Refunds for Goose Island 2015 Bourbon County Coffee & Bourbon County Barleywine

Per Goose Island's blog this afternoon http://www.gooseisland.com/blog?id=post_11

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To our loyal fans,

Each year you stand in long lines in the cold to get your hands on Bourbon County Stout and the special variants. This is beer that we hope is shared on special occasions, or maybe even makes the occasion special. Beer that we truly hope helps strengthen bonds and makes lasting memories.

I want you to know that the entire team at Goose Island puts our heart and soul into making Bourbon County, and we understand and appreciate your high expectations for them. It is always our intention to put forth the best beer we can craft. When we don’t meet those expectations we take it personally, and we want to make it right.

It has come to our attention that since bottling the 2015 Bourbon County Coffee and Bourbon County Barleywine, they have developed flavors that are not consistent with our expectation of how these beers should taste. That’s not to say the beer doesn’t taste good, in fact some drinkers may enjoy it very much. However, it doesn’t meet our standards for the taste profile of these beers.

All of our beer goes through a very thorough quality oversight process including sensory and microbiology programs. This by no means is a guarantee of success especially with barrel aged beers. Both of these beers have drifted out of their target character thus leading us to provide refunds for anyone who is unsatisfied with them. Anyone who would like a refund for 2015 Bourbon County Coffee or 2015 Bourbon County Barleywine, please contact us at 1-800-Goose-Me.

In spite of the risks inherent with barrel aging, our quest to grow these beers and our barrel aging program will persevere. I hope you continue to join us in this adventure.

Very Truly,
Jared Jankoski
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That being said if you have a good coffee or barleywine do not abuse this situation. It sucks that it happened but Goose is making it right.

Now the big thing will be if you want to age your barleywine. You're taking a risk.

 

From someone who covers the beer industry it's true but it is exceedingly unlikely as you put it.

 

While it's extremely rare their could be a potential issue, when you call a beer infected it leaves that door open. If they called it infected there could be a lot more issues. It's just off-taste so you may or may not like it but it's not what they wanted it to taste like. It's the same thing that happened with 18th Street's Hunter this past year.

 

Great question. I don't know at this point. Trying to find that out. However, I spoke with a person who knows these situations (not affiliated with Goose Island) that says this is common practice.