Goose Island (2019)

I've accepted the bar is gone and I've accepted that the beer is still good. For me the best part of GI is that I can still get a seat at the bar easily where it is still quiet enough to be able to hold a conversation. Can't say that about too many breweries.

 

Double barrel brandy is magical.

 

Get. Here... NOW!

 

Double Brandy tastes a little.... oxidized?

 

Prop 14 kicked

 

Damn, 1 hour and 17 minutes!!! Who knew that a Bourbon County could fall off faster than a Mikerphone can!

 

Prop 14 tasted real nice and mellow. Triple was sweet but rich - preferred it more this time around. Double brandy was really good, but there was something a little funky/unbalanced that I didn’t catch the last time around. Cheers!

 

Stopped by today and tried Triple barrel which I thought was excellent, I love that level of bourbon in my BA stouts.

Also, unrelated, but does anyone else really love Next Coast? I know it's not a hip beer or anything but man is it crushable.

 

When they initially released it at the Brewhouse, I rated it as the best new hoppy beer GI has put out in a long time. Haven’t tried the cans yet, but yeah, it’s highly enjoyable.

 

Look's like Monk's Pub just tapped Prop 18 for anyone in/near the Loop. $10 for a 10 oz. pour.

 

I saw somebody post that Fulton has 4-packs of 2012, 2013, and 2014 BCBS for sale if anybody is interested. I might be stopping by there to check it out later

 

Next Coast is my new fav beer for the price point/abv.

 

I've been very happy with GI's IPAs as of late. Not stuff I'd line up to buy or seek out, but when I have one in hand I am pleasantly surprised.

 

Just a heads up for our non-social-media friends:

 

Not to bring up any old debates, but Prop 17 to me is the epitome of a beer I was happy to drink once but don't really need to have again.

 

Remind me what barrels GI uses for regular BCBS? Is this really double barrel, how much difference is there flavor wise between this and a BCBS regular from years past where they sourced multiple different barrels? Isn't the majority of the variance coming from the blending?

 

I’m not falling for this. Who’s gonna take this bait?

 

Maybe I am mis-remembering but to me "double barrel" always used to refer to two different types of barrel being used. For example, double barrel Huna was aged in rum and brandy barrels.

If breweries are starting to refer use "double barrel" as a reference to aging the same beer in two different barrels of the same type that just seems odd to me. Aren't a huge portion of BA stouts aged in different barrels and then blended together to get the desired final product anyway? I guess maybe that's more so for large volume producers, but should they brand those beers as "100 barrel aged stouts"?

Seems like the term is just becoming a marketing gimmick. Either way, wasn't impressed with the double barrel BCBS I had at FOBAB anyway. The "triple" barrel at the taproom (which is just three different bourbon barrels) was very tasty but mostly because IMO it just had a lot of bourbon notes due to being 18% or whatever.