Bourbon County Brand Coffee Stout
Goose Island Beer Co.

Bourbon County Brand Coffee StoutBourbon County Brand Coffee Stout
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From:
Goose Island Beer Co.
 
Illinois, United States
Style:
American Imperial Stout
Ranked #13
ABV:
13.2%
Score:
100
Ranked #20
Avg:
4.67 | pDev: 7.92%
Reviews:
1,309
Ratings:
7,581
Status:
Active
Rated:
Mar 10, 2024
Added:
Apr 22, 2010
Wants:
  4,306
Gots:
  3,197
In 2010, we released the first-ever Bourbon County Stout variants and our Goose Island Bourbon County Coffee Stout has been a fan favorite ever since. For the first time since 2017, we brought back a coffee variant this year in partnership with our friends and neighbors Intelligentsia Coffee. Intelligentsia relies on Burundi for some of the cleanest, sweetest coffees in the world that ultimately complement the quality and tasting notes of Bourbon County Stout. The specific coffee blend combined with our Imperial Stout is called Turihamwe, which means “together”, and is a perfect tribute to all the hands that go into making it – from the female coffee farmers in Burundi that produced the blend, to our friends at Intelligentsia, the first brand we worked with on a variant back in 2010. The result of this “togetherness” is another exceptional coffee variant featuring rich chocolate, coffee, and caramel flavors that will appeal to coffee drinkers and beer lovers alike.

2022 Release - Intelligentsia Turihamwe
2017 Release - Intelligentsia Black Cat Espresso Beans
2016 Release - Intelligentsia Fletcha Roja
2015 Release - Intelligentsia Los Delirios
2014 Release - Intelligentsia Zirikana Coffee Beans
2013 Release - Intelligentsia ‘Los Inmortales’
2012 Release - Intelligentsia La Tortuga Beans
2011 Release - Intelligentsia Anjilanaka Beans
2010 Release - Intelligentsia Black Cat Espresso Beans
Recent ratings and reviews. | Log in to view more ratings + sorting options.
Ratings by jondeelee:
Photo of jondeelee
Reviewed by jondeelee from Massachusetts

4.85/5  rDev +3.9%
look: 4.75 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 5 | feel: 4.75 | overall: 4.75
Bourbon County Brand Coffee Stout (2012 release) opens to an amazingly rich and complex nose, the bourbon barrel aging and coffee notes immediately strong, and almost viscous in their presence. The oaky, vanilla, bourbon-laced notes from the former blend perfectly with a selection of dark fruit esters, including fig, date, prune, raisin, and plum, creating a Port wine feel that mixes nicely with the bourbon. Other sugars include deep runnels of molasses and brown sugar, as well as coffee cream, caramel, and toffee. These dark sugars nicely complement the coffees, which add fresh-ground dark roast notes, like those that issue from a bag of oily Columbian beans. There’s also a thick slice of toasted heavy brown bread in here, as well as a delicious series of dark and milk chocolate candies, and undercurrents of ash and tobacco. In short, this is an amazing series of aromas, and its difficult to imagine any more complex and potent notes in a beer.

On the tongue, the beer opens with a massive shot of fresh-ground oily espresso beans, which mix quickly with heavy whipping cream, vanilla, caramel, toffee, and brown sugar to create what might be the world’s tastiest cup of coffee. Add to this layers of ash and tobacco, and a thick swath of oak and vanilla, with surprisingly delicate, but very present, bourbon overtones. Then pile on fig, raisin, date, prune, and plum fruit esters, as well as milk and dark chocolates (creating a world-class Port overtone), and put all that on a piece of toasted brown bread, and you have what five-star restaurants try to imitate in their fanciest desserts. Even the massive 14.3% ABV is fairly well hidden by the hugeness and complexity of the flavors, for while it’s obvious that there is a good bit of alcohol in here, it blends so seamlessly with the bourbons, chocolates, and fruit esters that the tongue doesn’t care. The aftertaste is a delicious continuation of the main flavors, lingering on the tongue for a very long time. Mouthfeel is a weighty medium-heavy, and carbonation is medium-light to medium.

Overall, this is an amazing bottle of beer, and remarkable for not only how flavorful, nuanced, and potent it is, but for how utterly smooth and drinkable at the same time. Many high ABV beers end up being vodka or bourbon bombs, but this is so highly polished that it slides seamlessly down the throat, and is dangerously quaffable. One of the best bourbon-barrel-and-coffee beers on the market.
Mar 24, 2013
More User Ratings:
Photo of moysauce
Rated by moysauce from Illinois

4.58/5  rDev -1.9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 5 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.5
Fresh BCBCS hits hard every GD time.
Mar 10, 2024
 
Rated: 4.64 by LunchMoney from Minnesota

Mar 02, 2024
Photo of Beginner2
Reviewed by Beginner2 from Illinois

4.2/5  rDev -10.1%
look: 3.75 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4 | overall: 4.25
This Brand, particularly with the Coffee, has gotten too carried away with itself and left me behind. It's all good, but it's not all this good to boast a 4.67 average... and certainly isn't World-Class in my book. In particular, the coffee is too prominent. Stouts are about blending malts, not blending coffee. Dark malts and coffee are usually at opposite ends of the day and for good reason: they really don't complement one another much, except in a very narrow range and with some brewer's luck.

