Goose Island Bourbon County 2020 (Great Lakes)

Tried the Caramella, I liked it at first but the sweetness got to me about halfway through the bottle. I like barleywines and sweet beers but this was just too much. I actually had some Larceny bourbon around so added a little bit which made it boozier but didn't cut the sweetness.. I think somebody else suggested sharing it, with everybody getting 4 oz or so. That would be a good spot for it.

 

There's hyperbole...and then there's this!

Big Hugs drinks like a brown ale. It's amazing that Catch Hell and Benthic come from the same brewery as Big Hugs. Obviously different base beer and (I suspect) aging time, but still....

 

Who else missed that whopper of a vintage package they had up for sale today??

Was gone in about 9 mins and had a bottle of Rare 15, DBBCBS, ‘17-19 Reserve, and the gold foil vintage BCBS snifter. Missed out on a banger

 

Been following this thread for a few months, thought I’d add my two cents. Had original, three Easter eggs, and two year reserve crowler from a couple weeks ago...all blind. Also threw in a 2019 2 year reserve rye. BT was my favorite of the Easter eggs, with WT clearly having the most booziness, which I thought came through as more of a fruitiness but not overpoweringly boozy. 2 year reserve was squarely in the middle. Really wanted it to stand out, but it didn’t within our group. It was still very good, but didn’t standout. 2019 reserve rye was last place for everyone. Of all years, the blended original is so good this year, not sure anything is truly worth the extra effort to seek out.

 

Good God, how much was that?

 

$250, so basically just over secondary for the DBBCBS alone

 

I caught the post and had the ability to buy the package but didn’t pull the trigger. I’ve spent a lot on beer the past month or so and with it being right after Christmas, I decided against the $250 showing up on the CC bill. Definitely regretted it pretty quickly. Stupid Kevin...

 

For everyone who has loaded up on expensive stout releases this season and can find the time to drink $30 worth of beer each night, I don't want your job, but I'd like your wife.

 

The key is not having a wife

 

May this choice haunt you forever

 

I’ve seen a couple posts concerning the inconsistencies of the og BCBS bottles. I find the JUL best by date bottles are the culprit.

 

For what I tried of 2020 bcs so far, my rankings are: prop, org, coffee, tea.

still need to try birthday, anniversary, 2 year reserve crowler, and the 3 org BT, WT, and HH

 

Just from my own perspective, the JUL bottles (I've had 4) were thin with overall muted flavors. Still a fine brew but not in the class of the other two best by dates, which were fantastic.

 

Who has tools to measure viscosity? We need to prove whether this is true.

 

I drank 2 year reserve (Fulton), 30 mo Weller, and pikerville tonight against reserve 17 and anniversary 20.

Ranking? My ranking is: Chicago wins. These were all different and all awesome.

happy new year comrades. Keep fighting the good fight.

 

Drinking Prop '20 now and getting a lot of vanilla in aroma and taste. Surprised as don't recall this being noted in early reviews. As it warmed though, the chocolate really came through with a bit of cherry. Still sitting on Anni and B-day, but here goes so far: OG > Special #4 > Prop 20 > Carmella > Fog

 

Here in Michigan all we had was the July date. I have been drinking BCS for 15 years. I have bought and chased many cases, but this year have only bought 3 bottles. I agree with CaptCleveland that this year has much to be desired. Furthermore the $25 per bottle variants have sucked (the ones that we could get). Not spending money on a subpar product....

 

The Revolution will not be televised..it's canned.

 

Would love to be closer to Revolution....LOL. you guys are spoiled. We have Bells and Founders and that’s about it. They are separated by 60 miles. Competition is a beautiful thing!

 

Bingo on the regular. Having just cracked a BT version this is what it should taste like and reminds me a lot of last years regular. The July date blend is a very muddled mess.

 

Jul is all I've seen in TX near me and I felt very disappointed in the one I had so far. Guess I'll keep an eye out for other months.

 

Just an opinion but I noticed a lot of this. A family member bought me Birthday for Christmas and was kind enough to drop it at my doorstep. I already popped it. It was superior to regular, the only other I had, because of the barrel qualities I thought. So I'm curious, why are people sitting on it on these boards so often? I mean, and I might be very, very wrong, but if you're paying extra for the barrel you might as well not have any fade right? Well anyway after covid is over I'm splitting a bottle with a friend, so that question I suppose will be answered, but it's the thing I never understood about buying old Rares or whatever. Maybe someone can explain their experiences with aging the special barrels etc. and why it's worth it. That said it's only been a month and change so don't take this as an attack or assumption etc. I'm honestly curious because this is the first time one of these Rare barrel types was even available to me.

