Brewed By: Goose Island Beer Company (owned by AB InBev) in Chicago, Illinois
Purchased: 12oz bottle bought at Binny's in Plainfield, IL; 2012
Style/ABV: Russian Imperial Stout, 15.0%
I have a little something special today, the 2012 version of Goose Island's Bourbon County Stout. It would be criminal to not try a "hot" or fresh bottle of this Bourbon-Barrel Aged Imperial Stout, before throwing the rest into my cellar to age for the next 5-10 years. This beer is part of Goose Island's extensive barrel aging program, headed up by John Laffler. The brewery has over 1000 barrels of beer aging in wine and bourbon casks, and is estimated to be the largest barrel program in the United States. A bit about Goose Island:
If you roll over to Goose Island's Bourbon County Stout page, you can get some info on the beer from the brewery itself. This beer was originally brewed in honor of the 1000th batch of beer at the original Clybourn brewpub. Last year's BCS clocked in at 14.5% ABV, and this year's pushes the envelope to 15% ABV. This beer clocks in at 60 IBUs, and is brewed with Willamette hops, along with 2-Row, Munich, Chocolate, Caramel, Roast Barley, and Debittered Black malts.
The beer is described as having oak, chocolate, vanilla, caramel, and smoke on the nose, and a taste that packs "more flavor than your average case of beer." Suggested food pairings are flourless chocolate cake, or capriole bourbon chocolate torte cheese. This beer can (and probably should) be aged for anywhere from 2 to 5 years and up. I've read a few cellar reviews for this beer that suggest not much happens after 2 years of aging, so age away. With that said, let's get the hot version of this into a glass, and see what the 2012 batch of Bourbon County Stout is all about.
I do recommend drinking this on the warmer side of warm. This one will only get better as it approaches room temperature. The pour reveals an impressively dark, squid-ink-black beer. Even when held to bright light, this beer is just black. The beer pours with a half finger's worth of dark, coffee-brown head that rapidly dissolves into the boozy abyss. A ring of brown clings to the edge of the glass, and swirling the beer gives way to glossy alcohol legs. Swirling the beer stirs up some head, and the head briefly clings to the glass leaving some lacing...but it rapidly disapears back into the abyss.
The aroma on this beer is definitely boozy and Bourbon-forward, and it is easy to get lost in the Bourbon. But there's a lot going on in this aroma. I get a hugely dense chocolate fudge/brownie aroma on the nose, and it reminds me of the filling in thick chocolate or derby pie. I'm also getting some pretty distinct coconut...and maybe my brain is just filling in the gaps, but I swear I'm getting pie crust. I'm also getting some roast and hints of coffee. Really big chocolate, coconut, and Bourbon...hints of vanilla with the Bourbon, and elusive sweet caramel and dark fruits...some wood. What really stands out to me on the nose is the Bourbon, and that dense, menacing fudge/chocolate/brownie aroma.
Up front on the first sip is huge Bourbon and coffee...this rolls into some more coffee, and the beer just coats your mouth, leaving sticky, dense, kick-ass-ness that I can only compare to the feeling when you drink something super hoppy and bitter. Then the beer just rolls into huge chocolate/vanilla/coconut flavor, with huge derby/chocolate pie filling that wallops your palate. The back end is boozy and big, and you're left with lingering chocolate, roast, and coffee. There's definitely coffee in this, and chocolate: thick chocolate, chocolate pie filling, baker's chocolate. You get a lot more Bourbon and vanilla up front in the front palate, and there is some woodiness to this, with hints of elusive dark fruits and sweet caramel.
At 15%, this is obviously a sipper. This is full-bodied, super dense (and sticky!), and incredibly chewy. [On some sips] it kind of starts a bit thin, woody, and Bourbon-y, but that quickly builds into this huge wave of chocolate, coconut, coffee, roast, and vanilla. Palate depth is huge, and each sip lasts anywhere from 15 to 60 seconds. Complexity is high as well. Up front is Bourbon, coffee, fudge; this rolls into a bright Bourbon middle, some heat, some flashes of hops; this rolls into thick chocolate pie filling, coconut, roast, coffee. The finish is chewy, chocolate, and eventually dry. Outstanding.
Rating: Divine Brew
This is a no-brainer, Strong Divine Brew. If you find this beer, pick it up (price be damned...to some extent...I probably wouldn't go much over 10 dollars per 12oz bottle). If you're fortunate enough, pick up two or more so you can age this. I think the most surprising thing about this beer is that it drinks okay for 15%. Yeah, it's a little hot and Bourbon-forward, but the huge chocolate profiles really come out to balance the booze and Bourbon, and provide an insane finish on this. I'm only 1/3 through the bottle, and I feel like I've been drinking this for a while. This is a beer you can sip on for an hour or two, and get a ton of huge flavors.
What would I pair this beer with....a cigar. A glass. You could definitely drink this as a stand-alone. You could definitely pair this with a chocolate cake, or a cheesecake. And I bet this would even do well next to a raunchy burger or a steak.
And this is the ideal beer to age. You can age this beer from anywhere to 1-10 years, and maybe even longer. The bottle says "5 years," but I'm guessing you can comfortably double that. As you age this, the malts should really come out, the Bourbon and alcohol should smooth out, and you should get a really mellow, delicious beer. I look forward to trying this again in a few years. Goose Island said something about 10 times the availability this year...if you can find this beer this year, pick it up!
