Goose Island Bourbon County Stout

Brewed by Goose Island Beer Company
Style: Imperial Stout
Chicago, Illinois USA

A 2008 bottle shared by Dan (FooFaa) at the Beer Advocate - Brass Rail tasting. This might be the blackest beer I have ever seen. Even as it was slowly being poured the thin stream of liquid was jet black. The smell was very roasty with some coffee and bourbon notes to it. It had an extremely complex and balanced flavor of burnt caramel, coffee, bourbon, chocolate, vanilla, and a light touch of oak. Silky smooth in the mouth with zero alcohol burn. Easily my favorite beer of the night.

22 oz, Corvallis brewing supply, 11.79. Super bourbon, the bourbon was overwhelming, almost ended in a bottle pour i thought i bought a beer not a hard liquor. I feel bad rating it this low but i honestly couldn’t taste anything over the bourbon. I guess it needed time in the cellar.

Received this beer as an extra from JoeyBeerBelly with many thanks. Served in a beer tulipat ~40 degrees. A-pours a jet black color with red undertones, no much of a head created during the pour and none was left after a few minutes S-strong bourban smell, with a little bit of oak in the background T-a powerful brew at 13% with the bourban dominating the flavor from start to finish. M-almost no carbonation with kind of a weak mouthfeel for a stout. D-I could see myself drinking this beer on the coldest night of the year. I have had better 13% stouts in my day, overall I didn’t feel like this beer lived up to the hype surrounding it. I tried to let it warm up because I believe a good stout tasted better warm...but alas I did not feel this way about this beer.

wonderful aroma. The 13% really hits you like a sledgehammer in a beautiful way. As others have pointed out, the flavor is a little thin, not as complex as some other stouts, but anything with a high gravity, stout flavor and bourbon tones wins my approval. Congrats to Goose Island.

Pours a very dark black with thin mocha head that disspaears before you can take the first sip. Aroma is incredible with more than I can identify...begins with a nice bourbon aroma followed by notes of dark chocolate, caramel, coffee and faint vanilla. Mouthfeel is full and vicous. There’s pleny going on in the flavor...bitter chocolate, coffee and dark fruit. A little alcohol in the finish but no alcohol burn whatsover. A very complex beer...this one goes right to the top of my list.

This one will kick you in the teeth if you’re not careful. Ink-black pour, dark cocoa lacing, thick and incredibly viscous, unctuous (yes, unctuous) mouthfeel with complex aroma profile. Definite notes of toasted oak, and vanilla oak characteristics leads into a tiering of bittersweet dark chocolate, a bit of butter, touch of smoke, oaky vanilla, and an almost peat-like quality. As it opens up I get a bit of dark sultana-like fruit character too, it hints at the very same enriched dried stone-fruit characeristic as a Belgian Dark Strong.

Bottle. Pours a black beer with a brown head. The aroma is roasted, alcohol, coconut and chocolate. The flavor follows the nose with notes of vanilla. The palate is slightly bitter. Overall a good, complex and balanced beer.

2008 vintage. This one is as black as they come and is really viscous. I’ve had this before and I know it’s hard to get head development going. So I tried a rather aggressive pour into my snifter, but all I got was a minimal layer of dark beige foam that dissipates immediately into a minimal ring of lacings. The smell is amazing. Massive bourbon aromas sit side by side with a wonderful smooth stout base. Vanilla, almonds, oak, licorice and a hint of soy sauce. Some hints of brown sugar and molasses. The roasted malts really need to struggle to keep up with the bourbon, but I think they manage quite well. The bourbon gets a little boozy and I pick up plenty of alcohol fumes. The taste follows suit and surly doesn’t disappoint, even though expectations get cranked up by the appearance and smell. The bourbon flavors are really powerful, rich and full, but nonetheless the beer manages to stay balanced. Lots of vanilla and oak with notes of almonds. Hints of sweet licorice. Perhaps a suggestion of soy sauce. The roasted malty character is noticeable but it gets a little hard to detect with all the bourbon notes going on. Nevertheless, the malts manage to create a good balancing point for the powerful bourbon flavors. All in all, the beer has a pleasant balance between sweetness and a salty note. The usual flavors of dark fruits and chocolate are really hard to pick up in this one, but I do think here is a delightful note of truffles. The finish is loaded with boozy and hot alcohol that fits nicely with the sweetness from the bourbon and malts, but it gets a little too much here and there. Wood, notes of salt licorice, a light herbal bitterness and long-lasting bourbon notes round everything up. Very very viscous and smooth - this one is thick like cream. Medium, well suited carbonation. Although both smell and taste is great in this one, the mouthfeel is really the highlight here, it’s just that great. It just delivers a sophisticated expression to an otherwise bold and cocky beer. This is a good imperial stout, to say the least. Very powerful with a massive bourbon character. It’s quite impressive that it still manages to come of as balanced. However, it’s not perfect. Although this is obviously a sipper, the alcohol gets to demanding and overpowering every now and then. And due to the onslaught of the bourbon flavors, the beer looses some complexity. NOTE: This bottle was about 11 months old. I’ve sampled a bottle from the same batch when it was reasonably fresh, and although I think it holds up really well with plenty of bourbon still hanging around, I think the bourbon notes have faded just a little bit. Serving type: bottle (Copy of old Beer Advocate review)