Bourbon County 2017

https://www.binnys.com/blog/goose-island-bourbon-county-brand-stout-2017-sneak-peek/

Binny's preview...they really like prop and blueberry

 

I don't claim to be an expert on aging BCS, because 1) I drink most the same year (if not same month) they were purchased and 2) I don't properly "cellar" most of my stuff, but I will say that of the few BCS variants I've had that were aged, I've yet to run into one that I thought was better than when fresh. I'm relatively certain when Prop '13 (my all-time favorite beer) was released, GI said to "drink it fresh" since the coconut wouldn't hold up over time. I don't doubt that GI cellars this stuff in a way that keeps it pretty fresh, but I wouldn't pay much more than MSRP for any of the old variants, because I wouldn't expect any of them to be better than when they were originally released (except maybe coffee, since I'm not a huge coffee guy ).

 

I had a Regal Rye recently, and the blackberries didn't hold up.

 

BC Barleywine doesn't contain adjuncts.

 

Quick topic change, for those that missed out on prop day, when/how does GI release the tickets for the taproom event on Black Friday?

 

this is encouraging.

 

People on a beer forum need to learn what an "adjunct" is versus flavoring additives.

Anyways, looks like they're still able to stoke the hype engine with this supposed variation.

 

I wasn't talking about Barleywine, I was only tangentially discussing whatever it was that you guys started out discussing. I meant the Props, BCS w/fruit, etc.

 

Pretty hard to say since we don't even know when the GI "brewhouse" is reopening (should be soon, but they haven't gone so far as to announce future events). If they are doing the normal BF thing, tickets go on sale on a specific date/set time like your typical beer event.

 

The takes are getting hot here. But isn't this splitting hairs? "Adjunct" literally means something joined or added to another thing. I wont dispute there are different points when things can be added, but any add is an adjunct.

DB BCS to be premiered at FOBAB

 

Don't announce beer 4 months in advance if you can't deliver the product. Not a good look. This has happened multiple times now.

 

Adjunct is a word beer geeks like to use when they don't want their beer to sound like they poured Coffee-Mate into it, and haven't had enough experience on the brewing side to be exposed to the actual meaning of the word.

Adjunct is a very specific term in the beer and brewing world, and peanut butter, banana powder, coffee beans, pureed berries, almond extract, coconut butter, coconut water, toasted coconut, or what have you, are simply not adjuncts. They're flavoring ingredients.

Ergo, what we're talking about here is actually a much simpler, easier to understand term: a flavored stout. Not an adjunct stout. Unless of course you used something like corn and rice to make the stout, then it's a flavored adjunct stout.

 

I lol'd.

With the shenanigans ABI is pulling these days, I wouldn't be surprised if a banana fosters beer was actually just ABI's Fosters Ale with banana added.

 

Honestly, I've always used definitions like this when I say "adjunct":

https://beerandbrewing.com/what-is-an-adjunct/

If that's an inaccurate definition, so be it, but basically I see fruit on a stout, I think "adjunct".

I think it's important to remember that just like some people aren't interested in the difference between a naturally-aspirated engine in a supercar vs. one with a turbo, there are plenty of people on this site (myself included) who don't particularly care about the process of brewing other than in its ability to produce tasty alcoholic beverages. I'd get the outrage if this were on the homebrew portion of the site, but this forum is where we talk about/obsessively chase the beers.

So uh, I have not had many "flavored" BCS variants whose flavors have held up over the years.

 

The article poignantly, and maybe a little more politely, proves my point. I've actually enjoyed that piece before as well.

The only thing in it that loosely supports the use of the term "adjunct" to mean "flavoring" is the fruits in sour ales, but those often perform dual roles, i.e. in refermentation. However, this is not how brewers are using all of the other added flavorings not listed in the article.

The thing is, people are trying to use a technical, geeky term, in lieu of a simpler, more accurate and more intuitive term. So the comparison to overly complicated engine mechanics does not work.

Instead of people trying to use a technical term they don't understand to describe a beer, they should use a term they know, and that actually makes sense.

 

Everyone says they like it with age, and that “at a tasting last week, for a side by side the one with 3 years was best”.

However, I’ve done multiple blind tastings at shares over the years, and every time, the fresh version has won blind vote by a score of 10 people to 2, 15-3, or something of the like.

And every time people are surprised that they voted for the fresh version “because I just did a side by side last week and 13 is drinking like fire now!”

It’s crazy how ready the beer is out of the gate.

 

The problem is that people are using the term because they're reading it from others on the site. If no one is calling these beers "flavored stouts," why would a newcomer to the site do it? "Flavored stout" also sounds like it could contain artificial flavors, whereas adjunct sounds, at least to my ears, like there are genuine ingredients in the beer.

And the car analogy was literally only to illustrate that plenty of people here don't care about the difference between an adjunct and a flavor as long as the beer tastes good.

Anyway, not trying to derail the thread, just pointing out that not everyone here is going to have/try to have that sort of understanding of beer, even if they see these terms thrown about. I will forever conflate all IPAs and APAs, for example.

Yeah, I've never done a side-by-side (which is weird, because I have the beer for it), but just based on memory I've also never been blown away by an aged stout, probably because I like what the fresh version brings to the table.

I have a bottle of 2013 Darkness that I'm terrified to open, because I loved the hoppiness of the beer when it was fresh...

 

I'd like to get a blind taste test 5 year vertical of BCBS and just serve everyone 5 cups of the exact same year and see what arguments transpire or if everyone calls it out as being the same beer.

 

Wow: "One Tip: Do not age Reserve....It will not improve in the bottle."