Goose Island's Bourbon County Stouts for 2017

If only you guys had some local highly sought after beer you could trade for...

 

Wanna send me some?

 

Back on February 4th, I was having a brew in a local taproom, got looking at their empty beer bottles they have out to show what they have available for bottled beers. I noted they had an empty BCBS so commented to the taptender that at that late date, it is just a decoration. He went in back and came out with their last two 2015's, which I snapped right up. They had come through distribution with the 2016's. One was slightly off-tasting - not infected though, and the other was perfect. Hard to say where/when you may find BCBS. Some stores have been known to hold back a few bottles or a case, and then randomly put them out much later, sell them to favorite customers, or wait for someone to ask about it.

 

I enjoyed a 2015 with my dad yesterday and thought it was tasting absolutely fantastic

 

Not buying anything.

Hope that increases everyone's chances.. good luck.

 

It's hard to get excited when varients NEVER make it to Western New York. And if they did it would be in such small quantities you would have to know someone to even have a chance.

 

The real irony there is NY is the only, or one of the few, places in the US that bourbon county sits for months after release.

 

I saw no less than 20 cases sitting around various shops (including a grocery store) when I was in NYC this past March.

 

Agreed. I stopped chasing BCBS in '15 too. The local barrel aged stouts (BBA Unearthed, Otter Creek RIS, BBC Strange Apparition) suit me just fine, plus KBS is widely available in recent runs.

 

KBS doesnt hold a candle to BCBS...... but sure you do you

 

Given that for 2016 our local distributor in South Dakota got a grand total of 10 cases and it sold out in hours, going mostly to those with connections, sure seems like GI could improve their distribution allocations. In the past, I've heard they based it on Sofie sales. Obviously we don't have the population density of New York, but I'm pretty sure they could bring in and still quickly sell a few hundred cases - they wouldn't sit on shelves.

 

Based on an average of their BA review scores, KBS at 4.56 is a sliver better than BCBS at 4.5 across a nearly identical number of reviews. This could be due to KBS costing half or even a third of BCBS. I like both and while I would take a BCBS over a KBS if offered my choice, if I'm buying I'll buy more KBS. CBS trounces both at an average score of 4.63, and there are others that are not as widely available that are even better.

And don't hold a candle to BCBS, it may ignite

 

CBS really isn't all that though...

And there's no question in my mind that BCBS is head and shoulders above KBS, despite the average review scores.

 

Very subjective, to be sure... I like KBS way more than BCBS, because BCBS is just too cloyingly sweet for my taste. Of course, I've never managed to get a non-infected BCBCS, so maybe it's the addition of the coffee bitterness that makes the difference.

I've bought BCBS every year for the past four years, and am considering skipping this year unless I can find a coffee variant. I'm always caught up in the hype, and always disappointed at how sweet it is. I'm perfectly happy tracking down some KBS, some SMS and whatever Big Bad Baptist bottles and variants are around.

 

Of all the beers I've seen get a rap for being cloyingly sweet, I've rarely if ever heard BCBS get called cloying. Balance is one of the remarkable aspects of that beer, and why it is used as a benchmark because too many breweries out there are still getting too much barrel due to not blending, or are brewing too weak or watery of a base, or are not bringing enough roast or complexity, or are packing loads of sugary sweetness trying to attain the ever-coveted "brownie batter" and "fudge" blue ribbon (looking at you Florida).

It sounds as though you simply prefer your stouts to be coffee forward. As you know, though, Coffee doesn't always impart bitterness in beer--there are a slew of very popular barrel aged stouts out there that have loads of coffee in them, and also taste like Hershey's syrup. That being said, I find both SMS and BBB to also be leagues better than KBS, especially BBB. It's crazy how much time that one can spend sitting on shelves. Bombers just seem to inherently turn people off in the regular market.

 

I grabbed two bottles of BCBS sitting on the shelf at Central Market around Christmas, and I'll do the same this year if I see some. Picked up a couple varieties of Big Bad Baptist last year that are easily available and I enjoyed them just as much as BCBS. Bottles of Parabola are sitting on some shelves around town right now, with no limit. Another beer I enjoy about the same as BCBS. I will definitely grab the BCBS barleywine or coffee if I see them, which is very unlikely.

 

Could be. Could be. Last few times I've had a BCBS, it's just been like syrup on my tongue. But I'm not a big fan of sweets, so I might be over-tasting the sweetness of the beers. Love the mouthfeel, though.

BBB has no business sitting on shelves. Hell, at the LBS near me in Burlington they still have a couple bombers of Double-Barrel BBB and Baptista, which is mind-boggling to me.

 

KBS is also harder to get (especially in quantity) than BCBS. I can pretty easily land a case or two of BCBS since the Boston area gets flooded with the stuff, but I can usually only grab a 4-pack or two of KBS. BCBS variants are another story. I either luck into those during a BCBS run or I don't.

BBB is fantastic and underrated. A little pricy though. Dragon's Milk is my go-to for year-round easy-to-get BBA stouts.

 

I think I'm probably done chasing this stuff around, was unable to get the coffee the last two years, and it's just a pain to get up early and drive more than an hour on Black Friday to go fetch it. I'll just stick with Parabola, Wootstout, High Westified, and whatever else pops up.

 

if you prefer KBS to BCBS then you should just drink SMS instead of KBS as its very similar but better in every way in my experience. If you prefer BCBS to KBS then there arent any available alternatives to BCBS that are better afaik