Goose Island Bourbon County Stout overload?

Me to, much more user friendly in 12 Oz bottles

 

Yeah, hype and scarcity can drive up desire and ratings. Founders went through this with KBS a few years ago. It was hard to get and highly rated, then they ramped up production too fast and suddenly it was aging on shelves and ratings dropped. Introducing limited KBS variants helped. If they had ramped up production slower then they might have found the sweet spot, but that's challenging with a one-year lag for aging.

 

That would mean a 4-pack around $40. To get to a 'popular' price I think they need to go back to the 12 oz. bottle for the base BCBS. Variants could stay in the larger bottle and come with a bank loan application.

YEP!

YEP!

 

I cant even get regular in my area.
I aint rushing over to the liquor store on Black Friday just to get a bottle.

 

It’s easy enough to trade for , in a lot of places there’s still plenty in the floor. No hunting required.

 

I only care about the regular BCBS and am glad to be able to buy it whenever I want.

 

That’s a good example. Now I would propose that the primary reason the ratings dropped was not because the beer was sitting on the shelves getting stale, but more so the “prestige“ or perceived rarity that drives up hype was no longer there. I am certain that the scarcity factor artificially drives up numbers, almost a placebo effect, iron a rarity-hype- placebo if you will. I mean it happens with essentially any beer I can think of that was once super limited and then later became readily available. And it’s not like KBS is falling off the cliff if it’s sits on the shelves for six months.

 

I’m sure your right, when it was a Chicago area only release it was a super tough get. Even 2-3 x dollar cost wouldn't get you a trade. Now it sits for $12.99 a bottle everywhere, they’d do better going back to 4 pks, the 500 ml bottles look cool but is inconvenient.

 

We do not have a problem of too much BCBS in Michigan. At least not in mid-Michigan.

 

I swear I’m not intentionally being contrarian here although it seems like it haha......

.....but I actually really like the 500mL packaging. It’s the perfect amount to fit into my large snifter glass of choice. A better amount for sharing too. Now granted if the prize per oz dropped substantially in the 12oz format then I would go for that, but my guess is that wouldn’t be the case.

 

That's what I meant too, we're in agreement. KBS doesn't spoil on the shelf, though stores don't want to be keeping beer around that long. One local store near me refused any BCBS this past November, because they still had several cases of 2019 Regular and a few bottles of variants.

 

I could not disagree more. The primary reason ratings dropped is because they are making ridiculously dumb versions of it.

Evidence #1: 100pt 2018 Vanilla. https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1146/53980/
They made A TON of that stuff, and people LOVED it. Bramble Rye also. *make BCBS like these, please*


If you look at the proud history of BCBS and why people went nuts for BCBCS, and Bramble, and Cherry Rye, and Rare - caramel apple BCBS, and earl grey BCBS stick out like stinky sore thumbs. Which brings me to...

Evidence #2: There is almost zero "Special #4" floating around, because, shocker, it has traditional stout flavors that work. I don't think most stores mind having regular BCBS all year, but the junk they bottled this year is going to turn a lot of stores off from "playing ball" with their GI rep, since the shit didn't sell.

 

I usually buy two base versions, one for aging and one to try fresh, along with with the regular influx of variants. Both the regular version and the "basic" variants are on the shelf without a discount. At only a few months past release it's probably too early, but I'd buy more at a steep discount if it becomes available.

TL: DR - A lot of it is on the shelf but there is no discount here yet. I might buy more of what I liked later on, depending on markdown.

On a side-note I'm personally glad that they are on the shelf. I didn't have to wait in a line or brave foul weather to buy my beers.

 

That’s not really evidence to anything. First off, Vanilla and most recent Bramble were both still WAY more difficult to obtain than this years variants. Could you walk into a beer store a month, a week, hell even a day after Black Friday and pick up as many of those as you wanted? You sure as shit couldn’t do that here. The prestige and scarcity factor was still there for those beers (“I had to wait in line to get it and it sold out right away, it must be good”).

Also to your point number 2, that is just overtly false, at least around this part of FL. Kentucky Fog was the least available of the 3 variants we got, and the places that have sold out of any have sold out of KF first. Special #4 still seems to be everywhere.

I’m not hating on Vanilla or Bramble (Vanilla in particular is one of the best beers I’ve ever had), but I just think you points are off base. If the Kentucky Fog recipe was this years Prop release I am not sure you would feel the same way, and the hype would be through the roof as per typical BCB Props, and it would probably be rated even higher than it is now.