Goose Island Bourbon County Stout - Rare

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

Serve in Snifter

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Bomber, Bottle #2,724. Poured midnight black with very little head and some fine legs. The aroma was decadent.. sweeter, smooth-as-can-be bourbon, vanilla, and coffee upfront, with sweet chocolates and a hint of honey behind.. excellent stuff! The flavor opened with sweet vanilla and bourbon tartness, followed by more vanilla, chocolate, and coffee.. sweeter chocolates and smooth bourbon rode out the finish.. some greener coffee and earthy bitterness around.. everything worked well together. Heavier-bodied with light carbonation on the palate.. sweet overall, and remarkably smooth. Excellent stuff, but not $40 better than the regular one.

UPDATED: DEC 9, 2011 Bottle @ home, courtesy of TheAlum. He is such a generous dude to trade me this brew for a six pack of Bud Ice and a case of Bud Dry. Hell of a deal! Thanks again, Adam!!!!! Deep black appearance with a dark brown head. Awesome, sweet, smooth, oaky goodness with dark roasty malts in the nose. Sweet, creamy, chocolatey, very nice bourbon beginning. Unbelievable, roasty, awesome flavor. So smooth, so very nice! I thought this beer was probably all hype but this is legendary!!

Sample at Kurt’s 49th birthday party. Going from Strela to this has to be one of the biggest quality leaps in the course of two beers that I have ever experienced. The beer pours completely black with a medium thin tan head that diminishes steadily. Small patches of lacing on the glass. The aroma is dark fruits, roasted malt, toffee and chocolate. Full-bodied with a nice oaky character and notes of burnt malt, chocolate, figs and even some licorice. The finish is lingering bourbon and chocolate covered raisins. Excellent beer all around.

Pours deep darkness with weak tan head. The aroma is an even mix of molasses, chocolate and a mild level of vanilla then quickly getting toward firm near abrasive booziness. The taste has pleasing molasses, rich sweet malts, some vanilla, toffee and then chocolate – Wow! It then begins pulling up booziness that is kind of rough and raw and at odds with the non booze notes. Awesomely good until the booze kicks in about midway to the finish.

bottle, thanks to mora2000 and thirdeye11, black pour with thin tan ring, choclatey vanilla and oak aroma, flavor of smooth vanilla, oaky oily coffee, thick syrupy body with smooth finish

651mL courtesy of ygtbsm94. The pour is your typical BCS- jet black ink into the snifter with really no head. But holy crap this stout leaves some incredible legs on the snifter as you swirl it. Huge, cascading legs. The aroma at first is not what I was expecting: all raisins and dark fruit and not much bourbon and much less PVW23. But as it warms and you give it some time to open up you are rewarded with gigantic coconut oil, coconut rum, buttery coconut cake, cinnamon and dark chocolate mousse. There is just no way this beer smells this good. You could sit here for hours. Taste is gorgeous: so smooth, coconut oil abounding, warming but soft bourbon. No heat. Palate is your typical BCS perfection- slick, oily, massive.

So is it worth it? Yes.

Bottle shared with my coworkers. Pours an oily and viscous deep black with a thin tan head. Huge fat bourbon and wood, some amazing bourbon on here. I was a bit skeptical initially, but there really is a lot of complexity going on with this. A light isopropyl note which is quickly engulfed by vanilla and wood. Big chocolate, roast, and dense fudgy pudding. Long chewy and lingering chocolate and woody bourbon. Fantastic. I wonder if I’d be able to pick this out somewhat consistently from the regular BCS, but regardless it’s a delicious beer. Really glad I got to try this one.

Bottle, i’ve had this 3 times now. Pours a black body with pretty much no head faint bubbly top, little to no carbonation. First off i get a lot of bourbon and wood tones. Subtle chocolate with a roasted malt tone. Light vanilla mild coffee toned bitterness. Still i find this too boozy and next to a 2008 BCS i felt there was little to no difference, hence i felt this was a big rip off. Well even if it was outta this world 50$ for a bomber, is ridiculous. Maybe that left a bit of a sour note on this. On a whole there’s too much alcohol despite the lighter oxidation barreling notes.

UPDATED: AUG 9, 2012 Rerate from bottle # 4335 and served in my Stone IRS snifter: Pours Obsidian with a small ring of foamy bubbles which did leave some lace upon the glass at first but did finally fade away,some dark oily tears as well. The nose is all about rich vanilla, bakers chocolate, roast, leather, Turkish pipe tobacco with some prune and plum esters along with a bit of wood. Minor olde school oxidization but in a way the enhances the aroma along with faint bile and still aggressive booze. The taste is very earthy and sweet, big malts and bourbon are the center point which everything else revolves. Ashy charred wood mingles with the anise and leathery components. Like before still get a lot of "salty/peaty" character with some burnt creme brulee sugary notes. The mouth feel very full-bodied, sticky, oily and lush. Lightly biting booze on the finish. Actually knocking down the palate -1 from the tap version but increasing the aroma +1 so my score is still the same... so glad to have one more bottle to open at a later date. (still not worth the monies in the long run)

INITIAL REVIEW: Tap offering on Black Friday at GI Clybourn: Pitch black with a small but lasting foam, fair lace and some oily tears. The aroma has notes of heavy roast and char, tobacco and leather, hint of tar, plum and raisin, with the noticeable bourbon barrel vapours of vanilla, oak, and sweet booze. It does not however seem over alcoholic. The taste pretty much follows suit with lush chocolate, roast and black malts that are supported by earthy undertones, coffee and liquorice with an over-ripened fruit character. A charred oak and moderate bourbon influence along with a "salty/peaty" character as well. What I love most about this brew is the mouth feel, many BA beers tend to thin out but this version of BCS is still full-bodied, sticky and slick. The alcohol does warm you a bit but is not over-the-top, dangerously drinkable. Very well done brew and right behind the BCS Ancho Chili as my favorite alternate version. Is it worth standing in 20 degree temps and then paying $43 a bottle for... well I think for some it very well could be for others not a chance. For this stoutie, I would say yes but with a cost caveat.

Bouteille #5250 partagée avec Joe, Degarth. Noire, col est fin et doré laissant un léger filament huileux sur le verre. Arôme est plein d’alcool, tonneau et bourbon qui sont bien présents, malt et café. Au palais, malt, tonneau est bien rendu avec un fini moka, caramel, le tout est réchauffant en bouche. Des notes de vanille venant du tonneau ajoutent une douceur en bouche qui se mélange parfaitement avec les notes de café. Vu le prix de la bouteille à 45$ je trouve que cette dernière se démarque peu de la qualité des autres bières de la série BCS si ce n’est pas la rareté du tonneau utilisé pour ce mélange.