Goose Island Bourbon County Stout

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

(Foam series) Dark brown almost black. Poured flat but small head grew. Complex roasty aroma of molasses, vanilla, espresso, sweet fruit (cherries?) & light smoke. Thick, syrupy, chewy. Very complex flavour profile of molasses, caramel, vanilla, smoke, bourbon (oak, wood), roast, espresso, warm alcohol.

Huge aroma of soy, prunes, raisins and some roasted malts, becomes too much. Pours pitch black with a small tan head. Very roasty flavor, licorice and lots of alcohol. This beer was too much for me.

07 bottle courtesy Boboski. #400!!!!! Pours thick and black with thin tan head. Roasted grain, oak, vanilla, chocolate, and tobacco all find its way in to my senses from the aroma. Thick body. Chocolate malt, vanilla, roasted grain, caramel, and subdued hops all come through in the taste. Absolutely beautifully balanced aperitif like taste. So smooth that you don’t notice the alcohol until its too late. Awesome.

Thanks footy for number 1100. Pours a thick, black oily substance w/ a modest head and minial lacing. Strong aromas of dark chocolate pudding, vanilla. Nice! Full nectar like heavy cream w/ soft residual effers. A huge chocolate malt backbone w/ defined Bourbon basting. Deep roasted coffee bean and freshly cooked chocolate pudding all wrapped together w/ a stinging asprin bittering. This stuff is amazing. It’s chunky, chewy, warming, and very generous. This brew is decadent and filling. Huge roast, brownies, vanilla, sweet yet balanced. Trump visual.

Wow. I don’t even know what to say about this one. It was complex as all hell. A nice kick of whiskey complemented the sweet stout flavors. Smooth, malty and a touch of smoke augmented the roasted coffee and chocolate flavors. Also, a touch of sweet, dark fruit entered the picture. Good, but not great.

Reconsidering this beer after trying it again, I do find it to be a bit sweet and extremely strong tasting. One snifter was more than enough. The flavor is more persistent than I remember with other bourbon-barrel aged beers, but I’m not sure that’s best here. It’s just really sweet and sticky. Too much.

Well, I’m on my fourth batch of this stuff, and I must say it’s growing on me. The whiskey is strong but it’s not terrible. Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve had more barrel-aged stuff, but it’s not as bad as I remember. Plus, the cask-conditioned sample I had last night was superb. Either way, I feel I have to bump it up from a 3.6

Mini vertical with 8/05 and 7/06 newly released batch. The new batch is in Heaven Hills barrels. Pours a dark chocolate black with the thinnest ring of a head. Bourbon nose pours off both glasses with a little bit of molasses, roastiness, vanilla and toffee. The 05 has a more rounded nose where you can pick up more of the subtle aromas. Nice slightly sticky medium thick mouthfeel with bourbon in the punch. The 06 has the barrel earthiness with molasses carmel vanilla and burnt roastedness. It finishes hot with that bourbon numbing the tongue but for being only bottled a few months ago, this is pretty damn palatable. The 05 is smoother with age, and more stout like. With that bourbon mellowed out a little or maybe the under flavors coming out more the chocolate, carmel, coffee and burnt roast this makes for a tasty beer. It still finishes hot but not quite as hot as the 06. That being said the 05 is better than the 06 now, but damn the 06 is gonna being really amazing in a couple years. Its overall smooth and subtle earthy bourbon characteristics, make me look forward to sitting around a fire this cold winter with this fire in my glass and throat.

thanks to hogtownharry for this one! aroma is rich chocolate, molasses, and vanilla. flavour is again, very rich, lots of chocolate, ad vanilla, quite sweet, but in a really nice way. aftertaste is kinda smokey with some coffee and chocolate. nice bitterness in the end, not too much, but just enough. mouthfeel is thick, and oily. just a superb stout.

Bottle, kindly shared by Cgarvieuk and Nightfall at RBESG Sheffield 2009 at the Star Inn in Huddersfield. 2006 vintage, 11% ABV. Black in colour, no head (this was a leftover, don’t know if it had any). Aroma is very sweet, liquorice, whiskey, soy sauce. Flavour is very sweet, bourbon, vanilla, some liquorice, soy sauce, bit of chocolate. Too sweet for my taste, but glad to have had the chance to try this. Thanks Craig/Alex!