Sorry if this has already been discussed, please delete this thread if it has. I'm sitting here looking at some bottles of BCBS, and I noticed a few interesting differences. These two bottles are from two different four packs purchased at two different liquor stores roughly ten miles apart. They were bottled on August 8th and September 29th. One bottle has a cap with gold on it, the other has white. The August-bottled example states it's ABV at 14.4%, the other bottle is 13.8%. Is all this just simply a case of product variation between suppliers and/or batches? This being my first year buying this beer, I'm just wondering if that difference in ABV is normal for all batches. It seems like a pretty substantial difference to me, but maybe I'm just seriously over thinking this.
I asked the same thing yesterday (as a fellow first-timer) and was told that's largely to get into markets that prohibit the sale of beer of over 14% ABV. Interestingly enough I picked up the 14.4 yesterday and got the 13.8 at an event today.
Edit: Did just see this being discussed in another thread on like the second or third page. Sorry to everyone, not trying to spam - up the forum. And I guess that makes sense....talk about pushing the legal limit.
I believe it is just batch variation. I assume it is due to factors like barrel variation and maybe even the temperature the barrels were stored at. Even though barrels may be stored in the same room, their location in the room would have an affect on temperature which would in turn affect ABV. That's just a guess and room temperature though. Someone else will probably be able to give a better answer. I know temperature affects the overall ABV. The extremely cold winter caused lower ABV batches. This was confirmed by Goose Island, and in turn may have allowed them to distribute in markets they previously were not able to.
Basically, it takes them about 3 months to empty all the barrels and bottle the beer. Due to the great variation of barrels they use, they do multiple blends (and bottling thereafter) to get the final beer they are looking for. As a result, there are different ABVs and will be slightly different taste (due to the barrel variation) for each batch.
Correct reason: Posted on another thread was that Goose Island said due to cold weather last year, the barrels didn't "do their thing" (my interpretation) as much as in past years. This resulted in lower ABV.
The 14.4 is a full sip short too! Yes, these are not stored in a climate controlled environment. I was an extremely long and cold winter. And the Summer wasn't as hot as it normally is either. It really constricts the barrels from breathing.
People spend too much time analyzing bottles. I buy beer, put in the fridge, take a pic then drink it.
the 13.8 was fully intentional, to permeate OH and GA, among others. The GI rep thought that all of his region (southeast) had the 13.8 product. FWIW
I noticed your bottles are not even to fill, I work for an AB distributor and I noticed that some BCBS bottles had more beer in them than others. Did anyone else notice this?
Lots of beers are like this. Often it is disguised because there is a label around the neck. Rarely are they ever that perfectly filled, but you are really talking about splitting hairs.
Thanks for posting this, I'm listening to it now, this is very interesting to me as a technical-minded person, pretty much a goldmine of information.
