GI Bourbon County bottle share tasting order…

My three favorites that day were
1- 2013 BCBCS
2- Coconut Rye
3- Rare
after that I was splitting hairs. They were all amazing beers.

 

Figured I would piggyback off this thread since we did a BCS tasting last night. Our order was:


Group 1:
BCBS Rare
2008 BCBS x 1
2007 BCBS x 1

Palate cleanser: Grassroots Convivial Suarez

Group 2 (paired with Coconut Macaroons):
BCBVS
BCBS Proprietors

Palate cleanser: Hill Farmstead E.

Group 3 (paired with raspberries and blackberries):
BCBS Backyard Rye
BCBS Bramble

Palate cleanser: Cantillon Kriek 100% Lambic Bio

Group 4 (paired with brownies):
BCBS Cherry Rye
2010 BCBCS

Group 5:
2012 BCBCS
2013 BCBCS x 1

Group 6:
2013 BCBBW x 1

We did the beers in each group side by side, and tried to have some different styles in between the first few groups to switch up our palates a bit. I also tried to pair some of the groups with foods I thought they could be good with. In the end, I think between our order and splits worked very well, and think we each had good pours of everything and no one got too drunk (we had 6 people). We probably could have cut the barleywine at the end, but some people did not drink it anyway.

My notes and basic take aways were:

- All three "palate cleanser" beers were great and worked very well. It's nice to come back to a saison, pale ale, or sour occasionally in between all that stout. Obviously drinking a lot of water and having some crackers also helped.

- 2008 BCS has held up surprisingly well, and was one of the best beers of the night in most people's opinions. 2007 seemed a bit faded and like it was starting to go downhill, though none of the beers last night were bad.

- I was also surprised how well the 2010 BCBCS had held up; about half the group thought this was the best Coffee vintage and a top 3-4 of the night. I personally thought the fresh 2013 was the best, but loved the 2010. The consensus was that 2012 was a clear drop from the other 2 coffee vintages.

- Backyard Rye was great, and definitely the most distinct of the group. Lots of dark fruits and jam to it. Bramble seemed a bit faded, though someone said fresh it was closed to what Backyard is now.

- Rare was great, I was also very happy with Proprietors as I had heard mixed reviews.

My rankings would be:
1. Rare
2. 2013 BCBCS
3. 2008 BCS
4. Backyard Rye
5. 2010 BCBCS
6. Proprietors
7. Cherry Rye
8. Vanilla
9. Bramble
10. 2007 BCS
11. 2012 BCBCS

It was a lot of fun, I'd highly recommend doing it.