Bourbon County Brand Wheatwine
Goose Island Beer Co.

 

 

 

I am trying a bottle of this beer at my bestie's house in Charlotte, NC. It poured a clear copper with no head and no lace. The scent had bourbon flare. The taste was nicely balanced and easy to sip. There was caramel apple presence. The mouthfeel was medium in body and had smooth carbonation. Overall it is a solid beer.

2019 bottle
consumed 12/22/22

A perfect beer to open up on the start of my Xmas holiday during a snow storm I must say. I have not had too many wheatwines in my vast beer drinking experience. The BCS versions are my first I believe. I am enjoying this quite a bit. The smell is spectacular. There's so much bourbon and toffee and caramel here. It smells like it has the potential to be too sweet on the pallet, but I think the balance is ultimately there in that end. I think this beer and barleywines in general get knocked down because they're not stouts. This isn't supposed to be a stout. This is definitely a sipper. Sitting on the couch and not moving and yet I can still feel the booze hitting me. It does not overpower in the booze for me on the pallet although I do like a bourbon forward stout or barleywine normally. Overall I am really enjoying the beer but it's a lot for my pallet. This is a beer that I think is better in 8-10 oz servings though. I can knock back a 500ml of BCS, but I am slowing down as this one warms up. I am glad that Goose continues to mix things up every year with their BCS releases and hope that they release a version of this again one day.

Ratings based on B2 2019, aged 100% in Larceny wheated bourbon barrels.

2018 bottle

Is this the same recipe as the recent small batch wheatwines I loved so much from @FBarber ? They seem pretty similar to me. I get a lot of honey flavored candy and honey roasted nuts plus toffee, a wealth of booze, and hints of raisin and chocolate. This is hugely flavorful, so brashly fantastic, almost as good as the small batches. Just loving this.

2018

On tap at The Beer Junction, Seattle.

My first bourbon barrel aged beer ever was BCBS, several years ago, and that remains an ethereal experience. This wheatwine is nowhere near ethereal. It's too sweet, and not nearly as flavorful. I realize I'm comparing apples to oranges, as an imperial stout and a wheatwine are totally different styles. But the BCBS has depth and complexity of flavor that this wheatwine just doesn't have. I don't really find the barrel characteristics in it. Disappointing, IMHO.

 

 

 

 

Cellared the 2019 rendition (Larceny barrels) and drank as part of the BA thread on BCB over the Thanksgiving holidays.
This is only my 8th Wheatwine and I can't remember most of them to compare. But, it almost doesn't matter because none made an impression like BCB is making. (And it is not just the elevated ABV.) Part of this impression is how the ABV is so well hidden. Smooth, a tempered sweet and, by the way, a beautiful amber in the snifter. (Does have a little particulate settling seemingly as sediment, but does not spoil its Looks.) While the Taste does have a rough edge, I think one or two more years in the bottle would solve that. A shared treat with friends pre-dessert. This Wheatwine triumphed over the bourbon pecan pie that followed.

BCB may not have been the primary reason why GI was bought. But preserving BCB -- and expanding its profit margins through a near cult-like following -- has taught AB InBev an important lesson. It may have even changed their business model a bit. The crafting culture is good business, too.

 

Smells unreal. Thick mouthfeel. Caramel toffee and a sweet bourbon brown sugar tobacco taste.

 

2018 vintage
Look: clear copper. Sparse reddish head on the pour.
Smell: honey, brown sugar, hints of bourbon.
Taste: lots going on, but just a near perfect melding of flavors without anything dominating. Very unique.

 

 

Copper-color with minimal to no head. Consumed this 2018 vintage (Heaven Hill Bourbon barrel-aged) in 2021. Three years of additional aging did a nice job smoothing this heady wheatwine. Caramel and toffee flavors burst through with complexity from the start. As the beer warms, bourbon qualities become more prominent. Then, your biggest challenge is standing up after experiencing a prodigious 15.4% ABV.

