Goose Island Bourbon County 2019

No it was 4 packs but your math was good so I decided not to edit my post.

 

Just out of curiosity what stouts do you find comparable or better?

 

Alesmith Speedway, all of them that I've had from Central Waters, Against the Grain Bo and Luke, Greenbush Delusion, some of Prairie's offerings. Those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head

 

Nice.

 

BA Ten FIDY

 

Do you brush your teeth with dogshit?Finback stouts are the best in New York,Other Half has the best ipas but their stouts are not Finback level. And fall extremely short of what?bourbon county?? Deary me, sit the next few plays out pal.

 

I gave credit, but they ain’t the best anymore, not even close.This years line up was shoddy, lazy even. As I said, regular bcbs is still solid, their variants have been hit or miss for the last 2 years. Just cos they’ve been doing it longer doesn’t mean they can get things wrong. This years Vanilla was a poor effort, Bramble rye was a joke. $30 a bottle too. Daylight robbery for what was in them.

 

As I’ve said, regular bcbs is still a very good ba stout, but their variants have been shoddy. North woods was mediocre. Bramble rye and Vanilla from this year were lazy, artificial tasting.the wheatwin was a huge drop in quality compared to the old barley wine(which was amazing). My issue is that the variants cost $30 a bottle here at least, I can go to my local breweries and get almost 2 better quality ba stouts for that price.

 

Christ, talk about blast from the past. I posted that over a month ago.

I used to like Finback's IPAs but those fell off for me pretty hard. So I lost a lot of early love for them a while back. Then I had some of their stouts and it didn't change my perspective. They go way too hard in the pastry paint without hitting the target.

Jadda! is the only stout I've had a full pour of by them, and it tasted artificial and medicinal. Not entirely terrible, but if that's the best NY has to offer (and it's not, but a country mile), then you've got low standards. But that's cool though, you do you. Anyone that likes Twin Peaks is going to have poor taste.

 

I’ve got no real complaints with BC, in the infected year what I had was fine, but I think I prudently went thru it quicker than perhaps I would have. I like to sit on stouts until I’m really up for one. I did prefer the 12 oz bottles though, I find this format unwieldy for the abv. There’s lots of good stouts, but they’re not all alike, you might prefer one of another, but imo its tough directly comparing which is “better” when they may be apples and oranges. Coffee, chocolate coconut, pepper, different adjuncts, abv is all over the place. It may be particular to my palate but the Junie Stouts from Transient Brewing are incredible, and if I had every stout I’ve ever sitting on a shelf this would be the first one I’d pull off the shelf. It might be a bit arrogant to call it the best stout on earth, it just happens to be my favorite, it fits what I personally like. Beers very personal, each persons best is completely subjective.

Just a quick thought again on GI. Some of those beers were infected, but some not all. So surely we can understand being buried under a ton of complaints that initially were confusing to get a handle on. They offered about the impossible to buy back those beers in that kinda volume from everyone who bought a bottle in every podunk town in America. They didn’t even require much in the return here, no real proof of purchase. The heart was in the right place even if the execution was far from flawless, but that one hell of a hurdle right there. Infection is tricky could happen to anyone at anytime unless you take precautions upfront. And still....

 

Had mine a few weeks back and it was really good.

 

...is good but not in a league with BCBS. Also does not age well, boldness really starts to fall off at about six months, and a mere shadow of itself at 12 months. Drink fresh, really smacks you in the face in the nicest possible way.

 

I don't think being cheaper is an indicator of beer quality but hey if that's the hat you want to hang your pastry goop covered hat on, feel free. No other craft brewery is selling cheap ba stout. It's cheap at Finback for a reason.

If you think NY has some kind of special selection of quality beer that Ohio does not, you're more ignorant than you first come off as. Ohio's been doing higher quality local craft stouts longer than New York has even had serviceable American craft beer.

But, to be as absolutely clear as I can, AB/InBev Bourbon County is objectively and infinitely better than the ba stouts at Finback, Other Half, lic, Interboro, Evil Twin (pick your production facility)...yes most absolutely.

Kane, on the other hand, shits all over them all with ease, with the exception of BCBS, which is a close second. The fact that you put Finback (FINBACK?!) even in the same paragraph as GI and Kane is laughable.

 

Hey I have no dog in this race although I will say I do enjoy finback beers in general, but which BA stouts have you had from them? BA BQE is tremendous but I haven’t had many of the others. I do think regular BCBS sets a pretty darn high standard, particularly for a shelf beer I can buy for 11-12 bucks. Just wondering how many BA offerings you’ve gotten to try from Finback, personally I wish I’d had more by now.

 

I’m not a guy who has time or can afford to age beer. Not that there is anything wrong with being able to do so. I might be a bit jealous of those who can.

But I will stand by my opinion that BA Ten FIDY gives BCBS a run for its money any day of the week.

Now BCBCS..... its not even in the same heat.

