Thoughts on Goose Island's 2022 Bourbon County (BCBS) Lineup?

Going forward all BCBS/variants should be 12oz bottles.

 

The GI suggested retail pricing for both formats is the same (~.83 per oz) but pricing differences between the two may differ locally so ymmv certainly. Maybe it's expected pricing from GI but I don't recall Founders having the same price per oz SRP when they released beers such as KBS in 750 ml and 4pk 12 oz formats at the same time. I couldn't think of other occurrences offhand for comparison.

 

Agreed but would you pay ~ $71 for a 4pk of BCBCS? That's what it would be because GI are not likely to reduce their SRP price per oz (see above comment). Unless they start packaging as 2pks of 12 oz bottles or individual bottles in order to make the price more 'palatable' to the consumer.

 

I miss the days of $24.99 BCBS 4-packs.

 

While BCBS 30th Anniversary is really good, it does not command a $40 price point. Taste is reminiscent of ‘12 , but no way would i pay this absurd price again.

 

Stop buying it then.

 

It's a bit humorous to think that 4pks of BCBCS and BCBBW were actually less than 4pks of BCBS back in 2013, at least at Binny's that year (BCS 4pks $21.99, Coffee 4pks $19.99, Barleywine 4pks $19.99 :source).

 

Nice, sounds worth at least a bottle or two. Maybe I'll drink the 2019 I have on hand tonight and search for inspiration on the volume to buy.

I'd be happy with either, if I lived in Chicagoland I would definitely make the effort to get at least 1 each of the single brand barrel variants cause I think that shits real neat, but I think we only got the big bottles locally. The store I noticed it in had regular and left over cola. I don't think the variants moved super well in our market last year, and I'm honestly pretty uninterested in beers that cost over $1/oz anymore. They just haven't historically come off as worth it to me in the end.

 

One spot around here had a pack of every variant but the prop, $177.99. Limit one set. They also had the same set w/o BW that was $134.99. There were 4 packs and bottles of regular, 30th and coffee as well as 2021 regular($14.79, same as 2022) and Mon Cheri was $25 and change. I did not buy any. Think this winter I will finish my 12, 15 and 16 bottles I have.

Enjoy

 

Drinking one of the Willett 12 ouncers and it's excellent. Pretty close to as good as any regular bcbs I've had. I got one of the bigger bottles that I'll try to drink this weekend and see how it compares.

 

I paid this exact price for 1 of everything except prop. So I don’t think this “package” was a deal or anything. Still nice to have the options

 

I just noticed the "develops in the bottle for 5 years" on my 12 oz bottle, then checked the bigger bottle and see it's also 5 years. Didn't they change it to 2 years when they started pasteurizing it? Did they stop doing that this year, or just decide it'll still develop for 5 years so let's put that back on there. Or am I shrooming and they never changed it to 2?

 

Some of the recent variants (e.g., Midnight Orange, Cafe de Olla Stout) had "develops in the bottle for up to 2 years" on the label tag I believe but I don't recall any year of BCBS having it listed as "2 years".

 

Munching on some mighty fine butt here!

 

Correct. They started adding the 2-yr timeline to variants with flavors that will fade more quickly. They are trying to encourage people to drink beers that will be in their prime during their prime. Which makes sense, and I applaud the effort.

Edit: Most people on BA that have tried these beers over the 2 year timespan seem to all prefer them as fresh as can be. There are exceptions. YMMV.

 

@Beer_Economicus , at this point I'm not sure if you foretold the analingus chatter or summoned it

 

The price point change is a far bigger driver of my decision to stop purchasing BCBS + variants than the ABInBev purchase was.

Variants go to ~$1.50 / oz from ~$0.41/oz? NOPE.
BCBS goes to ~$0.81/oz from ~$0.41/oz? NOPE.

Doesn't hurt that a lot of the variants of late don't sound good. Cola? pass. But man...the BCBS Coffee; that's some good stuff!

 

Biscotti tastes like dog food. WTF is GI doing barreling this and charging us 2$ per ounce. GMAFB.

Terrible. Two notches down in my book.

 

man that one seems to be divisive. a friend told me today how much he loved it. said it was "chocolate dipped anise biscotti". I'm not a fan of black licorice, so curious what I'll think of it.

 

Overall one of the better years. My brief thoughts.

The barleywine is arguarbly the best of any bourbon county brand ive had. Rivals to it would be 2012-2014 standard bcbs and bcbbw.

