Goose Island Bourbon County - 2024 (Chicagoland)

Solid lineup, Prop is sweet and orange-y. Rare is boozy but good(preferred reg over this). Vanilla is heavy vanilla, loved it. Macaroon is as advertised, liked it a lot.

MVP was the weather, so pleasant for drinking BCS.

the carnival games were a great addition, preferred that over the random vending machine thingy

23 Rice Pudding Prop was fantastic.

 

I wasn’t able to get a pour of Bardstown & didn’t try to get a pour of 2024 Prop based on universal negative opinions from people at Rare Day.

1. Rare: it’s boozy right now but mouthfeel was great & wasn’t too sweet. High hopes that this will develop once the booze fades based on the underlying flavor profile.
2. Vanilla: not too sweet (at least compared to this year’s Vanilla Benthic), well integrated vanilla.
3. Reg: more bitter chocolate flavor this year, great mouthfeel, very drinkable.
4. Macaroon: my wife thought it was great, but I had a hard time picking out anything. It might’ve been too cold. It wasn’t offensive but nothing stood out.

2023 Prop &, shockingly, the Biscotti were good from the vintage pours.

 

Hey, did anyone in the AM session get a pour of what was in the barrels they were pouring from directly across from roughly the Dark Matter & Co-op tables? It was a big line, and really the only one we waited in for a while. Whatever it was kicked around 1ish if my timeline is right. They closed a garage door and that was pretty much the end of it. We suspected a single barrel of some sort.

 

If I remember correctly the guy pouring told me they were Weller barrels.

 

https://untappd.com/b/goose-island-...d-stout-single-barrel-7yr-weller-2024/6058066

 

Rare Day PM Sesh, had an amazing time.

Original: We got there right at 3 so these were probably pretty cold. I thought it was really thick and fudgy a friend who showed up about 30 minutes later said he got berry notes. So, maybe as it warms?

Bardstown: This was like an amplified Cherry Wood BCS. It's fine and I'll gladly drink it again but it didn't come across as some very special sort of thing.

Rare: I loved this. I thought it had a ton of M&M candy shell going on, didn't think it was overly sweet or overly boozy.

Macaroon: This thing takes its time unfolding across your palate. First it's coconut, then it's natural ginger, then some chocolate and finally ginger ale. Big fan of all these flavors so I loved it.

Vanilla Rye: This is easily the best Vanilla Bourbon County like it's not even close .This is what everyone remembers 2014 being and wishes 2018 had been. I unfortunately never tried 2010 but I'll say this one is completely out of wack in the best way. It's super duper Vanilla forward this doesn't integrate with the base beer or mingle with the barrel this is "fuck you, you wanted Vanilla, here's Vanilla".

Prop: This tasted like a fruit roll-up dusted with Tajin. The burn lingers in the throat and overall is just not very fun to drink. I choked back about 2oz and dumped the rest.

Ranking:

6. Prop
5. Bardstown
4. Original
3. Macaroon
2. Rare
1. Vanilla Rye

 

I said almost exactly this to @Jinx989 and another friend deep into the day.

Our rankings are pretty much identical. If I had them on a cleaner palate, strong chance Original and Macaroon get flipped, maybe not though. And I agree that VR is the king of the day. It's one of the better adjunct BCBS in quite some time. That's no slam against Rare, because it's also very good. They were the top 2 by a lot. Just very different things.

 

Vanilla Rye was my wife and I's favorite.
Rare was very boozy and could do well with aging for a while.
She would probably rate Macaroon better than I would. The candied ginger wasn't for me.
We both skipped Prop '24 and had VR twice.
Ended up at Bonci for some roman style pizza.

 

Single Barrel Buffalo Trace straight from the barrel was the best of the night (this was pouring 2nd session).

Rare was hot and boozy, very good.

Got '23 2yr special reserve from the confessional, was also very good.

Also VR is back, they nailed this one.

I did enjoy the Bardstown, a little drier and good amount of wood.

 

I apologize if this has been discussed - I did a cursory but not an extensive search.

I am getting reports from bottle shops in eastern NYS that there will be no BCBS distribution in that part of the state this year. Are distributors pulling way back due to slow sales the last few years?

 

I heard 3rd hand that local mom and pops were getting lower allocations due to out of state distro so who knows?

 

I'll probably buy one for the first time since 2018 since you're doing it

 

If your bottle sucks I'll send you a 4 pack of Eastern Blok Proxy Handjees, in bottles (which I find better than cans).

 

If bottles suck what he need Handjee for!

 

Not sure this has been talked about much, but I'm really digging the Rare Day glass.

 

Definitely going to be my Bourbon sippin' while making T-Day dinner glass.

 

Just seen the prices for the local shop here in SE Michigan.

12.99 for reg
21.99 for VR and Mac
36.99 for the Cask


Gotta say that’s not too bad? I feel like variants are usually $25+ around here every year.

 

It’s bad if Reg is the best of the season as people are currently saying.

 

I'm not saying that at all.

 

Does anyone know if there will be any other way to get Rare on Black Friday (or after) other than the Oznr pre-order from the two GI sites? Looks like both sold out already. Will they have extra single bottles to sell?