Goose Island Bourbon County 2019

Yeah, regs are $12.99 and $11.99 at that same Kroger. What city were/are you in?

 

Dallas

 

just wondering.
I heard the Wheatwine was “great” so I gave it another shot this year. Last years was good not great.

 

To each their own. I thought it was good, but not great.

 

Picked up a wheat wine $15, regular $12, and Cafe for $23. It’s pretty dumb how the variants are almost 2x the regular. I haven’t tried Cafe yet but hard to imagine I’ll like it enough to justify the price. For a 16.9 oz beer these are very expensive and while they’re good not sure makes any sense to pay the premium for that pricey of a beer. Drank several 16oz barrel aged stouts priced $9 - $11 from other breweries the last few days and multiple better than BCBS.

No barleywine this year? So disappointing. By far my favorite.

 

Popped a 2019 15.2% ABV BCBS tonight. The thing that stood out most to me was how balanced and drinkable it was. No one single flavor overpowered another, the mouthfeel was big but not extreme and the alcohol was shockingly well buried. I am excited to see how my second bottle ages with a couple of years on it.

 

They've had to dodge some states' ABV limits of 15% or 14.9%. Other states have limits that are lower than GI is willing to take BCBS, so no BCBS for them.

 

Tried Cafe and Cherry on draft. They are delicious but I thought the whiskey character was significantly masked. Not feeling compelled to seek out any bottles for $30+

 

I bought several of the Rye reserve, a few more than I should have of the Olla and cherry. Didn’t buy a drop of regular at $13 a bottle I’ll wait until March and go to Florida and buy it discounted for $9.99 when they still have stacks of it. I didn’t see the other variants, but I didn’t think I’d even see the Rye, so not upset at all.

 

The regular coffee stout was the best beer I’ve ever had. I managed to get 3 bottles in 2017. Prior to that, we’ve only had barleywine available as a variant (which is also excellent). Not that we would probably get it on this end of the state, but I don’t know why they don’t leave the regular coffee stout and barleywine alone either. Along those same lines, I don’t understand why Founders doesn’t release FIS every year (they’re not going to next year either). It’s not like casual beer fans are spending the money for these beers, and there is obviously a sizable demand amongst the hardcore craft beer demographic.

 

People need to stop saying they got the “coffee.” I drank the cafe olla last night and it was so so, not even close to BCBCS and I didn’t even feel like it had a significant coffee flavor (heavy on the cassia/cinnamon to my palate with that panela sugar coming up next). First variant this year and not so impressive, definitely a step down for me, from the classic regular iteration.

 

I've seen a number of folks mentioning $30+ variants. Are all of the stores around you that expensive?

 

Goose Island released a ton of 2017 Bourbon county coffee into the wild yesterday, I grabbed 2 bottles. Might be what they are talking about

 

Goose Island sat on bottles, and sold them at the taproom? Or in distribution?

 

Distribution, saw a bunch of 2017 northwoods as well. Could just be these shops holding onto it, but I’ve seen several places have them

 

reading through the thread it doesn’t seem like that’s what people are referring to. That’s interesting to hear, I wonder if they put those 2017s out nationwide, and also how the coffee aspect is holding up. Will certainly keep my eyes open here in NY.

 

You can find almost anything at the GI taproom in terms of BCBS variants current and in years past. Whether you want to pay those prices is another story...

 

Didn't get any variants just regular for $10 each @ Costco....have to say it's the best I ever had.

 

Probably the distributor. Lately our distributor has dropped beers they've been sitting on since as far back as 2012. I tried a 2012 Abyss, and it had started to turn cardboard. A bit nervous about 2015 BCBS regular but that was excellent.

 

Having tried all the varients this past week I have not been disappointed. I think it's been established that goose island has one of the best barrel programs cheers