Sorry — there will be no Bourbon County Oyster Stout after all. (Though we sort of knew that.)
Two months after its fake labels and trickery, planted with federal regulators to throw beer nerds off its boozy scent and build anticipation for its annual release of whiskey barrel-aged beers, Goose Island has announced its actual Bourbon County lineup for 2019.
It’s a promising roster of eight beers, including five that feature no adjuncts, and which are seemingly meant only to highlight the whiskey barrels in which the beer was aged.
But, of course, there are some adjunct-heavy beers as a nod to current tastes, including one made with granola.
The beers will be released, as always, on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. The brewery did not announce further details, including suggested retail prices.
Here’s the rundown on what to expect:
Bourbon County Stout
The flagship of the family, with roots dating to 1995 and an unrivaled place in craft beer history, is aged in a mix of Heaven Hill, Buffalo Trace and Wild Turkey barrels, resulting in a “richer, more complex mouthfeel (featuring) flavors of cocoa, vanilla, caramel, almond, plus leather and tobacco,” the brewery said.
Bourbon County Double Barrel Stout
This stout was aged in 11-year-old Elijah Craig barrels and then 12-year-old Elijah Craig barrels. Not surprisingly, Goose Island promises a beer that will be quite “barrel forward” — that is, oaky and boozy.
2-year Reserve Bourbon County Stout
This beer spent — you guessed it — two years in 11-year-old Knob Creek barrels “creating an oak-forward intensity accented by hazelnut and chocolate notes, all while allowing the signature flavor profile of the Knob Creek Bourbon to shine through,” the brewery says.
Reserve Rye Bourbon County Stout
Another “reserve” beer, which implies particular attention to the wood in which the beer was aged. This version of Reserve Bourbon County was aged in Rittenhouse Rye barrels. The result “exemplifies fruity, spicy rye flavors as well as the notes that come from the impact the barrel has on the original imperial stout,” according to the brewery.
Bourbon County Wheatwine Ale
It’s no accident that last year’s Wheatwine won Goose Island’s sole medal at the 2018 Festival of Wood and Barrel-Aged Beer: It was a wonderful beer (and my favorite of last year’s lineup). This year’s version is aged in Larceny bourbon barrels. Larceny has heavy wheat content that should play nicely with the wheatwine, which is barleywine featuring a large percentage of wheat in the grain bill.
Proprietor’s Bourbon County Stout
The Bourbon County lineup has been impressively light on adjuncts and odd ingredients to this point. But modern beer fans like adjuncts and odd ingredients in their barrel-aged stouts, so Goose Island will release three of them.
It’s little wonder that Proprietor’s will be one, since this Chicago-only release is usually a playground for experimentation. Some vintages work better than others, but if nothing else, Proprietor’s is always at least an interesting attempt.
This year’s version is made with toasted pecans, coconut, cacao nibs and vanilla — “reminiscent of Tiramisu, ending with lingering notes of marshmallow.” Each ingredient has appeared in a past version of Proprietor’s, which, the brewery says, makes this year’s model an homage to years past.
Bourbon County Cafe de Olla Stout
Another adjunct-heavy beer, Cafe de Olla is inspired by “a traditional Latin infused coffee,” featuring Intelligentsia Coffee beans and cold brew, cassia bark (which lends a cinnamon flavor), orange peel and panela sugar.
This marks the second year that Goose Island is skipping its traditional Bourbon County Coffee Stout for a more experimental take on barrel-aged coffee stout. (Last year it was Coffee Barleywine, whose flavors didn’t quite pull together.)
Bourbon County Mon Cheri Stout
And here we have it: granola! Though, really, cherries are the star here — two different types. The beer is “a love letter” from the brewer who wrote the recipe, Quinn Fuechsl, to his wife, who is a cherry fan, the brewery says.
Via the brewery, Fuechsl said he had long considered making a Bourbon County beer featuring granola and “after many tweaks, we found a nice mix of granola, oats and brown sugar, that gave us a ‘pie crust’ element to the beer, then layered in a mix of Balaton and Montmorency tart cherries.” Fuechsl was also the brains behind the 2017 version of Proprietor’s meant to evoke bananas foster, which I called “surprisingly deft” upon its release.
Goose Island said it will also release a Bourbon County Stout Vertical Collection — the flagship Bourbon County Stout from 2017, 2018 and 2019 packaged together.
