Goose Island Juliet

Brewed By: Goose Island Beer Company (owned by AB InBev) in Chicago, Illinois

Purchased: 765ml bottle bought at Evolution Wine & Spirits in Chicago, IL; 2013 (bottled 8/02/2013)

Style/ABV: American Wild Ale/Sour/Farmhouse Ale, 8.0% 

Reported IBUs: 15

If you have been keeping track, you'll note that I reviewed the Gillian, Halia, and Lolita....but not the Juliet. Blackberries are the best, and I try to save the best for last. 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. On November 16th, founder and CEO, John Hall, announced he would be leaving Goose Island. On January 1st, 2013, Anheuser-Busch "veteran" Andy Goeler will take over Goose Island. Additionally, around the same time as John Hall's departure, resident barrel-program leader John Laffler also announced his departure from Goose Island. There have been many changes regarding Goose Island...so we will see what the future has in store for Goose Island. 

The Juliet is a "Belgian Style Ale aged in wine barrels with blackberries." Yes please. This Belgian/American Wild Ale punches in at 8.0% and 15 IBUs. It's fermented with wild yeasts and aged in wine barrels with blackberries. Featuring Pilgrim hops and Pale Ale, Rye, Munich, and Rye Flake malts...this is a beer that can and will age. Let's glass it up.

Goose Island Juliet

The beer pours into a hazy and juicy, Wild Ale funky, orange/reddish body. The head is abrupt and lasts as long as after five years of marriage. It has some amber tones for the ten seconds before it crackles away. Bright light confirms the hazy/juicy orange-yellow body. There are streams of huge, fat carbonation bubbles and tiny, peppery bubbles alternating in succession upwards. This beer looks like it has been through the ringer. Barrel me surprised, or not. 

Coincidentally, I had some blackberries today. Blackberries are delicate but tart, and pretty texturally interesting in their raw form. They have seeds. The aroma comes in waves, and once you get past the huge lactic tartness, woody tannin, and Brett funk, you get jammy fruits (berries, watermelon, apple slaw), big time gooseberry and white wine complexity, giant oak, straw and barnyard, some caramel and complex sugars, and tons of must, wet rain, and bicycle seat. It's funky and tart and jammy and playful, it's a hell of an aroma.

The taste is on par...with lactic, lemony sourness up front, big wood tannin, giant oak and white wine, peaches, berries (blackberry, strawberry, raspberry, gooseberry), white wine complexity, grape skin, and seriously jammy fruits. The whole thing is quite funky with big musty Brett funk, barnyard, wet attic, bicycle seat, and straw. As if these elements weren't enough, there are some serious layers of brown/caramel sugar hiding in the mix, with sugary complexity abound. There's also some big oaky, woody tannin on the finish that is reminiscent of a red wine. You get a lot of white wine character up front and in the mids thanks to the interplay with the berries and lactic character, but the back rides the barrel and sugar into red wine territory. Really nice.

This is a surprisingly dense beer, with a medium-bodied mouthfeel and lactic creaminess providing density. This beer is really well-carbonated and dry, so it's easy drinking, especially at 8.0%. You don't really get any alcohol. This beer has huge palate depth, and complexity is very high as well. There's a lot going on here, from the candy-like sugars, the Warhead/Sour Patch sour and tartness, the lactic lemons, and the Brett funk. Up front: lactic body, lemony lactic sourness and musty funk, oak; that rolls into peaches, berries, jammy fruits, grape skin, wood tannin, white wine, big oak; the back end dials up malt sweetness and sugar, red wine complexity, dry....big, bold, wonderful.

Rating: Divine Brew (4.5/5.0 Untappd)

I'm going to go with a Decent Divine Brew on this. I like this beer a lot, and it's a notch above the Lolita in my opinion. I think the Gillian and Halia can stand on their own, and they don't really compare to this. I have a bottle of Madame Rose laying around, I should dig it out to compare to either the Juliet or the Lolita. You can still find this beer on shelves, and I think it's a fine deal for around $20 a bottle. Cheap? No. But this one drinks great fresh and it holds up to some age. Food pairings: strong cheeses, Poutine, peppery poultry, white fish, oily pasta, fruit salad, slaw, BBQ pork, and pork chops. 

Random Thought: Not to dredge up the Michael Sam gay football players thing, but come on now. If I have to listen to another dudebro complain about how it's unfair that gay people get to ogle them in the locker room or shower, I will cry internally. No one is checking your fat, stinkin' self out, especially after you rolled around in mud or did 15 minutes on the elliptical. Get over yourself. The locker room isn't a Brazzers fantasy, okay? How many people wear socks during sex or go ass to mouth. Think about it and check yo shit.