Goose Island Bourbon County Stout - Rare

Formerly brewed at Goose Island Beer Company (AB-InBev)
Style: Imperial Stout
Chicago, Illinois USA

Serve in Snifter

send corrections   |   shelftag   |   edit barcodes   |   update pic

Bottle 6,073. Finally pulled this one out of the cellar. A- heavy black pour but not as viscous as I would have expected. Very minimal dark tan head and absent any real lacing. S- loud grains and toasted malts first. Bourbon, licorice, cacao follow. Baked pie crust, dates, chocolate covered raisins, rich vanilla, toffee, peanut brittle, jiffy puff marshmallows, brown sugar, maple syrup and a vanilla creme brûlée. Some faint earthiness. As it warms, alcohol begins to overpower. Just a symphony of aromas. M- a medium to heavy body for such a beer, with a dry, full palate and a mild but efficient stinging carbonation. T- bourbon, vanilla, toasted marshmallow and a tangy cacao to start. Alcohol, grains, graham cracker crust, pancakes and delectable maple syrup are next. Charred oak, licorice, brown sugar, chocolate and dates fill the middle. The entire taste flows from one period to the next with the long mild ending, consisting of more grain, brown sugar, sweet malts, toasted sesame seeds, and tangy cacao, continuing the trend of smoothness. ---Rated via Beer Buddy for iPhone

Bottle:   WTF am I going to say that over 300 people before me haven’t said.   How about this?   I have bottle #2018, bottled on 11/19/2010.   I could go into the looks, aroma, and taste... but why bother.   This is the 4th best beer on ratebeer.   What do I think?   I think I am going to drink this whole thing without sharing it with anybody because its that good.   That’s what I think.   I just realized I cannot just type about this beer, I need to put in some f*cking numbers.   Yup, see that, I just put in those numbers you see above.   Yeah, this one is the tits.   4, 9, and 19 never looked so good!   Don’t try and argue with me.   I have more 3s, 8s, and 18s that you wouldn’t ever know what to do with, but they don’t f*cking belong here.   Don’t question 5000.

Bottle. Finally a beer that has lived up to the hype. The pour is dark with some head. The aroma is blissful, not overpowering bourbon, but enough to warm your nose. The taste is the smoothest beer I have ever had. Never had it fresh, but the bourbon is mellow, but has tons of flavor. Finishes perfectly smooth. Can’t say enough about this beer, finally a 5.0!

Jet black thick pour with virtually no brown head, smells of molasses, malt, vanilla extract and of course the bourbon barrel, thick texture, a sweet bread, complex with many flavors, only negative is that it is a concentrate type of composition.

Draft at GI 25th block party. Pour is midnight black, no head. Aroma of very easy bourbon. Taste is very similar to the standard bourbon county. Not on the bourbon as the ’12 i had the other night. I guess the real difference is that this is much smoother, possibly the smoothest bourbon stout ive tried. However, the beer had zero carbonation. Not sure if it was due to the age or the keg. Overall ths was a very fine bourbon stout, just doesnt have much to seperate it from the regular bourbon county or justify the insane price it commands on the secondary market.

Bottle @ ZeeBra Extreme Beer Festival 2013. Pitch black pour. Aroma is huge leathery bourbon, some alcohol, vanilla. A bit overpowered. Flavor is extreme bourbon, envision myself sitting in the wild west, in some old saloon with some rich cowboy smoking a huge cigar and drinking this ages old bourbon in front of me. Exquisite, but a tiny bit too much for me.

Quick notes. 22 oz bottle into a tulip glass. Bottle #2209, bottled on 11/19/2010. Huge thanks to Doug for slaying my number one want by sharing a pour with me! Appearance wise it is identical to BCBS, no surprise there. Having never had the 2008 vintage which this beer is using, I can say its awfully similar to how the 2009 vintage is drinking now. There is a stronger vanilla presence and it is smoother and mellower than the standard beer. Just loads of chocolate, charred malt, and rich and decadent bourbon. It drinks far too easily, which is sad considering how elusive it is now. A marginal improvement over standard BCBS, but when that is your favorite beer it truly does matter. Such a beautiful beer that I’m glad to have finally tried.

Bottle @ ZeeBra. Aroma is huge bourbon, banilla, wood, liquorice and more bourbon. Flavour is big boozy nourbon, liquorice, roast vanilla and more. Too boozy imho, prefer the other versions.

Bottle shared by Steve - thanks, I’ve been wanting to try this one. Shared San Diego style, in the parking lot of a baseball game. Pours dark black with minimal head. Nose is vanilla and bourbon. Taste is very sweet vanilla, bourbon, dark fruit (I could swear I tasted raspberry). Balanced. Full bodied and smooth. Probably the best beer I’ve ever tried.

oooooooooooooow yeah! ZEBF 13 pours black, no foam. very much bourbon in the smell, as well as a ’swimming pool scent’ ( water-ish ??? ) soft carbo. just like the regular, but the bourbon tastes better, i’d admit that. so better than i thought, but for me, its just overkill again ..