 

This post was the closest I could find (quickly) on the BCBS Pepsi challenge...

I tried (portions) of each Easter egg on NYE....only realizing now I should’ve clearly done blended too.

Buffalo Trace - not bad, just unremarkable on the nose and taste for me. I could see how it would be useful in the blend though.

Heaven Hill - strangely, got literally almost nothing on the nose, but this was my favorite taste of the 3.

Wild Turkey - my overall winner (best nose + taste combo)

I have a very unrefined palate, though - take this opinion for exactly what it’s worth.

 

A friend has cancer and is on chemo, so has very limited taste right now. I want to share these to celebrate once surgery is done.

 

Like others, I’m holding mine (Anny in the cellar & a Birthday on the way) until I can share it with my dad. It’s tough to find time to solo a BCBS with a bunch of kids around 24/7, though I am taking down a ‘20 Prop tonight.

 

I really like it. Would rank it lower than ‘19 Prop, ‘20 Reg, and Deth by Cherries. The aroma is unreal, it totally smells like Spumoni, but the cherries dominate the taste and are a bit overpowering. Would have preferred a bit more balance but don’t regret picking this up.

 

Spent yesterday in Chicagoland to get another BC fix. Special 2Year on tap at Fulton but they are no longer doing crowler fills so went to Clybourn. The 17-18-19 prop flight was super tempting but passed. I really wanted to taste DB against Bday and Anni...DB wins. Also caught Prop 20 on the shelf at Binny’s LP.

 

I think you're on to something. I had a JUL bottle and was not impressed.

Seems odd with how many people I've seen say that this year's is as good as ever.

 

That's a darn good reason! Well good luck to them.

 

The barrel doesn't necessarily "fade," but different flavors do develop over time. When you age BA beers, the alcohol burn (if there even is any) tends to fade, and certain flavors become more or less prominent. I'm not remotely any kind of aging expert, but from my experience, flavors like vanilla, toffee, caramel, etc., become less prominent, and dark/dried fruit flavors become more prominent.

I generally agree that for most beers (especially anything with additives), drinking fresh or within 6 months is probably best. You're taking a risk by aging something, but maybe if you have multiples, it might be worth it. I intentionally age regular BCBS and Dark Lord, and that's about it. Most of my aging beers is done unintentionally, because I have too much beer.

 

I've had multiple July bottles, along with my friends too, including along side other excellent BA stouts. They've been great. We have the Easter Egg bottles and will get around to those eventually. Shrug.

 

That makes sense. I knew coffee is tricky in particular (that is, the green pepper or outright fade). I never have had a basement to safely age anything or enough closet space, so it all goes in the fridge which probably effects things less. I've waited up to 6 months for adjunct-ed stuff based on peoples' posts (though generally I would be interested in the science behind 6 months, and whether the additive matters, or the amount, etc).
Other than soy sauce in excessively old bottles I haven't tasted a blatant difference I can prove as I've never side by side had any barrel aged verticals except a one year difference BCBS (I believe 2017 vs 18) with some friends. I'll be honest, I couldn't have told you exactly how the 17 had changed to my palate, and to the extent it did, how much of that was me having tried other stouts over the year especially adjunct laden and barrel aged stuff as it became more common. I've seen some people cover up their bottles/cans and blind taste stuff. Plus I keep more notes now, relatively speaking, so perhaps after covid that's not a bad idea. Might have to try that with the birthday I'm sharing and the regular and see if it really was a $35 vs $15 difference (OK, it can't be 100 percent better, but you get me.) Thanks for the answer. Because I did think the barrel would fade more (hearing about things being HOT etc). Also, good to see we're all having some hope for the future. Bring on the vaccine and (eventual) bottle shares!

 

Cracked the Pikesville Rye crowler last night, so damn good. Some of the other Barrel Select variants I thought got a little too boozy once they warmed up (especially the 30 year) but this was butter smooth all the way through. One of my favorite BC variants I've ever had

 

Oakbrook binny's has prop on the shelves (and Carmella, fog, #4) if anyone is still looking

 

Jiffy Lube