 

I tend not to rate many beers I've not enjoyed and only had tasters of, but what I've had I've not found remotely close to the other world class stouts. I'd rather stick to specifics on beers I've had a good pour of. I'm not completely counting Finback out, and will give them a few more chances as they've been hit or miss for me, but lately it's been more miss.

 

Totally get where you’re coming from and agree in principle. Would encourage you to
Try more of their stuff as I’ve found their hoppy beers are getting (clearly) up into the top echelon in the last year or two. The brewery only BA stout releases have largely escaped me and I’d like more opinions on them which is why I chimed in - you seemed to have a strong and largely negative view of them.

I am also a big fan of OH but have found their stouts and BW lacking and clearly below the standards of BCBS and variants.

 

Anyone who puts down Ohio stouts totally loses credibility.

 

Place next door to me is still faithfully selling their keg for $13/10 Oz since March.

 

Finbacks ba the hawk and whale is better than anything gi has done in the last 4 years.

 

That’s the one I really wanted to try!

 

Definitely worth seeking out. Took me by surprise.

 

Yeah, glad you said that! I have a few regular and BA’s cellaring, and trying them intermittently yields disappointment. I used to think that any stout, BA or not, would age well, but OB Ten Fidy doesn’t play that way, IMO.

 

Do they have distro in upstate NY? I don’t recall ever seeing them, but we have a lot of gaps around here...

 

Not sure. I'd check beermenus

 

I don't have a horse in this pissing contest, but Kane shits all over GI. Everything I have had from their barrel program was next level beer. Modern times too. GI is flogging a dead horse, exploiting their fan base via a poor $/oz format, and putting out the same lackluster variants they have for years or worse, InBevs idea of a good variant.Yikes.

 

I love Kane. An infinite amount more than anything by GI. But the consistency of BCBS at the absurdly vast volume they produce...it's unmatched. And they either created, or at least perfected, this whole entire style to begin with. I can't take that away from them and I don't care who owns them today. I personally don't feel quality has dipped. 2015 infection-gate and subsequent pasteurization measures included. I'll take almost any BA Kane beer over GI if given and either/or choice, but still.

 

Had a busy day cleaning gutters and installing gutter guards...knees are not happy...another beer will shut them up. 2 year old Founders Curmudgeon is in the glass. Still pretty spicy up front, but settles down quickly enough to a malty old ale. No nose on this one, or maybe a touch of old musty Monte Carlo when water got in the carpet. After the Odravein, this is a weak follow up.

 

I get that Kane is standing on Goose Island's shoulders here, and GI at it's best was the best, but I feel like they are a shadow of themselves. It's not because of the buy out, but as mentioned before it's hard to not feel like the consumer is being exploited by GI these days when I used to buy 4x for 20 bucks.

 

Um, wrong thread?

 

Yep, sorry.

 

The effects of aging are quite subjective. I like what happens to Founders CBS and Prairie Pirate Bomb/Noir aged six months or more, while I prefer most other stouts fresh. From my experience few improve, some don't change much, and many degrade. Often what seems to happen is some flavor(s) fade, allowing other flavors to prevail. Some breweries encourage aging but I suspect much of that is to boost sales and cult status. If aging improves their beer, they are admitting they couldn't hit the mark.

 

Reflecting back on this comment here. These attributes alone don't make BCBS the king of (barrel aged) beers. This is like saying Budweiser is better than Jever for the same reasons.

 

You're right. But while palates change, I don't think the beer really has seen a dip in quality. Some here have made that argument but I just don't see it. I can be pretty picky and boycott stuff for all sorts of reasons. I don't buy a lot of BCBS, but I do buy some every year because it's pretty much the best barrel aged beer you can buy off the shelf, especially over such a wide distribution footprint. And it also still trounces 90% of all smaller batch, brewery-only, non-adjunct barrel aged stouts. The ones that are significantly better than BCBS are in the extreme minority and everyone knows what they are.

 

Dragon's Milk?








*ducks*

 

I agree with you. I easily access and drink central Florida’s good stuffs daily (Angry Chair, Cycle, Cigar City, Hidden Springs etc.). I won’t say GI is better than them, but BCBS and some of its varients (e.g. last year vanilla) are comparable, and still top-tier considering their huge production.

Apart from that, I complain about their price. Large production can lead to lower price I beleive. Considering their format (16.9 oz?), their varients are a bit pricy.

And barrel aging is a complicated procedure, not easy to control. So it may not be a good example of comparison with larger production.

 

I think we found the barrels GI is going to use for 2020 BCBS Rare: https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/03/us/jim-beam-warehouse-fire-kentucky-trnd/index.html

Rare barrels chosen by fate to survive an epic fire. Oaky smokiness....

 

GI RARE 2020
BCBS AGED IN EXTREMELY RARE FIRE BOMBS FOR 2 YEARS

 

If it happened in 2019, how would there be a 2 year rare release in 2020? Just curious

 

GENEROUS ROUNDING