We're hot on the case of the Festival of Wood and Barrel-Aged Beers 2025's best medal recipients (that we have access to), and we'll solve the mystery of whether or not the gold medal winner in this bunch will actually top our rankings. For this year's roundup of decorated beers, we run the Specialty/Experimental category and throw in a bonus beefy adjunct stout for fun. But also, we're wondering what we can learn from the Lyric Opera Detectives to become Dicks at FoBAB; we run through all sorts of FoBAB By-The-Numbers breakdowns from this year' results; we recap some Fantasy FoBAB results; and we're angling hard for our chance to judge certain FoBAB categories next year.

Beers Reviewed

Lakefront Brewery - Brandy Barrel-Aged Pumpkin Imperial Ale [Bronze in Specialty/Expermental]

Cruz Blanca Brewery - La Dama Catrina (Barleywine aged in bourbon barrels w/ Mexican cocoa, ancho chiles, Mexican vanilla, and canela) [Silver in Specialty/Experimenta]

Black Horizon Brewing - From Earth to You (Gin barrel-aged Mexican lager w/ hibiscus, rosehips, and orange peel) [Gold in Specialty/Experimental]

Old Irving Brewing - Barrel-Aged Champurrado Coffee Krampus (Bourbon barrel-aged Imperial stout w/ vanilla, cocoa nibs, Saigon cinnamon, Hexe coffee, and chilis) [Bronze in Specialty Strong Porter/Stout]