The 30th reserve is absolutely far more refined than regular bcbs and a much more eloquent sipper.

I havent had a regular 2022 yet but am having a single barrel 12oz willet right now. I'm not impressed. Its noticeably thinner and less robust than most any/all standard bcbs I've had. To its credit, it seems less sweet than most bcbs which is welcome from me.

The coffee was a straight miss for me. I only finished 1/3 or so of it.

The sir isaacs was the first one I had and at a local bar a month or so ago that got an early jump. Between the pint glass pour and socializing I didnt give it a real hard look [taste] but I did note that I enjoyed it as one of the better variants of recent years.

The biscotti I planned to hate. Just the name biscotti screamed pastry stout which I've far grown past. I then realized it was anise heavy and im an absolute fanatic for black licorice flavors. I can't cook a meat dish without fennel or anise and like black licorice itself more than anyone I know. Tried this bcbs and did an absolute 180 from my initial impression. Yes a little pastried up but arguably the best variant of regular ive had.

Overall this is a far better lineup than the garbage of recent years. Cola, cherry wood, Kentucky fog, special 4, mon cherry etc. bleh

 

Popped into a regional big box liquor store here and holy shit! $87.99 for the 4pack!! $29.99 for coffee!!

 

Is that good or bad?

 

I’ve seen the 4packs going for around $40 in posts on here (this is the first and only time I’ve seen one in the wild). I paid $24.99 for coffee and $39 for the 30th and barleywine. So… Bad.

 

Nice that Total Wine will let you purchase singles for 4 or 6 packs; one Willet easter egg for me.

 

I got a 4-pack today (Willett) on the south side of Chicago (Evergreen Park) for $39.99. They also had all the variants, including the 30-year, for $39.99 each. I was shocked to see those sitting on the shelf.

 

Anyone who’s had both care to compare this years BW to King Henry? Only one spot by me has them in and it will end up being 50 dollars out the door with tax. Dyed in the wool barleywine fanatic here but not sure I can justify it….there are some really nice spirit bottles I could get for that coin or even four 16.9oz BCBS (roughly). DDB said iirc this year’s is the best beer GI has brewed to date.

 

What a bunch of a$$h0les! $87.99

Price gouging at its finest! Those 4pks go for $35-40.

 

But it's Bourbon County "Retro" Stout.

 

"...and it's the only 4pk we have left."

 

To me it’s hilarious because so many people are dying to get the BW and there’s an entire case on the shelf that isn’t selling because it’s $50. I guarantee if it was $39 there would be none left

 

We didn't get any here at all. And I'd be willing to pay $40 for a bottle, but not $50. And I'm not sure if the Coffee variant is even worth $23-25. No way it's worth $30. Over charging that much just because is bs. The store owners/managers/whoever else is in charge should be embarrassed.

 

I heard this place was charging $70 for double barrel last year.

 

Here is something from GI that mentions double barrel, this guy says around two thirds.

 

If there is, it wasn't on the shelf of the Binny's in Evergreen Park. If it was, I would've picked up a 2nd, like I did with the 30-year. Shoot, I would've probably grabbed 2 more, because the Barleywine intrigues me the most of all the variants. They had probably (12) 30-year bottles on the shelf and more than that of the Biscotti and Sir Isaac, and a few Coffee and Prop bottles.

There were only (2) 4-packs of the 12 oz Willett left after I picked mine up. The OG 16.9 oz stock was plentiful (maybe 25 bottles?). Since this was over a week after the release (I got an allotment of one of all the variants and two OG bottles in a lottery that Binny's will hold until 12/5/22), I was surprised at the amount of available inventory given its location in a Chicago store.

 

I was not prepared for how magnificent Sir Isaac is. This might be the best Bourbon County Stout I've tried, though I've not tried many. The fig and graham cracker additions are subtle but they expertly elevate the strengths of an all-time classic. The heightened dark fruits and increased toastiness meld perfectly with the fudgy base beer and warming bourbon. The body is fuller and richer than the base beer this year. Just magnificent.

 

Drinking a coffee right now. 9/6/22 bottle

It’s good and a quality BA coffee stout. I am getting some berry flavor from the coffee beans, which I like. I can absolutely taste the coffee. I cracked it over two hours ago, let it warm up and have been sipping it.

4.15 / 5

The $25.99 I paid seems pretty fair to me. I just paid $30 plus shipping for a BA stout with coffee from Equilibrium. I think the “not worth it” sentiment comes from the fact it’s roughly $10 more than the base stout.