Proprietor's Bourbon County Brand Stout (2020)
Goose Island Beer Co.

Look - Black and thick, nothing else really
Smell - sweet cherries strong with a nut chocolate coming in way after
Taste - Sweet cherry nut chocolate but kind of medicine tasting
Feel - full body with a medium light carb
Overall - not a fan

 

Aged for 20 months. Pours mostly black with dark brown edges as you hold it up to the light. Produced a half-finger dark tan head that dissipated quickly.

Aroma brings the adjuncts, but with a much lighter presence than when this was fresh and this allows the base BCBS to shine through more. There is a heavy chocolate presence, bringing milk and dark chocolate, as well as some fudge. The candied cherries are there, as well as a nice pistachio nuttiness and some sweet vanilla from the adjuncts. The base brings some roasted malt, tobacco, fig, plum, molasses, oak tannin, and some bourbon. Everything is well-integrated.

Taste also brings a more subdued adjunct presence compared to when fresh, but this is welcomed, as the cherry seemed to be overpowering before. The candied cherry is there and is accompanied with a huge chocolate presence, bringing dark chocolate fudge and some milk chocolate. Very much reminiscent of a cherry cordial. There's a slight nuttiness, but it doesn't scream pistachio. The base stout is bringing chocolate-covered espresso beans, roasted malt, tobacco, prune, fig, molasses, some caramel, charred oak, bourbon. Sweet, creamy vanilla rounds it all out. Quite a boozy beer despite the age on it.

Medium to high medium body. Decent carbonation. Slightly syrupy, slightly creamy, oily, sticky, slick. Very warming as it goes down.

This isn't my favorite Proprietor's vintage, but it's definitely not the worst one either. If there was a more defined pistachio character, I could see this really having Spumoni vibes. The age has dialed back the cherry presence a bit, which I felt helped the beer, and I really enjoyed the elevated chocolate presence and the base beer character too. Tasty stuff.

 

 

 

At home from a bottle w/ Humiston. Outstanding. One of the best in the series, period.

This was sent my way by @FBarber during the madness that was NBS BIF #13.

Pour is a beautiful thick just about black, with a good fuzzy brown head that veers to the corners before receding to just a ring.

The nose goes through layers. Honestly, more like a parfait than an onion, shout out to donkey. Initially it was spice: bourbon and cinnamon (though there's no cinnamon involved, as far as I am aware). Some rich fudgy stout behind that. As it warms, the decadent fudgy chocolate comes forward more and the bourbon recedes to more of a supportive role. I don't think I would necessarily get to cherry or pistachio in a blind tasting, but knowing that they are in there it is clear to me that that is what I am smelling. Vanilla as well. The cherries are more of the maraschino variety, and the pistachio reminds me of pistachio ice cream. It gives more the impression of being sweet than it does really the feeling of being sweet if that makes sense. It's really impressively well blended.

Again, it's sweet, but not cloyingly so, at least not at first. First blush is t he cherries, actually, blended in with the chocolate. It kind of reminds me of when chocolatiers out here like to do like a cherry cordial confection. There's sweet vanilla and some bitter espresso. The finish brings it back to the fudgy chocolate and bright bourbon. I don't really get any influence from the pistachio that I'm aware of. It's certainly sweet, but still accessible. 14.2% is... definitely there. It's boozy but not overwhelmingly hot or anything. As you work through it, it gets a little... not cloying, just there's something about the barrel and the cherry in particular that kind of draws everything else into itself and gets to be a bit much. Even stretching it out over a couple of hours, I feel pretty good at about half the bottle and will probably put it back in the fridge to finish tomorrow.

Overally this is an ambitious brew from a brewery that gets a lot of grief (including from me) for very well publicized reasons, but who have repeatedly demonstrated that they still absolutely know their way around big barreled stouts. This is very well done and I appreciate your having sent it along, Frank! Thank you!!

 

 

 

Bottle. Tan head. Black color.

Pistachio and vanilla show the most. Cherries are an undertone which I appreciate. A very nice accent to the beer. Chocolate, fudge, oak, and bourbon. Very smooth. Lightly warming. Dessert like but not pastry like. Nice feel and body. This is a great adjunct stout.

This one had the classic BCBS look, deep, dark, and rich look. There was a lot of chocolate in the smell with some dark fruit coming through also. I think some of the flavor must have fallen off a bit after sitting for over a year. I got a lot of chocolate and a muted cherry flavor. No more sitting on adjunct.

Tasted on 12/22/21. Pours the expected deep dark bcbs. The nose had some sweetness and dark fruit, didn't notice a ton of barrel at this point. The flavor profile was a bit muddled to me. I got a good amount of cherry and pistachio. It leaned a bit bitter and disjointed to me. Wish I could have tried fresh to, just okay now.

 

 

Classic used motor oil black with a shy head that never really breaks through, only really displaying as a reddish-tan chain around the surface's edge.

This one is very chocolate forward, where a hint of maraschino comes out only after the powder dry, warming finish. After a few sips, the pistachio comes through more on the nose, but I'm not sure it's all cohesive enough to emulate spumoni for me, particularly when there are breweries like Bottle Logic out there who are more expertly blending similar ingredients.

That having been said, it's quite tasty.

A very interesting beer. Drank in late August of 2021. The adjuncts kind of blend together. Definitely get cherry, vanilla, and chocolate, but I honestly don’t think I’ve ever had a pistachio, so I’m not sure if I’m tasting it. It’s not a bad blend, but I’ve had better. Barrel does assert itself as well. Slightly thick with some oiliness. Not the best variant, but acceptable.

