: A combination of our subjective experiences and recent wins in other prestigious beer awards, a brewery that has a reputation for excellent barrel-aged beers will be pushed up the list. For example, FoBAB newcomer Rowley Farmhouse Ales is in the top 20 because of word-of-mouth reputation and the slew of awards they won at this year’s GABF. WeldWerks only has one FoBAB medal under its belt, but they’ve won accolades at GABF, the World Beer Cup, and more. WeldWerks also benefits from…
• Our Subjective Personal Experience: We are not beer judges or experts in any way, but we do drink a lot of beer critically and have been for many years, so I guess we’re allowed to have an opinion. And with this year’s GABF just in our rearview, we confidently boosted breweries like Orpheus, Pure Project, Beachwood, Cerebral, and the aforementioned WeldWerks because we have tried some of the barrel-aged beer that they might be submitting for FoBAB, and we’re pretty fond of it.

So we present to you the Power Rankings without further defending our choices. We’re in a time where the smallest unknown brewery can out-barrel the 30-year pros. FoBAB is almost more fun when a list like this one turns out all wrong. The thing you can’t get wrong is buying a ticket to FoBAB and appreciating incredible barrel-aged beers. 

FoBAB 2019 Fantasy Power Rankings 

1. Revolution Brewing*
2. Off Color Brewing*
3. The Lost Abbey
4. DESTIHL Brewery*
5. Werk Force
6. Listermann Brewing Company
7. Rock Bottom Brewery*
8. Bottle Logic Brewing
9. WeldWerks Brewing Co.
10. Fremont Brewing
11. Hopewell Brewing
12. Goose Island Beer Co.
13. MORE Brewing Company
14. Orpheus Brewing
15. The Rare Barrel
16. Rowley Farmhouse Ales
17. Half Acre Beer Company*
18. Forager Brewery
19. Free Will Brewing Co.
20. Avery Brewing Company
21. Blackberry Farm Brewery
22. Pipeworks Brewing Co.
23. New Belgium Brewing
24. Central Waters Brewing Company
25. Begyle Brewing
26. Pollyanna Brewing Company
27. Cruz Blanca Brewery
28. Karetas Brewing
29. Lakefront Brewery
30. Phase Three Brewing
31. Spiteful Brewing
32. Lake Effect Brewing Company
33. Sun King Brewing Company*
34. Afterthought Brewing Company
35. 5 Rabbit Cerveceria
36. Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project
37. Funk Factory Geuzeria
38. MKE Brewing Co.
39. Pure Project
40. Virtue Cider
41. Cerebral Brewing
42. Beachwood Brewing & Blendery
43. Forbidden Root
44. Hacienda Beer Co.
45. Haymarket Brewery & Taproom*
46. Garagiste Meadery
47. Wolf’s Ridge Brewing
48. 4 Hands Brewing Company
49. Monday Night Brewing
50. Imperial Oak Brewing
51. Lil Beaver Brewery
52. Around the Bend
53. Arclight Brewing Company
54. FiftyFifty Brewing
55. Hailstorm Brewing Co.
56. 3 Floyds Brewing Co.
57. Misbeehavin’ Meads
58. Epic Brewing
59. Hidden Springs Ale Work
60. Superstition Meadery
61. Transient Artisan Ales
62. Odd Side Ales
63. Black Horizon Brewing Company
64. Middle Brow
65. Verboten Brewing and Barrel Project
66. MadTree Brewing Company
67. Horse Thief Hollow Brewing
68. Flossmoor Station Brewing Co.
69. Crystal Lake Brewing
70. Untitled Art
71. Shoreline Brewery
72. Lost Forty Brewing
73. Maplewood Brewery & Distillery
74. Dovetail Brewery
75. Collective Arts Brewing
76. Taxman Brewing Company
77. Indeed Brewing Company and Taproom
78. Rhinegeist Brewery
79. Upland Brewing Co.
80. Surly Brewing Co.
81. Solemn Oath Brewery
82. Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.*
83. Old Irving Brewing Co.
84. Open Outcry Brewing
85. Penrose Brewing Company
86. Whiner Beer Co.
87. Four Fathers Brewing
88. Mikerphone Brewing
89. Church Street Brewing Company
90. New Holland Brewing Co.
91. Smylie Brothers Brewing Co.
92. The Bruery
93. The Dayton Beer Company
94. 2 Towns Ciderhouse
95. Noon Whistle Brewing
96. Perrin Brewing Company
97. Sketchbook Brewing Co.
98. 18th Street Brewery
99. Braxton Brewing Company*
100. ERIS Brewery and Ciderhouse

Don’t forget to check out our annual FoBABlin’ episode for this year: FoBABlin’ 4 The People!