Goose Island Bourbon County 2019

I've only seen, or heard of, Cafe and Cheri so far, though I've got a few more places to check. I don't plan on buying either of them in light of the price. I would probably pay for a Wheatwine if I could find it though.

One of the distributors I checked only got a single case of regular this year. I don't know what the hell is up with that, because grocery stores where even cheaper craft beer become shelf turds got multiple cases.

 

Double Barrel is not getting distributed. There was a lottery to pick up in Chicago, and they sold it at Prop Day. There may be other events associated with it, but you won't find it in a store. Not in Chicago, not anywhere.

EDIT: Link with facts

https://www.thrillist.com/news/nati...on-county-double-barrel-stout-limited-release

 

I cant find any regular. I was at 3 places that had lots of 2017 and 2018 and a small amount of the 2019 variants. Last Friday was the only time I saw it.

 

Seeing quite a bit still. Thinking of doing a +1 to my inventory before they're gone.

 

Not sure how close your are to Philly but, Goose Island’s brewery/restaurant had it on tap and bottles (on site consumption only) as of Saturday.

 

Yeah my parents are in Philly and I'm in harrisburg. Quite a few places have it on tap so I guess I could try it there but would love to have a bottle or two to cellar

 

Does anyone really like the Cafe variant better than the old coffee-only variants. Having one on draft now and orange with stout doesn't mix for me. Like I always love the look of the chocolate orange candy in its presentation, then I actually bite into it and what a mess. Glad I didn't get any bottles of this...

 

In California, I've been able to find Regular BCBS, Mon Cheri, Cafe, and Wheatwine with no problem. and picked up a couple each of the variants and more of the regular BCBS.

So far, the regular BCBS is tasting really good and I would say a bit better than the 2018 version and way better than 2017. The rest will age for another year.

That said, I did try the Cafe and while I liked it better then they Barleywine+Coffee variant they did last year, I just wish they'd go back to the standard BCBS+Coffee and leave it alone. It was near perfection and easily sold out same day. It was a popular favorite. I always welcome experimentation and look forward to see what GI can do with BCBS, but these last 2 years coffee/cafe variants are nowhere near as good as the original BCBS Coffee .

 

I'm really hoping next year regular Coffee is finally back. We're finally to a point where variants are actually attainable and the best one is gone. The only time I've ever gotten BCBCS in store was 2x 12oz back in 2014. Every other year it was near-impossible in my area.

 

Agreed. Just like last year when they released the vanilla, that was worth my time to stand in line, at least to me. This years lineup didn't intrigue me at all. Give me coffee and barleywine and I'll go gladly stand inline for 4 hrs.

 

I opened my bottle of Cafe de Olla. WTF is this mess? All I taste is orange and oak, no coffee. It’s not a bad tasting drink, but it’s unlikely to satisfy those looking for a coffee stout. If it wasn’t so pricey, I’d drainpour it and open a bottle of FBS.

 

The Costco in DC yesterday had a pallet of reg for $10.99, WW $15.99, Cheri and Olla $18.99, no limit.

It's funny how we used to run around like madmen for these variants and now it's easy to just buy one of each because the suply feels unlimited. There are still stores in DC that have Northwoods/ Bramble/ Vanilla/ Orange/ for $24.99 too (not great but not unsold just because of absurd pricing).

 

One local store who had, like everyone else, regular for $13 and Olla for $24 was offering a bottle of Olla and a bottle of last year's Midnight Orange (not a new shipment, still sitting there from last year, AFAIK) for $40. I passed.

 

Agreed on bringing barleywine back. Even better if they would gut up and bring it back in its original form pre-2015: aged in BCBS barrels. That marriage of dark fruit and toffee from the barleywine with the chocolate coconut of those BCBS barrels was perfection. “Prince Henry” was what my circle dubbed it.

Which reminds me it’s been 8 years since King Henry was released. Life comes at you fast!

 

None at our local Costco, was really hoping to get a couple bottles at that sweet sweet Costco ticket

 

This ^^^^. Just opened my one and only bottle. All cinnamon with a splash of orange. Not what I was hoping for. Glad I only splurged on a single. Regular blows this out of the water.

 

My friend and I just discovered that the ABV on June bottles is 14.7% while July was 15.2. Is this normal for BCBS?

 

Yes, my September bottles are also 14.7 and there are also 14.5% batches. Different batches will naturally have different abv.

 

The brewery can get very consistent on ABV if they want to go to the trouble of blending barrels until they hit a mark. GI has done that with BCBS in the past so they can get into states with a 15% ABV limit - they may still do that. If the beers were from different markets, it could be that they shipped lower ABV stock to a region where one or more states has a limit. Or like you say, just different batches, though they're not going to take that down to barrel granularity.