Goose Island Candy Cane Bourbon Stout

Brewed by Goose Island Beer Company (Brewpubs)
Style: Imperial Stout
Chicago, Illinois USA

Serve in Snifter

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Goose island peppermint stout. Snifter pour at the brewpub in clybourn... Pours a seeped shade if silky black, mire mahogony at its sides and topped with a mostly thin khaki head that quicky reduces to a ring around the edges... Aroma is assertive with peppermint and a semi-warm boozy bourbonness. Almost nails the Andes mint profile on the nose which I am a very big fan off... Flavors are big on semi-dark chocolate and mint, again with the andes. Smooth chocolate flavors that pairs well with a thicker bodied stout. The booze factor comes into play slightly with a lightly added heat profile but not overpowering by any means. Sweetness lasts throughout and may be a bit much. The residual sugars compound that a bit more actually. Although I detest spearmint on its own (yes, totally different), chocolate and peppermint for me is a workable combination. This beer works for me and very suitable for the time of year. 8/4/8/4/15

tap at clybourn. dark brown with no head. med body - thinner than the bcs lineup. chocolate is faint. mint has more presence but still mild. Decent but I had high expectations and this left me a little dissapointed.

Draft a Clybourn. Pours a deep brown black with thin head. Nose is dark fruits and caramel. Some cocoa and faint vanilla as well. Mint is more anise-like in the nose. On taste, quite roasty with a residual caramel sweetness. The mint isn’t really a participating piece here. I like the big roasty finish here. Pretty mellow overall with some light booze notes and really restrained barrel. Some butterscotch on the finish. Not too shabby but not really as advertised either.

Flight on tap at the Clybourn brewpub (Chicago, IL). Pours a rich blackish dark pour, opaque with the darkest brown of the heads, medium with frothy thick layer of head, laces ok. Aromas are fairly rich on the nose, offering doses of dark fruit and mint, pairing into dark chocolate, barrel and vanilla, tannins, gentle spirit. More minty qualities but nothing overbearing. Some more toffee. Initial is lighter end of medium bodied, offering toast and toffee, caramel and Bourbon, oak and vanilla, more cocoa into the fold, dark chocolate takes the reigns. Into the middle the mint explodes into a sufficient strength, giving some complexity and coolness on the palate. Touches of cocoa, some memories of Frango mints briefly come into view. Into the back, more toast, cocoa, and sweeter malts. Gentle roast, and some barrel. Surprised that the barrel falls back here.. As I assume this is Kentucky Oats with a mint treatment. The mint transforms the beer, cooling it down (But not giving it a touch more body). Finish is lingering mint, toffee, roast and toast, and dark chocolate. Plays well. I liked it. The mint does not become overbearing or overwhelm.