Bourbon County 2015 Lineup Revealed

Story - Goose Island reveals 2015 Bourbon County lineup – Chicago Tribune

2015 Lineup:

Bourbon County Brand Stout;
Bourbon County Brand Barleywine;
Bourbon County Brand Coffee Stout, made with Intelligentsia’s Los Delirios Nicaraguan coffee bean;
Bourbon County Brand Regal Rye Stout, made with blackberry juice, cocktail cherries and sea salt;
Proprietor’s Bourbon County Brand Stout, made with maple syrup aged in bourbon barrels, toasted pecans and guajillo peppers;
Goose Island Rare Bourbon County Brand Stout, which is being aged for two years in 35-year-old Heaven Hill whiskey barrels.

Bourbon County Brand Regal Rye Stout, made with blackberry juice, cocktail cherries and sea salt;
Proprietor’s Bourbon County Brand Stout, made with maple syrup aged in bourbon barrels, toasted pecans and guajillo peppers;

These two have me interested

I’m hoping the release of all these wackadoo variants helps redirect interest away from the regular (and super outstanding) BCBS.

And for the Rare, why use barrels that housed 35 yo whisky? I don’t get the point in using barrels that formerly housed such old whisky. It seems to me that a younger whisky would impart more whisky flavor than an old one, but what do I know …

The last Rare offering was in 23-year old Pappy Barrels if i’m remembering correctly, so maybe it’s more of a tradition-thing?

It’s pretty easy to get bcbs I feel. Just line up at bevmo twenty minutes before they open.

And that Pappy barrel version is amazing. Maybe the use of barrels that might mot impart as much bourbon flavor is intentional and with good reason. Most beers aged in whiskey barrels taste way too strongly of liquor to me. That older Rare was perfect: noticeable Bourbon flavor that was extremely well integrated into the beer.

no vanilla this year eh?

The Regal and Prop versions sound weird. Maybe trying to get too cute with those? People will undoubtedly buy them but I don’t understand what they are trying to do with those adjuncts. Last year I only saw regular BCBS anyway, coffee, barleywine, and vanilla rye were non existent though I only searched my local area. We got the shaft for sure, coffee and barleywine were available the prior year, of course that was the first year they were distributed out west. I am fine with getting some of the regular, though a bit of coffee would be welcome.

just gave a BCBS to my new beer guy in Denver. He’s very excited and has started holding stuff for me…
Not sure what will make it out here in the southern burbs of Denver but I’ll be back in Chicago for Black Friday so I can load up on the variants

Hurry. I was at the LP Binny’s yesterday and people were lining up all ready. [cheers.gif]

The Barleywine is a vile beer.

I think all barleywine sucks. [snort.gif]

But bourbon County coffee is probably the best qpr for a barrel aged coffee stout outside of lagunitas high west, which is an insane $8-10 a btl and drinks like a stout double the price

Chicago friends - please buy a little extra of these when you come across them. I’ll pay you the cost plus shipping.

flirtysmile [drinkers.gif]

Screw that. The line at the Lincoln Park Whole Foods doesn’t start forming until the day after Halloween.

For purposes of drinking, I am not a fan of the new bottle sizes. For purposes of trading, I am sure that will pump up the value even more.

The new bottles look very cool.

limit 1 for everything is what i’m thinking. ugh.

Yea the bottles look cool, not sure about the neck labels. Seems like it is much harder to tell them apart, I foresee stories of people walking out of stores with a case of a variant by mistake.

There is no doubt in my mind this change of format is to increase the price. We all know how much more per oz. bombers tend to run over a four/six pack equivalent and this 16.9oz format will cloud the price even further when you are in store and make the impulse purchase. A $10 big bottle will just seem easier to swallow than if they were doing four packs at $30.

Thinking about pricing, just considering the regular, I believe around $20 was the suggested retail for a four pack last year. That is roughly $0.42 per ounce. I am betting they will suggest at least $10 on this new 16.9oz format, so roughly $0.60 per ounce.

Whatever the price ends up being just remember you will need to buy three bottles to get roughly the same amount (+2.7 ozs) as the four packs from years past.

If anyone is able to score me a Bourbon County Brand Coffee Stout, I’ll finally get off my ass and do a beer trade. Would LOVE to try it, as I’ve hit just about every coffee stout I’ve been able to buy, cheat or steal :smiley:

Funny side note - there’s a mediocre little bar on Mercer Island out here that manages to swing a keg of BCBS every year. I have no idea how they do it… but when it hits, I’m a complete crapwreck at work after lunch.

I think that most places will go this way. The way that I see it is that if I get a variant, now I am getting a few ounces less. As for the regular, I am likely going to be limited to 1 or 2 bottles if I find it. Also, personally, I find it tough to drink 12 oz in one sitting because it is just so heavy. Now, if I open a bottle, I have 25% more to drink. I would almost prefer six packs of 8oz bottles for the regular.