This rendition (Burundi Turihamwe) was worth having. It is not worth having again. And it will never be worth the price. But, it was in my cellar and this is the month to clean it out. And for that I am grateful.
Feb 20, 2024
 
Rated: 4.9 by Juno_Malone from Idaho

Jan 08, 2024
 
Rated: 4.15 by GeorgeAKeim from Oregon

Dec 31, 2023
Photo of txaudiophile
Rated by txaudiophile from Texas

4.7/5  rDev +0.6%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.5 | taste: 4.75 | feel: 5 | overall: 4.75
My favorite Bourbon County yet. Tastes a lot like the original, except the added coffee makes it even better. A masterpiece from them.
Dec 31, 2023
 
Rated: 4.85 by Tbone10 from Wisconsin

Dec 29, 2023
 
Rated: 4.33 by dubinsky from California

Dec 27, 2023
 
Rated: 4.75 by jvgoor3786 from Arkansas

Dec 26, 2023
 
 
Rated: 4.54 by TreyJ88

Dec 25, 2023
 
Photo of papposilenus
Reviewed by papposilenus from New Hampshire

3.99/5  rDev -14.6%
look: 4 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4 | feel: 3.75 | overall: 3.75
From a 500ml bottle, labeled 2022. Drink by 09/06/24. Served in a spiegelau ba tulip glass.

Pours chestnut-brown with a finger of chocolatey foam. The head holds up for under a minute, leaving a thin collar and a barely rousable, thin sheet of oily lacing.

Nose is rich and intense. Robust aroma of dark chocolate and molasses.

Taste pretty much as expected, but sweeter. Tasting chocolate syrup, malt syrup, dark brown sugar, cocoa nibs. Very little detectable coffee presence, just a hint of vaporous mocha along with the smoky bourbon late in the sip and in the sinuses.

Feel is dense, silky. A thick, syrupy body with vanishingly gentle, fine, prickly carbonation. A mild tannic film lingers on the tongue.

Overall, sweet, heavy and overly syrupy to my taste. In fact, more syrupy and hefty? than I remember straight Bourbon County being - if I’m remembering right.
Dec 16, 2023
 
Rated: 4.73 by Jlee0810 from Indiana

Dec 09, 2023
 
Rated: 4.25 by rare_bird from Michigan

Dec 06, 2023
Photo of beerbully
Reviewed by beerbully from New Jersey

4.61/5  rDev -1.3%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.75 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.75
L- Black, opaque....moderate 1 finger head with little retention....quickly settles to a mocha ring.....lacing is minimal with little retention

S-Big notes of chocolate and coffee out of the gate....barrel and booze hanging in the background.......other notes of caramel, vanilla, brown sugar and molasses.....

T- Follows the nose....big notes of chocolate and coffee.....followed by some Barrell and booze.....some vanilla and molasses.....finish is dark chocolate

F- Thick and creamy.....subtle carbonation....slight heat from the booze....thick and viscous....leaves a coating around the mouth

O- Excellent brew
Dec 02, 2023
Photo of mickyge
Reviewed by mickyge from Massachusetts

4.34/5  rDev -7.1%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.5 | overall: 4.5
Poured in a tulip glass right from the refrigerator. Dark almost black color, thin head that dissipates quickly to a thin cap, nice lacing.
Aroma is roasty chocolate, vanilla and alcohol notes
Taste is nice subtle notes of coffee, chocolate, roasted malt and vanilla become more pronounced as it warms up.
Mouthfeel is silky smooth, low carbonation, slightly thin ish. Finishes a with a lingering coffee chocolate slightly bitter feel.
To me it’s easy drinking and nice layers of flavor. Wish I bought more.
Nov 26, 2023
 
Rated: 4.75 by Nyoder

Nov 26, 2023
Photo of NeutroMan
Reviewed by NeutroMan from Illinois

4.25/5  rDev -9%
look: 4.25 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.25 | feel: 4.25 | overall: 4.25
500mL bottle into a goblet. Opaque reddish-tinged dark brown color with a short-lived mahogany head. Bourbon, vanilla, and dark roasted malt aroma. Similar flavor, which means that any coffee flavor is not immediately recognizable, but it does develop more depth as it warms. Medium-full, chewy body.
Nov 24, 2023
Bourbon County Brand Coffee Stout from Goose Island Beer Co.
Beer rating: 100 out of 100 with 7581 ratings