Goose Island Bourbon County 2019

Thought I'd crack one this weekend after seeing posts referring to the orange fading. I'd have to say that the chocolate has come to the forefront, but the Orange is still hanging in there. I plan to finish my last one before the end of the year.

 

I personally think the very light accent of orange that remains will stay at the level it's achieved at this point.

 

I hope so. I still have one bottle left. After I drank one a few weeks ago, I was disappointed that the orange faded so quickly, but it was still there, although taste was dominated by dark chocolate, and that combined with the subdued orange in the finish was really tasty and still very good.

 

I like BCBS despite all the dying hype and hate, but distribution in upstate NY is terrible. I hear about all these bottles sitting on shelves, and it makes me want to do beer runs. Wegmans got it, but I don’t know if we/they ever got a second drop. Very irritating.

I have a supposedly non-infected 2015, i.e, good date range. Such nostalgia finding the little treasures back in the day. Now, shelf turds abound, and no one will truck them over here for me to buy them. Did I say very irritating?

 

I think that everyone should just send me all the BCBS of all types. Then, no one can or will bitch. Call me the peacemaker...

 

As said elsewhere, people are encouraged to send me this terrible, terrible, boring beverage in the name of peace. I will begrudgingly drink the swill as a gesture of BA brotherly sacrifice.

 

Fresh fruit framework?
Juiciness juxtapositioning?

 

Oh, smart man! We had one local retail chain that stashed a 2010 DFH WWS keg, opened in December 2017 for growler fills. Retailers that age stout/barleywine stuff for consumers are the real heroes of the beer industry.

 

No truer words were said. My shelf is testament..preach!

 

Welcome to June and August of 2019 @micada enjoy your time traveling!

 

I hear it’s not even really the brewer, but the distributor with the volume demands.

 

You’re killing me. Mapquesting route to South Dakota from NY now...

 

Where in upstate?

 

The 2017 Stone Xocoveza I just drank must have been tainted! Color me embarrassed!

 

The 2015 is gone now, but some 2017 and 2018 still lingering. Turns out the distributor had been squirreling away cases starting in 2015, but as far as I know the few 2017 and 2018 left on shelves are it. They also squirreled away Abyss 2012 through 2018. One store still has most of those years left. I tried a 2012 and...cardboard taste, hadn't aged well.

 

Lockport. NorthEast of Buffalo proper. Wegmans had a few cases around on BF, but then nothing by the following week. I’ve been fortunate finding several FirestoneWalker boxed treats, so my pain is slightly lessened.

 

Does anyone have any indication as to which bottles will be for distro, and which will be Chicago / brewery only? I'm guessing the Double Barrel, 2 Year and Proprietor's will be non-distro and the rest will be scattered around the country as per past years. Any other better educated / more scientific perspectives? I'm in MA and last year we got a ton of Vanilla and a tiny bit of Bramble so that would portend we'll get a ton of Cherry and maybe one other along with the usual welcome glut of BCBS.

 

Considering that I saw pallets of cases stacked yesterday, it looks like by best guess, that at least north/central NJ will be getting the regular, Cafe Olla, Rye Reserve, and Wheatwine variants. I'll keep my eyes peeled to see if any others are queued up for distribution.

 

For the life of me I will never understand why the wheatwine variant was popular and our beloved King Henry 2.0* (aka, Bourbon County Brand Barleywine) was first ruined with a different barreling process and then killed off. I mean, don't get me wrong, last year's wheatwine was fine, but it wasn't anything special.


*technically 3.0 if we count draft-only variants

 

I doubt we will ever see a (the?!) second coming of King Henry, but BW will return without a doubt.

I’d love to see a BW reserve or DB BW, either of which I suspect will return the same year BW does.

*takes off tin foil hat*