Goose Island Bourbon County 2017

Okay, KBS and Black Note are legitimately worth comparing to Bourbon County. You lost me at Boulevard though. If you really do like it better, that's awesome, keep buying it and drinking it. But know that you're strongly in the minority here. Boulevard has a 4.1 rating on this site. The other three are 4.6ish. That's a MASSIVE difference on the 5 point scale.

 

One of my areas TW had about 8 cases of regular on the floor this afternoon. I almost did something stupid.. I guess I didnt miss out after all. I already drank my 15 and 16. I guess I'll drink this '17 over a special occasion. First time in two years there wasn't a limit and I didnt have to go to three stores, and I had enough willpower to only buy one at $10.99. My old self would have been a case deeper in debt lol.

Compared to the last two years, they either got more, or people have stopped caring as much. I'll have to ask around and see

Northwoods was available at $25 and BW for $16. I had to laugh a little.

I realize there is a lot worse out there (almost everything in the specialty bomber aisle costs more than even regular BCBS) but I guess one has to take a stand somewhere.

 

Yeah, with BCBS and CBS coming out, folks have been suggesting Black Note instead. I first tried it last year, and while it was excellent I rated it lower than KBS, BCBS, BA Fidy, and some other BA stouts. I gave it a try again this year - and though still excellent, I was not inclined to stock up in lieu of others.

 

I always felt, based on quality AND price, High Westy is one of the best. On the subject of Black Note: My FIRST time trying it was last year's release and I was extremely dissatisfied (Of course hype played into my expectations....).

 

I'd echo this 100%. Black Note just doesn't stand out to me at all. BCBS is just a totally different animal, IMO of course.

 

My 1st BCBS was 2015 (non infected) and i thought it was amazing. I eagerly bought a bottle of '16 and drank it about 6-7 months, and I thought (along with my friend that I shared it with) that it was a brown sugar bomb, way too sweet. I had my 1st Black Note last year and really enjoyed it. I rated it under BCBS but that wouldn't have been the case vs '16. This year I bought a bottle of Black Note and turned down regular BCBS at $10.99.
Either way as going through this thread will tell you, everything is subjective.
Cheers!

 

Sure 4.1 difference but see I find the top 250 to be somewhat faulty. Boulevard Whisky Barrel stout was everything I wanted in a bourbon barrel stout and what i had expected in BCBS. Great it has a 4.1 rating, form you're own opinion. Maybe I got a good batch of Boulevard Whisky Barrel stout but either way I found it to be more delicious than BCBS only because of the forwarders of the bourbon.

 

So us in Kentucky we’re fortunate to get the reserve variant but what was funny is we got so much of it that we only got a few cases of regular and barely any of the other variants. It’s weird that it works out that way but the reserve was so expensive so only bought a couple bottles.

 

No such thing as a good batch of Boulevard.

 

Well I got it and I drank it

 

Boulevard takes a lot of undeserved shit on this forum. Nearly every time I drink one of their beers, I think to myself, "damn, this is way better than I imagined it would be/remember it being, especially based on the BA ratings." Many of their beers are genuinely world class, and they often don't get the recognition they deserve. I think they're on the Firestone-Walker level, but they take a bunch of shade for being a widely-circulated, Midwestern brewery, because coastal beers are just automatically better. Shaking my head.

 

Which of their beers would you consider world class? The majority of their beers I have drank have been disappointing at best and a few drain pours. I don't agree with the whiskey barrel stout being comparable at all to BCBS in taste or quality.

 

Very strange distribution on Reserve it seems. While it has been seen in Illinois, it’s been reportedly more sparse than I expected. And so many reports of it showing up in other states where it wasn’t supposed to!

 

I recently had Boulevard Whiskey Barrel Stout and it is outstanding, but like other pretenders to the throne it just doesn't beat BCBS IMHO. On the other hand, another BA stout eventually beating BCBS is not only possible, it's inevitable.

 

I saw that other states got some which as weird to me. Like I said, it was a very weird bcbs day. I was the last person to get a regular at my store but went back through the line 3 times after to get reserve because they had that many cases.

 

ct surprisingly, i thought, received a decent allotment this year compared to years past. coffee & northwoods was available to the early birds and it seems there's a few stores that still have regular still available. not too much barleywine but "hearing" more should come this week (we'll see). reserve & prop hit counties closer to NY which i cannot remember ever happening. only landed reg, coffee & northwoods so far and only opened a reg & coffee. fwiw i thought reg was "much" better than coffee and agree w/ the earlier comment that the coffee was thin.

 

Well said

 

Yes whiskey barrel stout to me is world class. The bourbon flavor on the bottle I had was more present than the bottle of BCBS i had. Perhaps i had a really good bottle of whisky barrel Boulevard and a shitty bottle of BCBS but I found stronger bourbon flavor in the Boulevard. My complaint on BCBS is I wanted it to be better than Boulevard. It should be but in my experience it's not. Hell when I had Boulevard I wasn't expecting much and I was very much surprised how good it was. Maybe i expected a lot out of BCBS and it wasn't there so makes me somewhat disappointed. Only thing I'd applaude BCBS on is it has a higher abv. But the flavor is more watery. Sure it's a smooth beer but the bourbon flavor is not as strong as other bourbon barrel beers imo

 

Well, they ARE owned by the same parent company

I had a Rye-on-Rye that I really enjoyed a couple of years ago. My complaint with Boulevard is that I've taken chances on their bottles since then and have been disappointed, especially at the price point.

I think if we'd all be surprised at the results if we got together and did the Pepsi Challenge with the beers we're discussing. As @Samlover55 said, taste is subjective.








Other than BCBS being far better than KBS. Not subjective

 

I still haven't gone out to pick any up. I should really do that.

Although I'm torn, since I haven't even touched any of my cellared bottles from the past two years.