Bourbon County Brand Fourteen Stout
Goose Island Beer Co.

 

500 ml bottle into a snifter. Bottled 9/23/21, had 2/11/22.

Pours a dark brown, mostly opaque, with a sizzle of foam and a few faint specks of cling. Aromas of cinnamon, rye, malt, some chocolate, some rye whiskey, light coconut. Flavors of rye whiskey, cinnamon, malt, chocolate, sweetness from the panela sugar, some vanilla and coconut. Smooth, a very good full body, appropriately carbonated.

Very enjoyable overall, but the cassia bark is pretty dominant, which is not my recollection of the Prop. The rye barrels manage to shine in the flavor. Need to try another bottle soon, feel like I missed something with this.

The beer pours very little brown head. The beer itself is a darkish brown but not quite so that it looks like it's black.

The smell is good. It has a strong mix of cinnamon, coconut, a light alcohol, light cocoa notes, and a hint of whiskey in the finish. The coconut and the cinnamon are the most noticeable notes while the cocoa sometimes gets lost with all the cinnamon.

The taste is pretty good. It has a very strong cinnamon and cocoa flavor with coconut and whiskey notes coming towards the end. The cinnamon and cocoa notes are fairly strong that they overwhelm the whiskey and coconut at the beginning. It's also very sugary.

The feel is good. It has a heavy body that feels a bit thin with very little carbonation to it.

Overall, it's a good beer with intense notes that can be pretty overwhelming at times.

16.9 ounce bottle poured into a stout snifter glass.

Gloss finish pitch black color with a dark tan head that drops instantly to a little rim of film. No lacing.

Aromas are clear; rye whiskey, coconut, cocoa, and spice.

Nice and dry wooden rye whiskey. Coconut, chocolate, molasses, wheat, sugar, and alcohol.

Full bodied silky feel. Strong rye whiskey. Thick and gooey. Sipping required. Sugary alcohol.

Strong rye and alcohol after aged 19 months. The flavors, feel, and aromas are upfront and hearty.

500ml bottle. Poured out an opaque, jet-black color with a small, khaki-colored head of fluffy foam. It left sticky rings of lace on the glass. It smelled of coconut, molasses, chocolate, bourbon, oak and vanilla. Strong coconut taste with molasses, chocolate, toffee, bourbon and vanilla.

Deep brown-black with a small but long lasting tan head. The nose is spicy, chocolaty, brown sugar/molassas, and sweet. Tastes of chocolate with some spiciness (although less than i expected with the rye), sweet brown sugar, and amazingly enough coconut on the finish. Thick and creamy with almost a milk chocolate finish.

 

 

Pours inky black with small brown head covering, decent legs, pitch black color

Nose brings a lot, coconut, dark chocolate, mounds bar with a touch of nutty, cocoa, a bit of cinnamon spice, vanilla, a bit of nougat, mild barrel with a bit of whiskey toasted oak and vanilla barrel, some roast and coffee, a bit of sweet caramel and molasses, so much coconut

Taste brings more of all the characters, some roasted malt and dark coffee, with loads of cocoa, dark chocolate, and coconut again, a bit nutty adds more mounds bar, a bit of caramel, molasses, cinnamon and generic baking spices, some whiskey and a bit of an actual rye whiskey character, vanilla barrel and vanilla spice, a bit cinnamony cassia bark, a bit of fudge later, mild bitterness, a bit of smooth warming alcohol, sticky semi sweet finish, more candy bar caramel nougat and plenty of chocolate coconut

Mouth is full bod, thick chewy like, rich, mild warming slight tingly alcohol, med small bubble carb

Overall pretty nice, one of the better BCBS versions I've had in a while. Maybe the age of a couple years helped, or maybe this one specifically did well, but either way nice.

 

 

 

