Goose Island is celebrating the boozy stout’s 30th anniversary this year.
bbl - age stout season has arrived . That reaching elicits a truckload of feel from people who love the magnanimous , high - ABV , boozy stout that dribble onto shelf in the fall and winter . Many drinkers are looking for something novel , while others are loyal to their front-runner and will hold back in telephone circuit for a bottle . Amidst all the plug , Bourbon County Stout ( BCS ) from Goose Island remains a divisive pillar of the style .
The 2022 batting order celebrate Bourbon County Stout ’s 30th anniversary . ( When incisively the beer was first releasedhas been a subject of argument , but Goose Island says it was 1992 . ) It is an interesting mathematical group of beers that include the return of barleywine and chocolate , as well as variate that use pineapple plant and attempt to bring up biscotti .
Three ten is a retentive time , and Goose Island has commute a lot over those age . It has conk from a plucky craft brewery to part of the Anheuseur - Busch InBev portfolio . Still , the 2022 roll pays fitting tribute to where BCS has been and where it is going in the years to come .
Courtesy of Goose Island
What Is Bourbon County Stout?
Bourbon County Stout is Goose Island ’s most iconic initiation , first bottled long before the brewery ’s sale to Anheuser - Busch . The recipe has n’t changed , outside of " minor process tweaks , " since former Brewmaster Greg Hall first released Bourbon County in the early ' 90 , ex - Brewmaster Jared Jankoski previously told Thrillist .
bbl - aged stouts are a winter staple for many breweries . Goose Island , though , is credited with being the first to old age stout in bourbon gun barrel , whichever year you conceive was when the first feeding bottle attain the barroom .
Bourbon County Stout often costs a little north of $ 12 per 16.9 - troy ounce feeding bottle when it is liberate . ( Though , you could often find it for a little less month later if you know which bottle shops still have it around . ) The variant versions of the classic can cost more . Still , BCS is a turn more low-priced than other bbl - aged stouts that can run you up to $ 100 for a individual bottle .
Courtesy of Goose Island
Where Can I Buy Bourbon County Stout?
Broadly speak , drum - get on stout have a repute for being heavy to get . The style can kindle image of mass standing in long course wait for a chance to grab a bottle . That is still true for some breweries and has been true in the past tense for others . It is also a bit of marketing to make it finger single .
For Bourbon County Stout , those line are mostly a affair of the past . Its winner has led to ubiquity .
Goose Island annually releases Bourbon County Stout and variants on Black Friday . Though it is far easy to get now than in the early year , some BCS lovers in Chicago still await in channel to be among the first to grab a nursing bottle .
Courtesy of Goose Island
If that is n’t for you , the beer is released across the nation in comparatively large quantities . On the days around Black Friday , you may find it at your favored bottle shop . Since it is a circumscribed release , it can be deserving asking ahead of time if the store will carry Bourbon County Stout , though . The mellow alcohol content can confine its sale in some area where that is prohibited by local law .
John Zadlo , Senior Brand Manager at Goose Island , says that most of the variants will be relinquish in equal amounts around the res publica this year , with a twain of exception . The Proprietor ’s Stout is only released in Chicago every year . The Barleywine will be a trivial more limited than other variants , and " Biscotti is going to be a little more allocate just ground on payoff , " Zadlo says .
What are the variants of Bourbon County Stout this year?
The Original Bourbon County Brand Stout - 14.3 % ABV , $ 14The original is similar to what you find most eld . It ’s a wooden-headed beer with strong note of coffee , oak , whiskey , cherry , and vanilla . In most old age , the stout in your bottle has pass time in bourbon barrels from Buffalo Trace , Wild Turkey , and Heaven Hill . This year , they ’ve add Four Roses to the list , giving it something unique for its 30th anniversary . Todd Ahsmann , President of Goose Island , says this yr ’s release reminds him of the 2019 discharge .
The original and variants are usually free in their typical bottle . However , this class , as a atavist for the day of remembrance , it will also be released in a four - pack of 12 - ounce bottleful as it used to be . Mike Siegel , Senior Innovation Manager , has hint that this packaging may be uncommitted again in next years .
thirtieth Anniversary Stout - 14.4 % ABV , $ 40It may be a thrash about - up between this and the 2 - Year Barleywine Reserve if I ’m judge to break up the best of the variants . The Anniversary Stout is a portmanteau word of Bourbon County Stout that is aged in bourbon barrelful from Basil Hayden , Booker ’s , Baker ’s , and Knob Creek . Additionally , for the first time , a hanging tag end around the bottle ’s cervix breaks down the percentages of the blend .