 

 

 

I tried a bottle of this beer at the doghouse while in the 'Wego visiting old friends and neighbors. It was poured into a red solo cup and it was dark out...but I know it poured an opaque dark with tan head. The scent had dark fruit aroma with subtle nutty highlights. The taste was nicely balanced and easy to sip with bold dark cherry presence and subtle pistachio and cacao nuances. Further to the flavor was smooth bourbon and dark chocolate presence. The mouthfeel was fuller in body with good carbonation. Overall it is a solid beer.

This one pours a silky looking dark black, with a small head, and a bit of lacing.

This smells like sweet dried cherry, milk chocolate, roasted malt, vanilla, bourbon, char, and pistachio.

The cherry in this is done well - it's set back a little bit, sort of like cherry skin with only a little bit of juice. I found Cherry Rye to be pretty cough-syrupy, so I appreciate the restraint on the cherry here. There's not a ton of pistachio, but there's a wonderful creamy chocolate sweetness, with caramelly bourbon, oak spice, and vanilla.

This is medium bodied, with no real booziness to it, and a nice creamy drinkability.

This is decadent, but never ends up being too sweet, which is a big plus to me.

500 ml bottle into a snifter. Bottled 10/16/20, had 3/13/21.

Pours near black and opaque, thick looking, with no head and some spotty cling. Aromas of pistachios, cherries, malt, tobacco, some chocolate and oak, bourbon as it warms. The bourbon stands taller in the flavor, then pistachios, chocolate, malt, vanilla, cherries- more as it warms, tobacco. Smooth, a solid full body, appropriately carbonated.

This does a pretty good job of being spumoni. The pistachios are prominent and excellent, the barrels are restrained but impactful and everything else shows up and does it’s job. Thought this was a winner.

 

Thank you brother Derek for bringing this to TX! Good pop when opening but very low carbonation, no head, minimal lacing. Near black. Nose leads with cherry, follows with vanilla, pistachio. Taste similar to nose, adds booziness, cocoa, not getting much bourbon or wood notes. Sweet and very much dessert.

2020: We won the raffle and were able to grab this on Prop day. It is BCBS with deep, dark soaked cherries. The pistachio fills in as a dryness, like pistachio skins. The base and added flavors play well together without overshadowing. A successful variant but not quite a usurper of king Regal Rye (2015).

IG: @firesidewithphil

 

 

 

 

 

Pouts jet black. No head. Aroma- dusty, vanilla, cherries. Taste- dark chocolate, bourbon. Quite a lingering bitterness. Mouthfeel- slick and smooth. Overall. The cacao nibs are the overwhelming flavor here. The lasting bitterness is a bit off putting.

 

 

Darker tan head, but it dissipates very quickly leaving only a modicum of fine rim bubbles. Few minute spots for lace. The liquid is near black where no light passes even along the edge.

Rich, even oily, aroma of brandy, alcohol and cherries.

The flavor starts like cream followed by semisweet chocolate. Next comes the flavor of cherry brandy. The swallow draws out a strong alcohol presence. Very rich with a lower level of carbonation. The finish is warming like a barley wine. This is a good winter beer with plenty of boozy aftertaste.

A: Typical BCB appearance, except with even less head than usual; not even a full film, although it’s a nice mocha color. Dissipates quickly and obviously no lacing. Opaque black in the glass with some lightening brown on the edges. 4

S: Aroma is very nutty, huge pistachio and lots of chocolate. I know it’s supposed to be spumoni inspired, and I had a Venice Cake Bar dessert last weekend which uses those same spumoni flavors and this does smell surprisingly like that. I would say the cherry is quite subtle, perhaps wouldn’t have picked it up had it not been on the label, but the other two adjuncts are huge and very nice. I also get the base beer characters with big roastiness, subtle tobacco, and strong and lovely bourbon barrel notes. Just wonderful. 4.75

T: Taste is also terrific, it’s actually sweeter than the nose and the cherry is definitely more prominent. Chocolate is there, but less rich than on the nose; although there are some nice dark cocoa as well as subtle fudge notes. The big thing missing from the taste that was present on the nose is the pistachio; I get some, but very little in the taste. Like the nose the base beer roastiness is there, there’s also a fairly prominent bitterness which I also noticed in the regular 2020 BCBS that I don’t usually get in this series of beers (or perhaps it’s that I most often drink them with some age on them allowing that character to fade). Bourbon notes are prominent, but in a harsher way then the nose; charred oak and a subtle
peat-like character as well as a bit of fusel whisky burn. It’s delicious and there’s a lot going on, but I actually find the bitterness a bit distracting and detracting from the overall palate profile; consistent with my review of the regular 2020 BCBS. 4.5

M/D: Mouthfeel is full bodied but certainly not thick. It’s reasonably drinkable, actually it’s quite drinkable all things considered. Interestingly, even with the fairly prominent fusel alcohol whiskey like notes, the real rate limiting step in terms of drinkability for me is the bitterness on the back end. It certainly gives you that nice full body warming sensation like a good glass of bourbon. 4

O: Overall, it’s a really great beer but it’s probably middle of the pack
in terms of my favorite Props to date (Id probably give the nod to ‘13-coconut and ‘17-bananas fosters as my two favorite Props) and really BCBS variants in general for me. I’m also now through four of this years variants (still have Birthday and Anniversary left), and would probably rank them: Caramella, Prop, Special #4, London Fog. 4.5

 

 

Goose island: please go back to basics and stop letting people experiment with Chicago’s own. This beer is nothing but a very weird experiment to say the least, toasted nutty flavor but not a good one, little acidity from cherries but not in a good way. Regular bourbon county it’s 100 times more drinkable than this, heck, almost any decent stout it’s way better than this. It sucks for me cause I am a big fan of BCBS and it’s variants. Please go back to ‘13 or ‘14’s recipe.