 

 

 

Bottle Date: 2018
Palate Contaminants: none

Color is substantially lighter than the usual BCBS, with a brown-tan with a bit of red. It barely even qualifies as opaque, too, as I can see through a couple inches of fluid pretty easily. Light tan head.

Sugar on the nose, for sure, but it's honey-ish. I'd say fruit-tree honey. There's a nice grain element to it, too.

What's on the nose is in the taste, but it's amped WAY up. The honey isn't overbearing, and the fruit, peaches and desiccated papayas, are a bit more forward. (I couldn't call it tropical, though.) The amplification goes for the grain, too. I know it says wheatwine, but some of the grain flavors are a bit darker, like I'm even catching sweet rye.

I have to say, there's a bit too much sugar. Just a little less, and it'd be great. Good amount of fine carbonation. Alcohol is surprisingly well hidden.

2019 version drank in 01/21
Pours a deep, clear amber/red/gold with a thin vanishing head. The only evidence of carbonation is a thin stream from the etching style boring of the glass.
Bourbon, molasses, vanilla, wet oak, honey aromas
The taste follows the aroma with bourbon, vanilla, molasses, butterscotch, toffee, caramel, oak, something not quite as sugary as a glazed doughnut.
Smooth and sticky over the tongue, with no noticable carbonation, leaving a tongue dick to the roof of your mouth stickiness.
This is really sweet and really smooth, you don't notice the 15.3% until it's almost too late, of I had more bottles I would be tempted to drop a scoop of vanilla ice cream into this glass.

2019 batch.
I am a BCBS lover, but this one falls off bad of the regular stuff we all are accustomed to it. Super sweet, flat, odd smell. ..... stick to straight Barley wines , please.

500 ML bottle, 2018 vintage born on 8/11/2018, poured into a snifter at 58 degrees F:
L - Amber colored, head disappeared immediately
S - caramel, butterscotch, toffee, bourbon
T - sweet taste with notes of caramel and toffee, bourbon comes through
F - thick mouthfeel, minimal carbonation
O - very similar to a barleywine, I'm not getting any wheat from this, but it is delicious!

 

 

2019 bottle...
Deep golden amber color...Wow, the nose of banana esters and butterscotch fill the bowl. Clear, concentrated and viscous in the mouth with flavors of pure wheat wine goodness and more toffee vanillin notes in the long heated finish. A fine high alcohol wheatwine ale (15.3%).

This is the 2018 original version ...

Look. I'm not going to do the usual rant but bottom line is this is not quite as good as The Bruery Wheatwine counterparts, 2016 White Oak and 2020 White Chocolate, the 2016 White Oak enjoyed in 2018 at marked down $10 a bottle then the last 5 at the ridiculous $5 a bottle, and this year's last 3 cans 2020 White Chocolate at $7 a can because my local big box knows how to move beer, because, that's what it's worth. The crazy amount of $ spent on the best beers ever made, the BCBS 2012 lineup, the many road trips, the memories so thick, worth every second, but those days long gone. The brand is not what it used to be ... and now always looking to spend like the deals above.

The review? Looks good, it's an Wheatwine, one of my favorite styles of beer I wish more breweries would attempt, at reasonable pricing. For example, I'd love to see Weyerbacher's take on this. Are they still in business? Have to check later. Smell and taste caramel, vanilla, butterscotch, wheat obviously contribute to the incredible smoothness and overall deliciousness of the beer. Could use some bourbon considering it's barrel aged. Overall, would drink this everyday at $8 a bottle, bottom line waste of money today at $18 a bottle. But need to remind myself, it's ok to be stupid occasionally. Of course, we will have ONE BCBS this year, and see if it's improved any on recent years.

Pours dark amber with a one finger tan head and plenty of floaters. Nice aroma with Bourbon, caramel, vanilla, dark fruit, toffee and butterscotch. Tastes like it smells. Tastes as sweet as expected. Full bodied with moderate carbonation. A sweet beer with a sweet aftertaste.

 

Wonderful sipping beer. Great flavor from ice cold to warm.