New Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout 2018 Variants

Wow, really? Have you not had anything from 2013 and 2014? Come on, man.

I do agree that they should narrow their focus down to maybe 4-6 beers a year and make those great.

 

How in the world does Chicago's two biggest BA breweries both make a black currant stout in the same year? Yikes.. Can we just leave those for Wilds?

 

Anyone have info on what the distribution will be for all these new variants? Are they only gonna be released in Chicago or does this mean more variants will see other states than usual?

 

I can't imagine we'll get distro info for awhile. I don't even think Jared has officially announced these yet.

 

I presume the ABV!

 

I'm guessing these 'weirder" versions will be small/ keg only releases, with the nationwide bottles still being the core brands (regular, coffee, etc.)

 

The thing that upsets about goose is the fake hype. They now have the resources and money to make as much variant as they want and that’s what would sell. Instead they make less and regular is still sitting on shelves now. I wish they would just make equal amounts of all but I know it won’t happen.

 

I don't know man.

VR is still flying around the trade boards like there's a bottomless pit of it, and that was released years and years ago.

Last year's rarest variants, Prop and Reserve, are constantly up FT, and people can't even get rid of their Northwoods, Coffee or BW.

With such a huge number of variants this year, I don't think artificial scarcity is a strategy here.

 

I think the sentiment is more that upon release the variants are still difficult to get rather than being able to trade for them after Black Friday. Several of the smaller places last year I went to were trying to get me to buy 3-4 bottles of regular to get a Northwoods or coffee let alone having Prop or Reserve even available. I do wish they would put more resources in to making variants even if they are a little more expensive.

 

There's definitely something to be said for who receives the shipments, how they are allotted to their customers, and general retailer shenanigans as well.

 

Probably true but at least where I am it’s only regular and maybe some variants but only if you work to find them, which I’m not going to.

VR just cracks me up. Before hype was a thing I trade a mixed six pack of heady, sip and lost nation for a bottle. It’s the hype around beers like VR that entertain me.

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/mone...unty-brand-stouts-set-black-friday/940589002/

No bourbon county coffee this year. Horchata is a no go.

 

Detailed descriptions of each variant: https://www.gooseisland.com/blog/announcing-2018-bourbon-county-variants

 

Maybe I haven't had enough coffee yet and am missing something, but Reserve variant calling out the use of use EC "barrel proof" barrels is super redundant, no? I mean, bourbon is proofed down with water after being dumped from a barrel. EVERY BARREL IS BARREL PROOF AT FIRST! No? Am I nuts?

(Sure, maybe they used the barrels that were ultimately selected for ECBP bottlings, but I have no idea why those barrels are any more valuable than 12-year old barrels that ended up being used for regular old Elijah Craig or any other Heaven Hill brand.)

 

I mean...it's a specific HH brand. It is marketing as stated above, dual marketing, drawing a direct line that "hey, this specific line of bourbon in particular was produced out of this barrel prior to aging beer in it." It's a pretty narrowed down EC product that gets a plug on someone else's product.

 

I think that BCBS CBS KBS etc have trended toward shelf turdom because 1. They are brewing more and 2. There are more competitors now

I've never seen a variant here in NorCal but I would be willing to (pay for) and try the Prop and Reserve. And someday hope to try the BW.

 

Right, I get that, I'm just saying that the notion of using a "barrel proof" bourbon barrel is an oxymoron, since all bourbon barrels are barrel proof! GI calling that out is somewhat misleading, in that it suggests these barrels are different than normal bourbon barrels. They're not. All bourbon barrels contain "barrel proof" bourbon!

 

Okay, but one of EC's bourbon is called Barrel Proof. GI didn't come up with the name of that brand of bourbon...so your criticism should be pointed towards that particular brand I'd think...I mean nobody is looking to GI for proper bourbon jargon.

 

I think making a point of calling out Elijah Craig barrel proof barrels is deliberately implying that these barrels are somewhat special, which of course they are not. Nor is the mash bill used any different for EC than other Heaven Hill Bourbons.