Bourbon County 2018

It was nothing like classic BCBS, IMO, at least from the bottle. Had a bottle today. Finished it, as it's still decent, but nowhere near as good as previous years, for me. Not even close. Last year's and this year's Deth's Tar blows it out of the water.

 

Thanks. I know of a few places I can find some. May just grab one or two and load up on Deth's Tar as I feel like it's a far superior beer at this point.

 

Do most jewels still have some variants left? Near WI/IL border and debating the drive down to get a few as I was out of town this Thanksgiving weekend.

 

For what it's worth, the man himself says Wheatwine is the best variant this year.

And yes, I know I said I'd only but buy bottle, but I got a second because my dad is a huge BW guy.

I honestly don't know; I didn't see BCBS at ALL in Spring Grove when I looked. Jewel seems like a solid choice for "random" pickups, but my guess is that they'll be mostly out now. Pretty sure mine would've let me grab multiple cases of what it had, and given that beer nerds never pass on an opportunity for gluttony, your chances at this point are getting slim.

 

did a back to back tonight of regular '17 and regular '18 and i preferred '18??????

 

Currants destroys Bramble though.

 

I just had my first Deth's Tar (2018) and it is world class. It is hard to believe we have 2 of the best barrel aged stouts in the country coming out of Chicago. But Deth's just doesn't have the level of complexity BCBS has. Flavors unfold over multiple sips and as the temp goes up. Deth's pretty much gives me the same flavor all the way through.

 

We all have different palates. Something just seems off to me with 18 regular. I've been sick the past couple days too, so my palate may just be jacked up right now. Hadn't really thought about that till just now. I'll have to buy another and try it again later on. But as it stands right now, Tar is my preference.

 

That's how I felt about 18 regular BCBS.

 

2018 BCBS > 2018 Deth's Tar.

However...

2018 Deth by Currants >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 2018 Bramble.

BCBS & Deth's Tar are close, but clear.

The fruit variants, decidedly, are not even remotely close.

YMMV.

 

Do you guys think that bramble will hold up to long term cellaring?

 

i really liked 17 deths tar. just opened an 18 the other day and was terribly underwhelmed. im hoping its because im getting sick or cause i was drinking at noon on an empty stomach because i remember thinking this new recipe was the shit. havent had 18 bcs yet but ive honestly never had a bourbon county that didnt taste like bourbon county.

 

That’s the hope anyways.

 

I'll jump into the fray here. Haven't had them all yet, but will soon enough. So far for me Regular > WW >>>> Bramble >>> Vanilla.

Regular is great this year. The one I opened was the 14.7% version. Don't see what all the fuss is about. It's a world class no adjunct BA stout. Still is this year.

WW is a phenomenal example of a BA WW. They hit their bullseye here. Already provided my other thoughts on this.

Bramble is so overpowering on the berries. I still enjoyed it, but was a bit of a let down. I love rye barrel aged stouts and everything was SO muted by the fruit in this. No balance here at all. Thin and fruit juicy. And for people who think this is going to tone down, my bottling date was 8/24/18 - 3 months ago now. So I wouldn't hold your breath.

Vanilla. Yikes. If any Chicago people go to The Spice House, this reminds me of their double strength Madagascar vanilla extract. Which is splendid for cooking, but obviously terrible for drinking. This was so incredibly unbalanced to me that it was teetering on the edge of unenjoyable. Didn't matter whether cold or up to room temp. I ultimately had to cut this with a half finished bottle of regular I had corked in my fridge (firstworldprobs). 2 oz of vanilla for every 1 oz of regular seemed to do this wonders. But it's truly hard to tell because my palate was so assaulted from the straight vanilla. And looking at that one it was bottled 9/4/18, over 2.5 months ago. I have hopes this one will somehow settle into something nice, but I don't know, and I was super excited for this beer.

 

Cracked open my first 18 BCBS, 15.2% variant. Excellent as expected, no issues here. Starting cold, mostly dark fruit notes. Little to no bourbon character, alcohol very well hidden. As it warmed, the barrel, vanillin notes and booze kicked in. More chocolate, light roast on the finish. The heavy dark fruit faded into a nice balance. As it hit room temp, the booziness was more prevalent, more bitter dark chocolate. Preferred it best right in the middle temp wise, best balance of flavors. Mouthfeel and carb are excellent, awesome beer this year.

 

Flash pasteurized. There will be oxidation, but otherwise the beer won't change much.

Diabeetus 4-eva.

 

Looking more and more like my palate is just jacked from being sick. Lol. Had a buddy text me that 18 regular was great too. Most people on here saying the same... guess I should hold off on passing judgement until I haven't been sick for a few days. Still nursing the tail end of this cold now even.

 

Not questioning your palate, but just so everyone's aware...there is 0% vanilla extract in this beer. It's whole Madagascar beans.

Now that I think of it, I AM questioning your palate, and a whole lot of other people too.

From the release info:

Bourbon County Brand Vanilla Stout
This longtime favorite is making a long-awaited return to the BCBS roster. Utilizing whole grade A vanilla beans from Madagascar, this year’s BCBS Vanilla delivers on all the quintessential things fans love about this variant: aromatic vanilla, marshmallow, toffee, oak and floral notes highlighting the creamy mouthfeel and enhancing the chocolate flavors that are ingrained in BCBS.

 

Jewel River Forest as of 3pm yesterday(sat) had about 30 cases of WW, 20 Coffee Barleywine and two cases of Bramble. I'm sure the Bramble is gone by now. Jewel on Southport finally ran out of Midnight Orange last night

Jeff

 

interesting. do you give it a swirl to rouse some co2 up and out before corking?