I have a little something special today, the 2012 version of Goose Island's Bourbon County Stout. It would be criminal to not try a "hot" or fresh bottle of this Bourbon-Barrel Aged Imperial Stout, before throwing the rest into my cellar to age for the next 5-10 years. This beer is part of Goose Island's extensive barrel aging program, headed up by John Laffler. The brewery has over 1000 barrels of beer aging in wine and bourbon casks, and is estimated to be the largest barrel program in the United States. A bit about Goose Island:
Goose Island is a Chicago-based brewery that began as a brewpub on Clybourn, which opened on May 1988. The actual brewery opened on 1995, and is located on the Southwest side of Chicago. The second brewpub, located in Wrigleyville by the Chicago Cubs, was opened in 1999. On March 28, 2011, Goose Island sold 58% of the brewery to Anheuser-Busch. The remaining 42% of the brewery is supposed to be acquired by A-B InBev in the future, and there has been much discussion about the brewery's takeover.According to Wikipedia, the Bourbon County Stout was first made available in bottles in 2008. The beer is cask-conditioned in oak Bourbon barrels, which may include barrels from Elijah Craig 18 Year Old Single barrel bourbon, or 25-year-old Pappy Van Winkle bourbon barrels.
If you roll over to Goose Island's Bourbon County Stout page, you can get some info on the beer from the brewery itself. This beer was originally brewed in honor of the 1000th batch of beer at the original Clybourn brewpub. Last year's BCS clocked in at 14.5% ABV, and this year's pushes the envelope to 15% ABV. This beer clocks in at 60 IBUs, and is brewed with Willamette hops, along with 2-Row, Munich, Chocolate, Caramel, Roast Barley, and Debittered Black malts.
The beer is described as having oak, chocolate, vanilla, caramel, and smoke on the nose, and a taste that packs "more flavor than your average case of beer." Suggested food pairings are flourless chocolate cake, or capriole bourbon chocolate torte cheese. This beer can (and probably should) be aged for anywhere from 2 to 5 years and up. I've read a few cellar reviews for this beer that suggest not much happens after 2 years of aging, so age away. With that said, let's get the hot version of this into a glass, and see what the 2012 batch of Bourbon County Stout is all about.
I do recommend drinking this on the warmer side of warm. This one will only get better as it approaches room temperature. The pour reveals an impressively dark, squid-ink-black beer. Even when held to bright light, this beer is just black. The beer pours with a half finger's worth of dark, coffee-brown head that rapidly dissolves into the boozy abyss. A ring of brown clings to the edge of the glass, and swirling the beer gives way to glossy alcohol legs. Swirling the beer stirs up some head, and the head briefly clings to the glass leaving some lacing...but it rapidly disapears back into the abyss.
 |
| Bourbon County Stout 2012 |
The aroma on this beer is definitely boozy and Bourbon-forward, and it is easy to get lost in the Bourbon. But there's a lot going on in this aroma. I get a hugely dense chocolate fudge/brownie aroma on the nose, and it reminds me of the filling in thick chocolate or derby pie. I'm also getting some pretty distinct coconut...and maybe my brain is just filling in the gaps, but I swear I'm getting pie crust. I'm also getting some roast and hints of coffee. Really big chocolate, coconut, and Bourbon...hints of vanilla with the Bourbon, and elusive sweet caramel and dark fruits...some wood. What really stands out to me on the nose is the Bourbon, and that dense, menacing fudge/chocolate/brownie aroma.
Up front on the first sip is huge Bourbon and coffee...this rolls into some more coffee, and the beer just coats your mouth, leaving sticky, dense, kick-ass-ness that I can only compare to the feeling when you drink something super hoppy and bitter. Then the beer just rolls into huge chocolate/vanilla/coconut flavor, with huge derby/chocolate pie filling that wallops your palate. The back end is boozy and big, and you're left with lingering chocolate, roast, and coffee. There's definitely coffee in this, and chocolate: thick chocolate, chocolate pie filling, baker's chocolate. You get a lot more Bourbon and vanilla up front in the front palate, and there is some woodiness to this, with hints of elusive dark fruits and sweet caramel.
At 15%, this is obviously a sipper. This is full-bodied, super dense (and sticky!), and incredibly chewy. [On some sips] it kind of starts a bit thin, woody, and Bourbon-y, but that quickly builds into this huge wave of chocolate, coconut, coffee, roast, and vanilla. Palate depth is huge, and each sip lasts anywhere from 15 to 60 seconds. Complexity is high as well. Up front is Bourbon, coffee, fudge; this rolls into a bright Bourbon middle, some heat, some flashes of hops; this rolls into thick chocolate pie filling, coconut, roast, coffee. The finish is chewy, chocolate, and eventually dry. Outstanding.
Rating: Divine Brew
This is a no-brainer, Strong Divine Brew. If you find this beer, pick it up (price be damned...to some extent...I probably wouldn't go much over 10 dollars per 12oz bottle). If you're fortunate enough, pick up two or more so you can age this. I think the most surprising thing about this beer is that it drinks okay for 15%. Yeah, it's a little hot and Bourbon-forward, but the huge chocolate profiles really come out to balance the booze and Bourbon, and provide an insane finish on this. I'm only 1/3 through the bottle, and I feel like I've been drinking this for a while. This is a beer you can sip on for an hour or two, and get a ton of huge flavors.
What would I pair this beer with....a cigar. A glass. You could definitely drink this as a stand-alone. You could definitely pair this with a chocolate cake, or a cheesecake. And I bet this would even do well next to a raunchy burger or a steak.
And this is the ideal beer to age. You can age this beer from anywhere to 1-10 years, and maybe even longer. The bottle says "5 years," but I'm guessing you can comfortably double that. As you age this, the malts should really come out, the Bourbon and alcohol should smooth out, and you should get a really mellow, delicious beer. I look forward to trying this again in a few years. Goose Island said something about 10 times the availability this year...if you can find this beer this year, pick it up!
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