Goose Island Bourbon County Stout

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

Pitch black pour that is like burnt motor oil. Aroma is a delicate mix of chocolate, coffee, vanilla and just a touch of bourbon. No head beyond a tiny ring of dark tan cream. Flavor is more and more bourbon as it warms. The chocolate and coffee are buried and what happened to the vanilla? This beer started out beautiful and classy, but turned into a bar hopping, alcoholic bourbon bath.

Bottle at the Rake, 7th March 2009. Dark brown, close to black. Smooth, creamy palate, very full bodied. Huge amounts of bourbon on the nose and very apparent alcohol giving the malts a kicking in the body. I couldn’t decide if it was awful or great really, it just felt like too much at that point in the night.

Aroma is quite nice, an ever changing array of strength with dark caramel and darker still, chocolate; masked by a firm girth of bourbony sweetness that really comes across as smooth and well checked, mainly due to the chocolate tones keeping it quieter then it ought to be. A nice medley on the nose. Simple notes of vanilla and cookie dough remain ever present as well. As it warms the bourbon makes a bigger effort to overcome the chocolate. Deep and dark fudgy brown nearly and completely black once fully poured with a late-to-appear thin, dark cocoa cap of whipped cream fluff. The foam creeps away leaving a thin collar and the lacing sticks in small amounts of strings close to the collar. Taste is thick and oily with a smooth dark chocolatey front, then, as if it had a choice, gets overtaken by a very sweet bourbon heat and tinge thats pretty intense. Whhooffda! This sucker is nicely heated. Still in check though, much like the aroma, the chocolate tones tend to supersede over the top of the flavors but staying underneath the alcoholic heat. An interesting effect. Super awesome finish, subtle, warming, late return of chocolate after the heat settles off leaving leftovers of crispened charred vanilla bean, caramel stickies, and sweet, sweet bourbon. Oh my, what an encapsulated ride of fun this stuff is, wow! That sweet bourbony heat builds strongly and just cinders for what seems an eternity while all the other stuff play underneath. Feel is powerfully heated with a bourbony sweetness and back-throated burn that is absolutely awesome to behold. Thickishly full body with an oily front and somewhat creamy length throughout the rest of its stay that mediates under the overall heat. If it were a notch less heated it would be phenomenal as far as its feel and drinkability. It could be quite a drinkable treat if it weren’t so ABV hitting. Although, there’s nothing wrong with slowing down and enjoying it, appreciating it, ...loving it, cuz that’s what it’s all about with this one. I didin’t think Goose Island had it in them, but man does this stuff rock! Nicey nice!

bottle dated 1.10.07 (I’m thinking this is really 10.11.07) enjoyed 12.6.07. Powerful aroma of raisins, bourbon, nail polish and coconut macaroons? Pours like motor oil; thick, black and sticky. Not a whole lot of carbonation present, small dusty brownish/red head. This is a sipping beer for sure. Body is very syrupy. The flavor is dominated by the bourbon and I like bourbon so thats a good thing. It has a little of everything, some chocolate, some raisins, nuts, vanilla and a little smoke...none more than the other. The bourbon puckers your mouth around the long lasting roasted malt in the finish. A cigar would be good right now! Now it tastes just like a German chocolate cake. 9 5 19 4 18. . . . . . . . . . . . . bottle dated 1.10.07 (10.11.07???) enjoyed 12.20.08. Big bourbon aroma noticeable 5 feet away from the glass, really nice bourbon aroma actually, very woody, coconuts macaroons, very rich syrupy chocolate, raisins, avoid swirling as it releases too much alcohol in the nose. Pours a syrupy very dark brown near black with a very small creamy tan head. Very thick and velvety first taste, super smooth, wow has this matured beautifully. Loads of creamy dark chocolate, surprisingly not sweet, lightly nutty, hint of coconut from the barrel but not overbearing, great bourbon flavor with a nice light kick in the finish. Long bitter dark chocolate raisin aftertaste. Full bodied, smooth silky carbonation with a syrupy finish. 9 5 10 4 19. near perfect and so so warming. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . bottle dated 08.16.05 enjoyed 10.03.09 at room-temp, so a little over 4 years old, listed at 11%. Pours an opaque glossy brownish black with a smaller fizzy mocha head, aroma is chalky, nutty, sweet but stale raisins, big bourbon, dark chocolate, varnish/nail polish remover, doesn’t smell very sweet at all but rather stale, saw-dust, raisins and bourbon. That is quite different in flavor, mellowed but still very alcohol forward, the sweetness is completely gone, vanished, but the big viscous body remains, bitter-sweet baker’s chocolate, some chocolate syrup towards the finish with lingering chocolate and an alcohol burn. The flavor is very good, and substantially different than later vintages, it has actually mellowed and amalgamated into something very simple and pure. The huge bourbon and coconut that are super present in later vintages are also missing, well, they are there but very much kept in check. Full bodied, super smooth and creamy, faint larger bubbly carbonation , lightly oily. Off-flavor oxidation is really minimal which is really impressive. This is #($&#($*&#($ delicious! Perfectly mellowed and galvanized. 8.4.10.5.19

Had on tap at the hop leaf in Chi town. nose is chocolate and bourbon. dark dark brown almost black nice tan foam. flavor of bourbon is dominant it takes over unfortunately. there is chocolate and maybe a bit of Vanilla but its too much bourbon for me to enjoy it as a beer

12 oz bottle thanks to xmarcnolanx, thanks Marc. Pours a prefect looking viscuous black with a small coccoa brown head. Big time boozey aroma with lots of bourbon, wood, vanilla extract, and slight chocolate. Full bodied but tons of alcohol warming. Flavor of bourbon, vanilla and wood. Nice beer but needs more time, sort of like girls in high school they look great but need some maturity on em.

Black as night with a thick tan head. Strong almost overpowering aromas, you can pick out the bourbon and the oak. Booming flavors of oak, bourbon, coffee but somehow they manage to stay smooth. Thick body with a nice burp. The aftertaste is a very lovely dark chocolate.

What a dark pour! Incredibly black body with a small late forming dark brown head. Aroma is unlike any I have sampled with a full nose of bourbon. Bourbon also dominates the flavor and alcohol is right up there as well. Did they get whiskey in the beer or the other way around? This is a beer on steroids except it has retained the big testicles. There are other flavors but mentioning them is like complaining about a blister on the foot after being hit in the head with an axe. Unique feel in the mouth. It is smooth to the max. This beer is as subtle as a Mike Tyson punch and is far too over powering for my taste.