Thoughts on Goose Island's 2022 Bourbon County (BCBS) Lineup?

Which fine, but I don’t — and I’m sure I’m not alone here — consider coffee or the barleywine a ‘low-end variant’ because they used to sell them both for the exact same price as the OG at $6/12oz bottle or $24-25 a 4-pack and it’s even more galling to think of it in terms of the latter. They are now selling one 16oz bottle for the same price that they used to sell 48oz worth of the same beer.

It’s bad enough that they sell some of these variants for like $65 (also before anyone tries to be like ‘well Toppling Goliath sells KBBS for..’ they can fuck off too) but what they’re doing with coffee/barleywine is straight-up extortionate.

I will instead be buying Framinghammer variants for $12 and hoping Goose Island goes bankrupt.

 

Barleywine and coffee, in that order. I hope we see BW here. Otherwise, I’m trading… of course, I’m always open to those pesky 2017 BWs nobody wants.

 

NY. Higher prices. Always.

 

$42 for the barleywine? Fuuuuuuuuuuck meeeeee.

 

Glug glug glug glug. Fall down.

 

I think of Evil Twin’s biscotti break that was so difficult to discern the flavors.

 

Isn’t there still some union busting hate for GI? Maybe we can score some BW after all.

 

It was straight up anise and licorice. Very few at Prop day actually said they liked it. The coffee variant was a surprise hit, but it's not a $30 bottle...Not even close.

 

✅

 

https://www.porchdrinking.com/artic...bon-county-stout-review-the-30th-anniversary/

This article says the barleywine is 60% double barrel aged, saw that mentioned one other place. Can anyone confirm?

 

The biggest offender as far as pricing is concerned is the Anniversary bottle, as far as I am concerned. I haven't tried it, but it doesn't seem like there's anything particularly special about those barrels. Even I feel like that's a money-grabbing farce.

 

It's mentioned on the box. Yup.

 

Is double barrel even a selling point in this case if it is 1) only 60% of the barrels, 2) you are already doing a blend of 3 different barrels, and 3) it’s staying in some kind of barrel for 2 years regardless.

 

It's all Old Fitz BIB, and all barrels are that were first wracked are from one of the most lauded Old Fitz BIB releases in at least the past decade. A blend? Feels like an overuse of the word for how most would use the word blend here. It's the exact same whiskey, same type of release, etc. Not just the same distillery or even the same mash. This is likely way closer to being "not a blend" than something like the first Reserve release where Goose used ECBP barrels, which for sure must have included multiple batches.

 

Nope, just reread the box and no mention of double barreling. SN doesn't mention double barreled on its E.H. Taylor Bigfoot packaging either. Strange.

I think so, 2 years finishing in a barrel is going to be very different then one year spent in each of two different barrels and 60% is a big number

 

I thought this was a J. Peterman bit until I scanned through the Porch Drinking article.

Would be interesting to know the breakdown of who got what % (Burundi Coffee Coop, shippers, commodity brokers, distributors, Intelligentsia, Goose Island) out of the $10-$13 per bottle markup between the OG BCBS price and the BCBS Coffee price.

In terms of trying two of the three I cared about this season (didn't get a crack at the third, Anniversary), I did enjoy the Coffee much more than the BW, the latter of which I found too sweet for my taste. I only had 2-3 ounce samples, so I didn't perform a formal review, and may have different takes if I had a say a half to full bottle of each and had time for both to warm further. I liked the fact the coffee was present, really enjoyed it, but it was not too strong which you get many times in a BA Coffee stout.

 

• Bourbon County Proprietor’s Stout (jungle bird cocktail - banana, coconut, lime, pineapple)

Well that sounds disgusting...but I'm definitely down for trying it!

 

Burlington Wine and Spirits.

 

@DIM I will have to go back through the other BC thread to find the links. One included a tasting by reviewers/“influencers” at the barrel house, and I thought they were reading off the box at the time, but it sounds like I am misremembering. There was at least one other place where we saw the DB comment.