2013 BCBS vs. 2014 BCBS

If you skip the pre-2008 years that I did not include this is nearly identical to my ranking, with 2009 the only exception.

Agree with the fundamental point, but also think it is worth noting that individual people may have fairly consistent experiences with certain beers/vintages over many instances. That has certainly been the case for me with BCBS over the years anyway. The post above from pmoney further suggests to me that experiences with certain vintages may be similar for different individuals.

 

I have 12/13/14 Bcbs if there is any perceived difference, or that one is better would be lost on me. They're all great. When you get to 2008/2009 or so yes it mellows out and the pure bourbon heat dissipates. Imo 2009 might be the best I've had, perhaps 2012 will be the same in 2017.

 

To me the 14.2% 2013 batch is just a better beer period while the 14.9% 2013 batch is similar to the 2014 stuff just with the years age on it making it drink better.

 

I read an article a while back that I think was posted on BA somewhere where Jesse Valenciana from Goose Island stated specifically "this year's Bourbon County [2014] is more mellow than in years past because of the crazy weather we had last year. It was the first time ever that we had to turn heaters on in the barrel warehouse because of those -40 degree days. As a result, the barrels weren't contracting as much as in past years and we ended up with almost a full percentage point lower in ABV than we had in 2013's release." Expert tasters in that article describe it as having a lighter body and more mellow flavors in general. Clearly variations from year to year occur. That being said, I read this article before Black Friday and when I was able to get a 2014 I sat down and did a side by side with 2013 expecting a huge variation and in the end they tasted remarkably similar (although the 2013 obviously had a year on it). Here is a link to the article/interview which is actually a fairly interesting read.

blog.lakeshorebev.com/blog/2014-bourbon-county-stout

 

I was going to refer to that article, too, @CCutch. Good write up of how the temperature and conditions impact the flavour. The summer here also ended up being milder, so the barrels couldn't expand as much as in past years.
I've had several of my friends say that they prefer the mellower 14 because it's ready to drink right away, but then again it's personal preference.

 

these are excellent points. the same sort of factors are relevant with (each individual barrel, for the duration of years), during the maturation of whiskey.

it's fairly well established that no two sibling barrels matured right next to each other in a warehouse for years are exactly the same. so long as the barrel construction is solid & consistent, the siblings should be somewhat *close* but "the same" is highly unlikely. the evaporation is unlikely to be exactly the same for any two barrels as well.

i suspected cycling (barrel contraction & expansion process) was playing a factor with beers similar to its influence on whiskeys. the blog clarifies GI's, or at least Valenciana's take on the subject.

this basically states each release of Bourbon County is NOT the exact same to begin with. neither are the barrels exactly the same to begin with each year. we know that two barrels that are considered exactly the same in a single release will have differing results. each "batch" with in a release year is different as well & some members have said as much when comparing bottled dates with-in a release year.

hence, it's probably a joke to function on concepts like: the 2009 vintage tastes perfect in 2014, that means the 2013 probably will taste the same in 2018, the 2014 will taste the same around 2019 etc. the batches weren't the same to begin with-in the release years let alone the 2009 batch(es) versus batches created & released years later.

what's really being experienced is GI's managed to continuously release GOOD blends that are somewhat consistent year in & year out, batch after batch. but the point is "GOOD" does not = exactly the same.

 

I recently was at a tasting and had 2012, 2013, and 2014. Clearly '12 was the winner. However I preferred '14 as the second best and my buddies agreed that '13 was the third place finisher. It was still great and perhaps my buds cellaring on that bottle affected things. Still have some 2013 and 2014 of my own in my dark basement & am looking forward to seeing how I do aging these gems.