Old '84 Rye Bourbon County Stout
Goose Island Beer Co.

 

 

 

On-tap at Stoutfest. Served in the matching taster glass.

A - All these BCS variants look the same, particularly once the dime of foam dissipates.

S - This one reminded me a lot of BCS Rare/vintage bottles of BCS. The whiskey flavor is intense, but the beer somehow comes across as mellow nonetheless. Obviously this isn't a bad thing, but I was expecting more divergence from the regular version. There's perhaps a touch of spicy rye, but I find that really old American whiskeys tend to start converging at a similar flavor.

T - Again, really nice stuff, but hard to pick apart from regular BCS without the virtue of an A/B comparison (pun not intended). Whiskey is prevalent and imparts a mild amount of characteristic rye spice. Plenty of chocolate, dark fruit, and caramel sweetness too, but I'd expect nothing less of BCS.

M - Pretty similar to the Lion's Pride I had side-by-side.

D - I liked this one, but not quite as much as the Koval barrel-aged version. Also, every time I have one of this variants I'm reminded of how much a classic regular ol' BCS is and how much I long for the days where I could buy it year-round off the shelf.

 

 

Great bourbon county traditional appearance, its thinner than you expect on appearance. Thick inky clouds.

Gigantic chocolate with perfect bourbon character. Heat on back end. Sherry, caramel, molasses. Sweet, with a light spicy bite.

Tastes.. spicy bourbon, great great heat, sweet molasses, caramels from everywhere. Sherry and deep dark fruits. The finish is a lingering spicy love with bite. It's the best plain Jane variation ever. That rye is so prevalent and so noticeable. It's complex bourbon.