Infusing Goose Island Bourbon County Stout

Trying this method now.
So I have to say that VR had an off-putting "spice" flavor to it, I now understand it's the smell and flavor of real vanilla bean. Real vanilla extract is very different, lacks that spice.

Also, I've done the non-sweetened toasted coconut several times with great results but did not hold any back for carb, I'm going to give that a go too, I think it will improve it significantly.

 

Inspired by this thread, I just toasted some shredded coconut and some diced almonds. Put it in a french press for an hour with half of a 2015 bcbs. Pressed and poured, then added about 4 oz of the remaining bcbs (saved some for comparison). This "abomination" is delicious. Obviously the untampered bcbs is delicious as well and if I only had 2-3 bottles of the stuff I wouldn't experiment. Luckily I was able to get a larger haul than I anticipated this year so I didn't mind experimenting on a bottle. I'll probably try to spice up one of the other bottles with cinnamon and maybe a pepper. Any suggestions for a spiced recipe?

 

Some great ideas in this thread. I've tried coffee and coconut but this has given me some great ideas.

 

I've never french pressed, but I've added cinnamon powder to stouts before. Specifically Cellarmaker's Blammo! Which is a 14.5% coconut imperial stout. I added a dash of the cinnamon and it was magical. They did do cask of Blammo! that weekend with the usual suspects, cinnamon, vanilla, etc., and apparently it was out of this world.

 

I dropped a whole madagascan vanilla bean (sliced the long way) in a bottle of 2015 BC and let it sit in the bottle for 24hrs. It was delicious

 

Put some cinnamon (about a tablespoon - caused it to foam up quite a bit) and maple syrup (about 2 tablespoons) into about 1/2 a bottle of BCBS, let it sit a week and then mixed it with 1/2 a fresh bottle in a wine glass and it was phenomenal.

 

It didn't take long to realize the sarcasm in that video. (Heck, I'm lucky enough if I can acquire ONE of those bottles each year and I sure 'ain't gonna desecrate that one bottle.

 

a tablespoon?!!?


a tablespoon? ... I can't fathom this.

 

Its his money and palate...if he doesn't mind wasting either, why should we care? Like a guy who puts ketchup on an extended dry aged steak. If he likes that....so be it.
Humorous? Kind of....

 

In retrospect it was a lot, and it was very cinnamon-y, but also still very good.

 

LOL - a TABLE SPOON of straight cinnamon would seem excessive in a 64oz growler of BCBS...let alone 12oz!

 

16.9*

I had just finished a Xocoveza and wanted more cinnamon.

And it tasted good. Pretty sure some of the cinnamon got lost in the foam over too.

 

Yeah, cinnamon BCBS can't suck by any means!

 

If you watch the "Grit and Grain" documentary about BCBS, they actually give 4-packs to all the employees at Goose Island to take home and experiment with infusing nuts, herbs, flavorings, etc.

 

FTFY.

 

For those of you who have infused BCBS with vanilla beans, how did you treat the bean? Cut + scrape? Cut only? Which part did you use? Bean + seeds? Bean only?

 

Lots of people have suggested different good ways upthread, but I favor two entire undamaged beans in a 2015, recap for three or four hours in fridge, and very good indeed.

 

I just read the entire thread. I didn't come across any detailed descriptions of how to prep the beans and seeds in the bean other than make a cut down the middle. Perhaps I'm taking it too seriously, where people literally are just cutting it lengthwise and plopping it in the beer.

 

If anyone has other threads or recipes to share I'm interested in trying them. This guy infused vanilla beans in vodka? How about in bourbon?

 

I must have read or heard it somewhere, but I have been just as happy using whole beans as cut beans, paste, or extract.