Goose Island Imperial Brown Goose

Brewed by Goose Island Beer Company
Style: American Strong Ale
Chicago, Illinois USA

FOBAB 2004: This is the bourbon-aged version. It poured a very dark brown, almost black, with a trace of a brown head. There was plenty of bourbon in the aroma along with a certain sourness. There is a sweetness of malts in the taste along with a touch of hop bitterness and the bourbon throughout. The finish is bitter bourbon. Interesting.

<font size=-4><a href=http://www.ratebeer.com/events-detail.asp?eve of Barrel Aged Beers, Chicago, IL 11/06/2004<font size=-1>

Dark brown with a nice, by style, light tan head. Full fruit cake aromas drenched in a mild rum sauce. Full oily body that the alcohol helps keep from being too mouth-coating. Fruit again in the flavors with apricots, dark cherries and blackberries. Toffee, lightly toasted nutty malt and cocoa also seem to show up at times. Warming in the finish and linger. A really nice sniffer and cigar brew.

5 oz sample at the Clybourn location. Very clear, slightly ruby-tinged dark walnut, no head at all...cherry/hazelnut nose, somewhat reminiscent of fruitcake...which is what you get in the body, deep and sweetly nutty, overflowing with cherry-blackberry syrup, anise and caramel maltiness...seems a bit thin but appropriately so, it’s more like dark fruit juice than anything...a touch of stinging hops wake you up out of your wonderment at the end and a slight hint of alcohol warms you as you wander out into the night....

Sampled at the Great Taste of the Midwest 2005. The body with dark brown and ruby. The head is yellowish. The aroma is sweeet bubblegum and some maple like funkiness. The taste is bright with caramel and some nuts. The finish is a little nutty.

Tap at Clybourne: A deep reddish brown hue with a small frothy head which produced very good lacing on a MBA glass. The aroma has notes of plum and currant, mocha, hazelnut, vanilla, grassy hops, light pepper, and earthy yeast esters. The taste starts with a nice fruity character with an equal balance of a malty backbone. Finished with a smooth and sublime bitter note and a touch of chocolate. Even a bit woody even though this is not the bourbon-barreled version. Challenged the palate for sure, I dig it for sure. The feel is a bit oily with some bite on the back of the palate, the only notice of the ABV I could detect, well hidden all told. This is a wonderful brew and something Will Turner can be proud of. Sublime complexity shows as it warmed up and in the end is one of the best GI beers to date. Enjoy it while it lasts which isn’t much longer. (now I know why Willies Small Beer is so good for a second running of this beer as well)

On cask at GI - Clybourn. Poured a deep reddish-tinted brown with a 3/4" creamy, well-retained deep beige head. Loved the aroma of rich darker chocolates with drawn caramel, faint buttery notes, floral hoppage, and deeply-seeded vinous sugars.. warm and inviting. Flavor was a nice blend of semi-sweet chocolate and caramel surrounded by layers of warm accents.. port wine and moderate herbal bitterness in there.. buttery caramel finish. This was a bit rough at times on the palate, but smoothed out greatly for the last half of the drink.. little > medium-bodied with lower carbonation from the cask. Very good stuff!

On tap at the brewpub: Pow! The power of this beer hits the nose right away ... rich and black, this is roasty and malted, with a powerful punch.

From the bottle at Boston EBF 2007. Almost clear dark copper body with a long lasting very large beige head leaving great lacings. Body is full and silky at the same time. Very malty beer. Cake malts, brown sugar, toasted brown bread and a whole lot of “brown stuff”. Bourbon barrel is very present. Strong woody flavour adds to what appears to be a subtle but complex mix of herbs. Mouthfeel is pleasantly dry. Alcohol wasn’t well hidden, to the contrary, it felt stronger than it was. Like some kind of woody Barley Wine. I couldn’t get enough of it and had four samplings at the EBF. The brewery brought the last bottles they had in stock. (some 2005 and 2006). Knowing I was having such a great beer for the first and last time I felt overwhelmed by both joy and sadness. Like watching my mother-in-law back off a cliff in my new car.