Bourbon County Tasting Planning Thread (Nov. 27-29)

Be a pleasure to join y'all for this, since I haven't had a beer in weeks. I won't be picking up any of this year's, but will enjoy one from the cellar. Pretty sure I don't have anything older than 2011 now, and the variants are all gone, but will open the oldest regular I have.

 

Got a 2017 Barley Wine and Stout. Eeny meeny miny moe

 

Nice!!! I will definitely participate at least one of the days, and maybe all three, depending on what I get Friday morning for the release.

 

Not sure if this helps anyone with their decision-making come Friday, but here’s my early take on Kentucky Fog...



Pours a ruby-hued, near-black color with an overly-massive dark tan head that’s much longer-lasting and rockier than other BCBS I remember. It leaves clumpy, stringy webs of lacing that are damn impressive for the ABV.

Huge Earl Gray in the nose — dried bergamot, earthy tea and a kiss of honey sitting on top of some light chocolate and bourbon with vanilla. There’s a whiff of alcohol, too.

Chocolate, vanilla, bergamot and strong alcohol stand out first in the taste. There’s some underlying earthy, honey sweetness as well. I get a cola impression, too. A flowery finish gives way to lingering herbal bitterness in the aftertaste.

It has an oily feel on the thick side of medium bodied. Fairly sharp carbonation.

This one is definitely an odd duck. Others have called it polarizing, and I can see why. To my taste, the Earl Gray comes on too strong. I’m gonna guess allowing this to mellow for a year or so will dull the intense citrus and make the flavors meld better.

 

The danger to me from aging is that the floral citrus remains but just gets more stale. Disappearing doesn’t sound that bad. You’d probably still have the honey and an earthy tea-like impression. Time will tell!

 

My lineup for the weekend:



Not too exciting for all of you who line up every black Friday, but I am looking forward to opening these from my cellar.

 

I'm going to a release event on Friday. Looking forward to the variants and not chasing after them.

 

I picked up my 2020 bottle yesterday. Will check in.

 

My contact at the grocery store said there will be three variants along with regular BCBS so I'll surely have one of the new variants in this thread Saturday.

 

I'll probably join you in that Cafe de Olla. Been eyeballin' that beer for a few weeks now, since the weather turned cooler, this event is the perfect time to seal the deal.

 

Ditto here and tomorrow I’m going to take a ride out to a different distro area and try to snag the anniversary bottle. There seems to be one every year that is elusive in this area and this year it’s the birthday variant apparently. Last year it was the 2 year.

 

Same in my area....this is the first year in a while I don’t have to go to NYC to snag a particular variant, which was 2-year last year. We actually got them all in the Philly burbs this year(except Prop obviously).

 

I’m sure that birthday is around in NJ somewhere but I just haven’t dug deep enough to be able to find it. NYC might be the answer for that, but I have no intention of going anywhere near that cesspool right now.

 

You and me both my friend....I have a 2nd home there and haven’t been since February.

 

I just put a 2019 wheatwine and Mon Cheri in the fridge for T-day dinner. I have several others from years past to drink over the weekend. Cheers!

 

Jeez. I’m predicting that you’ll feel the effects of that beer. Happy Thanksgiving Dave.