BCBS Brand Fourteen Stout 2021 from Goose Island/INBEV. Purchased at Spec’s, DeZavala, SAT, 31/10/22, $26.68 (Including tax)/16.9 oz bottle ($ 1.58/oz). Stored on room temperature shelf at store, stored at 34 degrees at home. Reviewed 27/12/22. Note that I use DD/MM/YY protocol.
Front label stamped “DRINK BY 23SEP26”. Served at 55.2 degrees in a hand washed and dried Jester King snifter. The final temperature is 59.5 degrees.
Appearance – 3.25.
First pour – Deep Amber (SRM 15), hazy.
Body – Deep Brown (SRM 30), opaque. Under direct light, same. Rear lite, same with light penetration at the top edge, xanthic, and the bottom edge, medium amber.
Head – Tiny (Maximum 0.3 cm, aggressive center pour), brown sugar, high density, fizzy, quickly diminishing to no bubble ring, and no cap.
Lacing – None, as expected at 13.2% ABV.
Aroma – 4 – Very weak cocoa and coconut. No cinnamon. No hops, no yeast, no rye.
Flavor – 4.5 – Begins slightly sweet but lacks the flavor of brown sugar. Weak cocoa and coconut are present. Cinnamon is just barely detectable on the tongue but is dominant in a belch. Lacks any spiciness from the rye although a slight earthiness is detected. No ethanol (13.2% ABV as marked on label) aroma or taste. Slight gastric warming occurs. No dimethylsulfide or diacetyl. Slight ethanol is detected on the exhale.
Palate – 4 – Full, creamy approaching syrupy, soft but lively carbonation.
Final impression and summation: 4 Looks like every other impy stout except the head is virtually non-existent. The aroma is weak for any stout but that’s not surprising since it used weak sister (almost generic) ingredients (cassia bark vs cinnamon, panela vs brown sugar, coconut water vs coconut). At least the flavor isn’t too weak, although the virtual absence of rye is disturbing. IMHO, this variant is remarkably overpriced.

Dark pour, tannish tints, minimal head and lacing. A cinnamon bomb with plenty of sweet coconut, mild chocolate and barrel notes on the smell and taste. Bit of an oily feel, slightly boozy, lighter bodied than expected.

I year old properly cellared bottle. Pours a very dark mahogany brown, appearing opaque black in the glass with a thin dark khaki head that dissipates to patches with light lacing. Aroma of dark toasted malt, cinnamon, bakers chocolate and hints of vanilla and coffee. Flavor is dark toasted malt, bourbon, dark chocolate, vanilla and mild dark stone fruit. Medium bodied with moderate creaminess; nice mouth feel. The new BCBS are here, and once again I've found a couple in the fridge from last year (I need to review the cola one too), despite deciding years ago not to age stouts any more. Fortunately, most BCBS survive or thrive on some ages and this one tastes great now. The aroma is quite cinnamon (actually cassia bark, but smells like regular cinnamon to me) forward with chocolate coffee notes. The flavor moves back into classic BCBS territory with rich, slightly sweet dark malt and bourbon as the dominant flavors. The chocolate is richer too and there is a pleasant, restrained cinnamon character. This is one of the first and still a world class barreled stout, so even though I'm not thrilled Goose Island was bought out by a multinational, the product has stayed stellar. I never had the Reserve version that this is based on, but it was clearly a fine stout. Dark, full bodied and flavorful this is one of the better ones I've had. No signs of aging, although I'm sure it has mellowed a bit. Very nice.

 

 

Received in a proxy/trade hybrid from @turkeysdrinkbeer in February 2022. Drunk in November of that year.

L: It looks like a stout: jet black with a slightly darker than normal head. No carbonation can be seen through the inky blackness. It looks aggressively thick, unctuous and oily, like it's daring me to complain about the body when I get to it.

S: Wow, there's a lot going on here. First up, there's booze, sweet cherry, and vanilla. There's rich toffee, wood, and burnt sugar. What else? Spices? Yep - cinnamon but only just for me - to me it's not jumping out of the glass as other people perceive. And overlaying it all is a sweet bourbon note.

T: This beer is not ashamed to flaunt its booze, and is upfront and proud about it. Rich toffee and peppery spiciness follow, with wood from the barrel showing up towards the end. There's a delicious, creamy sweetness to the beer right through the swallow and a surprisingly sharp, tangy finish. Very nice. If I had the self-control to let it warm more I imagine it'd be even better.

M: As predicted from the visuals, it's thick. Milkshake thick. It coats the mouth like a blanket, clinging to the palate as it washes around my mouth. It's oily and silken - I couldn't skol this with another man's throat! The mouthfeel perfectly enhances the taste and aroma that are already best-in-class and makes this beer a delight to drink.

O: This beer is as rare as - rarer even -than hens' teeth in this part of the world. The base beer's legend is known, however, and I've known a dozen people - me included - to share a bottle when it makes a much-anticipated appearance. To be able to sit down and introduce myself to this beer and spend half an hour of getting to know it has been an awesome experience. As with all great beers it exceeds the sum of its parts and delivers on every level. I wouldn't want to operate heavy machinery afterward, but there's no fear of that happening on this lazy Saturday afternoon. So I'll end this review here and get back to chatting with the last half of this beer because I reckon we've still got time to know each other better, and there's still much to tell!

Cheers!
#145