Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Coffee Stout 2014

Brewed By: Goose Island Beer Company in Chicago, Illinois

Purchased: 12oz bottle from a 4-pack bought at Binny's in Chicago, IL; 2014 (bottled on 11/07/2014, #1329)

Style/ABV: Barrel-Aged American Coffee Stout, 12.6% 

Reported IBUs: 60

Due to the incredible hype, I missed out on the 2013 Bourbon County Coffee. The last vintage I cracked was back in 2012, and it was fantastic. Here's to hoping the 2014 is as good. 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 2014 Bourbon County Coffee Stout is brewed with Intelligentsia, as per usual. This year's blend features Zirikana coffee beans, from Rwanda. Suggested flavors from the Zirikana beans include lime zest, black tea, and a crisp grape in the finish. Aside from that, the Boubcon County Coffee is brewed with 2-Row, Munich, Chocolate, Caramel, Roast Barley, and Debittered Black malts; Columbus hops; and punches in around 60 IBUs and 12.6%. The bottle says this "develops in the bottle for up to 5 years," but I would suggest drinking your coffee stout sooner than later.

Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Coffee Stout 2014

If you don't know what Bourbon County looks like when you pour it, look at the image to the right or google it. And then drain pour all your beers. Seriously, I don't even know anymore. The beer does appear to have some coffee oils in it, which is my useful contribution for this one.

Also, as you might expect, this smells like an explosion of aromatic coffee. The coffee on the aroma is super sharp and bright, with (good) acrid bitterness, intense coffee berries and citrus, and intense raw coffee that is unlike anything you find in most other coffee beers. It's like grinding coffee and sticking that aroma into your beer. Along with the coffee is rich chocolate, bourbon, vanilla, and intense base beer. It smells magical, like a fusion of Bourbon County with the finest freshly ground coffee.

This is incredibly rich, and that base beer is just fantastic dropping intense fruity notes this year, with bourbon, chocolate, brownies, and treacle sweetness that is unmatched. The coffee itself is bright and fruity, with some acidity. Coffee is highly preferential, so I get why some people aren't feeling the vibe from this year's coffee choice. I actually really like this, and I'm enjoying the berry and citrus notes from the coffee, which give the beer a fruit-like element. The coffee still drops bitter roast and deep earthy/dirt notes towards the back end, and there is a lot of thick chocolate and bourbon dancing throughout. The coffee definitely plays up the fruit though. It kind of reminds me of the Backyard Rye, which isn't a bad thing at all. 2014 is without a fruit variant, so this is good middle ground...if you're into that sort of thing. I'm picking up some nice booze on the back end of this as well, but that is also probably due to the fact that I'm chasing the Begyle Barrel Aged Imperial Pajamas.

At 12.6%, this is incredibly thick. I was concerned about the lower ABV on the 2014 BCBS, but those fears have officially been laid to bed. This is a dense, full-bodied, sticky beer. Palate depth is high, and the complexity is pretty grand. Full disclaimer: I don't think this is as good as the 2012 vintage. BUT, this has great integration of the 2014 Bourbon County base beer (which is more fruity than past vintages) and the coffee which has bright and floral fruit notes itself. This is an enjoyable beer. Up front: silky chocolate, coffee, berries, citrus, fruity sweetness, intense sugars; that rolls into more coffee beans, some earthy coffee, more intense sweetness, bourbon, sugars, underlying fudge; the back end trails with coffee, sweetness....a lot of sugar up in here. This is sweeter than the 2014 Prop. But it's fantastic. 

Rating: Divine Brew (4.5/5.0 Untappd)

I'm feeling a Decent Divine Brew on this. I get the people who aren't feeling this year's coffee...as a coffee addict, I'm actually on board with this. This beer is incredibly silky, and it's a true sipper. If you can hang with the coffee they used, you're going to be in for a treat. If you don't like the coffee in this beer, trade it for some of the BW. Food pairings here include not much, because this is solid as a sipper. Maybe ice cream?

Random Thought: Is anyone else sick of hoppy beers? Oh wait, no, no we aren't. Because it is 2014, and there are an abundance of non-hoppy beers everywhere these days.