The flavor is similar to the Original , but there are certainly differences from that aging process . In particular , it takes on a stronger umber flavor and a bit of nuttiness , along with dates and other more subtle note . It is very accessible despite the ABV and tilt of bourbon barrel . It ’s nuanced without being over - the - top with booze .
2 - yr Barleywine Reserve - 17 % ABV , $ 40This is the first time Goose Island has put a barleywine into the lineup since 2018 when it expel the Coffee Barleywine . This one was aged in rare Old Fitzgerald Bottled - In - Bond gun barrel , including a commixture of its 14- , 16- , and 17 - year - sometime statement . About 60 % of the blend was double - barreled ( moved from one barrel to another cask ) , amplifying the oak and bourbon flavors of the barleywine .
It pullulate sinister for a barleywine , virtually couple the swarthiness of the stouts . This too carry potent cherry flavors with common fig tree , oak tree , and vanilla , but also tobacco , plum , and brittle . The oak in picky is enounce from that circumstances of the barleywine that got doubled casked . It ’s a high - ABV drink at 17 % , even for BCS . Though , it does not amount across as overly bibulous .
Coffee Stout - 13.2 % ABV , $ 25A coffee berry variant was part of the lineup when variants were first introduced in 2010 . They were a raw material for a smattering of twelvemonth , but this is the first time a coffee - focused stout is among the stochastic variable since 2017 .
As presently as it pours , the surrounding aroma makes it feel like you ’ve really poured a loving cup of java . Cold coffee and beans from Intelligentsia are used to bring the coffee add-on to the cutting edge . The beans used for the stout were grow by female chocolate farmers in Burundi , and the addition adds a pleasant bitterness that cuts into the usual BCS sweetness . It is a overnice chance variable if you love chocolate stout . If not , you probably wo n’t find a whole great deal to love here , as java is the star of the show .
Sir Isaac ’s Stout - 13.9 % ABV , $ 25Every year , the brewery hold an internal contest to see what kind of variants the stave can come up with . They ’re judged by brewer and at least one is pick out to become a BCS variant . One of last year ’s variants essay to evoke Good Humor strawberry shortcake bars . This year , Sir Issac ’s is one of those variants . The concept was to bring Fig Newtons to bear in mind . ( Thus , Sir Issac is on the label . ) The final recipe used whole bleak military mission figs along with graham cracker bonbon to make that connection crystallization clean .
The fig tone in the ruined merchandise is strong . As the brewers have pointed out , it has more of a fruit leather characteristic than the sticky - sweet common fig look of those conversant Newtons . The figs are strong , but the graham cracker is a footling more insidious in the profile .
Biscotti Stout - 14.3 % ABV , $ 25This one was conceived by a member of the brewery ’s masses team . The stout is meant to remind you of a drinking chocolate - dipped biscotti . The burnt umber flavor comes from cocoa nibs , while 7,000 Irish pound of toasted almond give the unmistakable signified of eating biscotti . The brewers have also notice that a small amount of anise seed in the recipe was a central component of take out the full flavor .
A cherubic almond spirit , along with a turn of licorice and drinking chocolate , surface instantly from the pour . The brewers note that the flavors may change more on this than any other variant as the beer warms toward room temperature .
Proprietor ’s Stout - 13.4 % ABV , $ 30Proprietor ’s has been an annual tone ending since 2013 . The savor changes every class , but the approximation stays the same . Jason Krasowski and Paul Cade number up with this recipe . They ’re the team behind last class ’s cherry tree cola release . On paper , this is an off - the - wall mind for BCS . The formula has toasted coconut , banana , lime succus , ananas succus , and vanilla sugars added to the stout . It may seem odd , but Goose Island sound out the only factor that has never been in a BCS waiver before is pineapple plant .
As soon as it pours , there ’s an consuming aroma of coconut uprise from the Methedrine . There is a whole lot going on in each sip . Banana and coconut come through powerfully on the first tasting , with the pineapple lingering throughout . Though , during a media event , Goose Island brewers said there have been heated argument among faculty about how the flavors land and which is strongest . It seems to number across with slight mutation for different individuals . It ’s a unknown spill , but it work .
