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

In post #328 I linked a Darwin review of regular BCBS. He was not a big fan of it but as it turns out it was from Heaven Hills barrels.

He conducted a second video review (see below) of a regular BCBS which is a blend (i.e., GI on the back label). As you will see/hear is has a notably different reaction towards this beer.

Cheers!

 

Haven't seen them so far in any European shops. Looking forward to grab a bottle or two, as long as they're below 40-50$/bottle (for the regular BCBS, I've never seen the other offerings, ever).

 

Which should I open tonight? Haven’t had either yet. You will decide my fate

Barleywine
30th

 

30th first, it's excellent but doesn't really break new ground. Barleywine finale I say.

 

Already mentioned in another thread but was pleased when I was randomly looking at my Total Wine app and saw that they had the Bourban, Coffee, Biscotti, and Sir Issacs. Went and got one of each. Saving them for Christmas and New Year so I hope they are worth the hype. Founders KBS is one of my fav beers so I’m sure I’ll like them.

 

Just saw a shitload 4-packs of bcbs Wllt sittin on shelves at Bevmo , but at 40 bucks im not surprised. Thats Four 4 Packs of Willetized

 

Very excited to see coffee back in the rotation (what took so long?) but the bottle that I opened last night was a shell of the beer it used to be. The coffee was muted and way too subtle. Very disappointing given the high standard set in the past.

 

What was the bottling date?

 

It’s pretty disappointing we should have to check the bottling date on a beer released less than a month ago.

 

No, we're trying to find if the bottling date cooresponds to it being good. There's a huge variation in the reviews for Coffee. The bottle I had was phenominal. Bottled 9/6

 

Yeah……that’s really no better from my perspective.

 

Agreed. Just clarifying

 

I've had two 9/6 coffee bottles, and both have been as @fehrminator described. Totally underwhelming, and a shell of the beer that even the regular bcbs is.

 

Based upon my readings in this thread, and some video reviews, it sure seems like there is quite a bit of variability in the sensory qualities of BCBS (and its various variants) this year. A situation of batch variation? Or do people's palates just vary so widely? Or maybe a combination of both?

I have no recollection of this being just a wide ranging thing for past years.

Cheers!

 

Interesting. Based on the data so far, bottling dates are not correlated to the drinking experience. Makes me nervous about the second bottle I have. At least I got one winner I guess

 

It just find it hard to believe that the additives don’t separate some on the with the scale
of tanks that GI does BCBS. Does the beer get consistently churned from the time it gets additives to the time it goes into the brite tank? And how long does it sit in the brite tank before bottling?

like more coffee oils rising to the top of the equipment before bottling so some bottles have more intense flavors and some less

 

Had a 9/8 that was great and a 9/6 that was mediocre.

 

Palate creep or something more sinister

 

I don't think there's anything sinister, just some inconsistency. I'm comfortable saying it's not palate creep for me, my two packs of Crushing Mass all tasted great.

 

Considering how much variability I can get out of one bag of coffee beans based on minor changes to my brewing process at home, it's not super surprising that a coffee beer made at this scale in multiple batches is going to have some variability.

Not a great look for the company though

 

GI will just claim each batch is an Easter Egg by date.

 

9/8. Got one more 9/8 and a 9/5 that I have higher hopes for.

 

Damn, my final bottle is 9/8! We’ll see

 

Please let us know what you think of your 9/8 bottle.

Cheers!

 

Wouldn't you know it, the only coffee I bought has a 9/7 date (my goddamned birthday). I will drink this sooner than later and report back.

 

This was in an old thread somewhere but I could swear that goose island adds concentrated cold brew to make the coffee variant. It’s super easy to make good cold brew at home and I’m seriously contemplating adding a shot to my next bottle of the coffee variant to give it that extreme coffee kick that I’m missing.

 

Make a small amount of cold brew with bourbon instead of water to really kick it up a notch.

 

And use these barrel aged beans to complete the circle: https://www.darkmattercoffee.com/pr...on-county-30th-anniversary-barrel-aged-catuai

 

Just picked up a 9/7 bottle of Coffee, anyone have that batch yet? I’ll report back.

 

My second attempt at the coffee ended with the same results, strong roasted coffee. Not only do I find it over the top, but I dislike the coffee they used. Maybe it's just the strong roast flavor, either way I didn't finish it. I'd take Café Deth '22 over this without hesitation. Both bottles were 9/8

 

So within 10 posts we have people stating there was barely any coffee, and someone saying it was way over the top with coffee. I think we can conclude that there’s at least a decent variation in these bottles. That really sucks at the price we paid

 

Plenty of coffee here, but it's thinner than it used to be, bitter, boozy and unbalanced...

 

Sad to hear it was bitter. I always loved this beer because it was coffee forward, boozy and sweet but never bitter. I’ll be drinking mine tonight after dinner, same bottling as yours.

 

Any time we get this far into the BCBS season without mentioning green pepper flavor is a win.

 

I'll sometimes add a little espresso (maybe a quarter shot for the whole bottle). I like the flavor that produces better than cold brew, regular coffee, or the old french press with coffee grounds method. I think my favorite coffee stouts usually have a little "espresso-y" character to the coffee flavor.

This is a good description of mine. The problem isn't lack of coffee. It's that the coffee flavor tastes like shitty, overly-bitter, gas station coffee.

 

I’ve drank a lot of coffee stouts. Never tasted green pepper. That’s definitely one win for my genetics

 

Did you open it??

 

Drinking right now and I like it. It’s not thin or bitter and has a nice coffee flavor. It’s definitely not as sweet or barrel forward as I remember the 12oz bottles being. I should also note I’m drinking this at room temp. It’s a decent BA coffee stout but not worth the $25 I paid. I’m enjoying it but I’ll take Mocha Wednesday at $45 over this any day.