Goose Island Bourbon County Stout

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

Even though I balked at paying 7.50 for this in a store, I had no problem forking over 12 in a bar… go figure. Thick pitch black beer with dark brown head fading to lace. Aroma is very sweet and malty, dark heavy salty roastiness. Soy character along with all of the sweetness. Warming brings out the sweet bourbon and vanilla character. Dried plums and prunes. Charcoal smokiness and lots of heavy bitter dark chocolate. Soft tobacco herbal character as well. Very complex nose. Flavour is just as impressive, dominated by dark chocolate and heavy roast, there are also notes of smoke, soy, charred oak, followed by soft vanilla and bourbon on the finish. Bitterness is quite herbal and quite assertive, combining with all of the roast to keep the sweetness in check. Lovely brew, bourbon doesn’t dominate, but just adds background complexity to a beer that would have been excellent anyway. Didn’t expect to enjoy this as much as I did.

2007 Edition - Pours deep down black , not as thick as motor oil but getting close. Not much carbonation but there is one beautiful 1/16 inch caramel colored head. Heavy lacing. First sniff: Smells like bourbon straight out of the bottle with deep roasted malts aroma overtones. First tastes is thick with a lovely bourbon kick followed by heavy malts, coffee, and chocolate – slight hint of vanilla trying to poke through. This is an awesome treat definitely “World Class”.

2006 Bottle. Pours real nice and thick with no head whatsoever. Smell is incredible. Lots of roasted malts, coffee and chocolate, with some hints of bourbon/alcohol coming through as well. This has a myriad of flavors going on in the taste. However, they’re not blended together very well. It’s one after another as they fight for the lead. The flavors are good, but not working well and complimenting as they should. Huge, creamy mouthfeel.
Update: 2007 batch.
This beer is incredible. Much more complex barrel flavor. Very good vanilla, bourbon and oak in the flavor. This batch is everything this beer needs to be. One of my favorite beers right now.

Oh my God. This was a fantastic beer. Bottle. Served cold. Poured oily black with a thin, lasting brown head. Aroma is coffee and sweet malts, as far as my undeveloped nose can tell. Taste is lots of chocolate, very sweet and delicious. the true greatness, obviously, is the back-end of the palate, the hint of bourbon \that warms your entire mouth. It’s a fantastic brew.

Bottle from Holdenn, The_Epeeist or drewbeerme. Thanks from all of you!
’07 Bottle. Pours dark, dark black and oily with a short lived tan head in a snifter. Smell is bourbon, oak, then sweet roasty malt. A fair amount of bourbon in the nose, but not overwhelming. Taste is oily bourbon woodiness, then bittersweet chocolately roast. Balanced well, leaning towards a touch more bourbon than most bourbon beers I’ve had. Very light alcohol in the flavor for 13%, but a slight bit warming. Rich oily mouthfeel and light, but softly prickling carbonation. This is damn good.

Pours tar black with no head, some dark brown hues. Nose is tremendous with burst of malty fruit, raisin, also hint of some tongue bruising hops. Most notable is the immediate smoothness that is uncommon in a beer on this size. The hit of sweet malt brings molasses, and dark chocolate to the forefront, as the sip finishes a tingling covers the palate. As the malty sweetness slowly melts off the tongue the bitterness becomes more prevalent in the elongated finish. Wonderful!

Wow! That was the only beer I had that night - it was huge. Plenty of vanilla, esspresso and bourbon to please the senses. Just opening the bottle gave me pause as sweet aromas saturated the air, cloaking me in an unexpected euphoria. What a treat. I will have to try more bourdon aged beer.

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.