Bourbon County 2018

LOL. You're welcome. Be excited I think this year's line up is solid. I was disappointed the Orange wasn't ready yet as that was the one I was most excited about and it appears to be the one they are most excited about. But oh well FoBAB is around the corner.

 

In 2013 (2014?) the Craft Brewer's Conference was in Chicago. Goose had a party and at that party they poured a bunch of single barrel variants of BCBS. (Weller, Koval, Templeton Rye, Wild Turkey, etc) They then poured the leftovers at the first ever Sunday Funday. And every once in a while they pop back up or get used in Cuvees.

 

They are similar in that they are much better expressions of the barrel/the whiskey that was in the barrel. Last year's Reserve and this year's once again strike me as regular but....bolder. Turned to 11 to use a cliche.

 

Weller variant doesn’t exist and it would be impossible to try some this weekend.

 

Shhhhhhhhh*

*im bummed to be missing my first block party this year. But I have a good excuse. I’ll be at GABF.

 

I feel like reserve is a scam for the reasons you mentioned. They should just have 1yr bcbs and 2 yr bcbs.

 

For the block party, do the specialty taps run out quickly or is that just such a massive list that there is plenty throughout the afternoon/night? How bad are the lines for beer?

I'll be in Chicago this weekend and unfortunately not particularly close but could maybe justify a change of plans and a long uber if it'd be worth it.

 

Well then, I'll have a little FOMO once Thanksgiving comes around. Does Michigan (Detroit area) gets an OK allocation of variants? I'll be at the in-laws for Thanksgiving this year.

 

I was only able to find barleywine and regular in the Detroit area last year. Holiday had it and you had to be in line before they opened to get a bottle.

 

You'll definitely like Reserve but nothing else was super bourbon-forward this year. Bramble has a nice late kick but it's fruit-forward. I think a lot of people want vanilla to be a bomb and the smell is but the taste is definitely more balanced. (writer of the article)

 

Definitely didn't unfold like last years original. I agree that there are definitely chocolate notes but I thought last years was way more chocolate forward.

 

I'm the writer of the PorchDrinking article that is in this thread. Typically don't frequent the message boards but happy to answer any other questions about Bourbon County this year.

 

Thanks for taking the time to come aboard and elaborate on your article. I was curious regarding one thing....you mentioned in your article that vanilla "will be one of the hardest variants to get on black Friday". Are you at liberty to elaborate on that at all in terms of possible insight received for allocations/yields within Chicagoland? Or if any of the "highly coveted" variants (bramble, vanilla, reserve) will see distro outside of IL? Thanks and cheers.

 

While we were going through the variants they briefly mentioned distro for each one. On vanilla they made a point to emphasize that the amount was very limited. No other insight into what markets will get it or quantity.