Goose Island Special Ed

FoBAB 2008. Poured an opaque dark brown color with a soapy tan head. Nice aroma of vanilla, bourbon, subdued smoke, and a hint of bacon. Medium to full bodied and delicately sweet. Flavor followed the aroma with smoky bacon, chocolate, booze, and vanilla. The barrel aging was a nice addition to an already great beer.

Pours brown with no head. Sinky fresh smoked nose. Not too hammy or porkish. Flavor is a bit more meaty with a bit of ash and a lot of alcohol heat. Medium easy drinking body with a long finish.

Draft at GI Clybourn. Pours dark brown, almost black with almost no head. Very noticeable carbonation. Aroma is of smoked meat, vinegar, raisiins, roasted malt, and bourbon. Heavy alcohol presence in the aroma. Taste is very heavy malt, balanced by smoky meat flavors, bourbon, and chocolate. Mouthfeel is thick and sticky. Alcohol is not hidden, but right up front in the taste. Amazingly good.

Tasted 4/30/08. Sample from Clybourne. My notes only said "Ed", so I called the brewpub and they were less than convincing that this is the beer I sampled. But, hey, here goes. Filtered with a dark brown hue with ruby highlights. Smokey nose. Good smokey nose. Full bodied and rich. Good smoke malt character. Mild effervescence and a nice hidden burn. Mild hops. Sticky and nutty with a cola note. Solid example of a smoke beer, but still not really my thing.

Dark dark brown color, off white head. Bacon, beef jerkeyesque tanned leather nose. Interesting, just a little too much towards the meat side. Flavor is something alltogether different. Beautiful chocolate and smoked malt blend together extremely well with a back end of roast to finish it off.

Tap at Clybourn, served in snifter (too cold), Boy I was so happy to see this listed after passing on it at FoBAB:

Mahogany hued with a small but lasting beige head that left some foam on the glass along with some oily legs. The aroma is powerful but not as much bourbon as I figured, some vanilla along with smoky charred oak. Also detected walnut, chocolate, caramel, rye bread, raisin, ripe cherry, and some pepper esters, NICE!

The flavor start with a nice dose of sweet caramel and toffee malts, bready and vanilla too. The midsection displays a molasses and fruity twang (not sour however, again more akin to ripe sweet fruits) before leading off towards the smoked meaty and lightly spiced finish. A bit boozy but it did not get in the way and actually helped cleanse the palate.

The mouth feel is sticky and oily with prickly biting towards the finish. This rocked and is without one of the better smoked beers I have had of late. Too bad I once again could not get a growler, sniff.

Date: 02/10/2007
Mode: Draft
Source: Brewfest, Extreme Beer

clear brown, scant frothy head, sweet smokey chocolate aroma, creamy body, chewy smokey chocolate and bacon, strange combination that somehow works, a bit more caramel sweetness than the normal smoked brown which may be the secret to this beer

Aroma: 7/10; Appearance: 7/10; Flavor: 7/10; Palate: 6/10; Overall: 15/20
Rating: 3.6/5.0
Drinkability: 8/10
Score: **4
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I would like to rerate this beer.

Tap or bottle? Boston EBF 2007. Cloudy brown body with a short-lived beige head. Rich smoked flavour that felt a lot more complex than a typical Smoked à-la-Schlenkerla. Like doughy food slowly cooked on a campfire. All that wonderful smoke mixed with cake flavour, brown sugar and a strong barrel character. 11% is nowhere to be seen. Unique beer that is unfortunately almost impossible to find for me. Meaning that I have an Ed problem and that’s one Viagra can’t cure.