We know that Goose Island’s Bourbon County Stout lineup will go on sale this 2020 in Black Friday, as has been the tradition for the past 10 years. What we do not know is how the release this year will be different with the pandemic. While we wait for the brewery to release these details, we can tell you about the variations for this year’s lineup.
After last year’s eight beer line-ups, 2020 has been scaled back to seven varieties, but keeps the focus on the barrel as in 2019. There is no barley wine yet, but coffee makes a bigger appearance this year and it looks more like the star in the beer to be compared to Café de Olla last year.
“When we were aiming to develop the Goose Island Bourbon County Stout lineup, our fans are always top of mind as we hope to stay ahead of their expectations; not only offering the best stout age there is, but pushing ourselves to create a lineup that is unique, ”said Goose Island Brewmaster Keith Gabbett.
There have been some new ingredients tried out this year, including the first tea variant as well as a stout oatmeal version from Bourbon County. Like the last two years, there will also be a wheat wine that has apparently taken the place of the once standard grass wine.
Goose’s connections to world – class distilleries have resulted in unique barrel acquisitions and 2020 has, like last year, several variants that show the power of the bourbon barrel. Barrels from Old Forester, Buffalo Trace, and Heaven Hill are all used throughout the lineup.
“These distilleries have produced some of the most sought after bourbon in the world, including Old Forester Birthday Bourbon, for our Bourbon County Stout birthday, and Weller 12 years before our Bourbon County Stout anniversary,” said Goose Island R&D Manager Mike Siegel . ‘As a bourbon lover I am excited to work with these amazing fats and bring them together with Bourbon County Stout. Along with the rest of the variations, I couldn’t be happier with how this year’s lineup turned out. “
Here is the full lineup of Bourbon County Stout in 2020:
Bourbon County Stout
Unsurprisingly, the OG leads this year’s lineup. One year old in a mix of Heaven Hill, Wild Turkey, and Buffalo Trace tunnels, expect similar taste notes as in years past of chocolate, vanilla, tobacco and caramel. As the first beer-aged beer, a product of Greg Hall years ago, it is always the first beer to be tried in the lineup as the variants play off this base beer.
Bourbon County Kentucky Fog Stout
For the first time, Goose Island uses tea in a Bourbon County Stout variant. A blend of Earl Gray and Black Tea from Kilogram Tea star in this variant which also includes honey from The Honey House.
“I’ve worked for years to mix the flavors of tea and BCS,” said Kentucky Fog Stout Brewer Paul Cade Kentucky. “With characteristics such as licorice, molasses and tobacco, the inherent complexity of tea was one of the biggest challenges.”
Bourbon County Special # 4 Stout
Goose goes with an oatmeal stout version of Bourbon County Stout for Special # 4 that is also the closest to a straight coffee variant we’ve seen in a few years. After a year in fats, cold coffee and coffee beans with one origin from Intelligentsia Coffee are added. The beans are called Metad Buku from Ethiopia this year and have a somewhat fruity character to them.
In addition to the coffee, maple syrup from Bissell Maple Farm is added to give a more breakfast like flavor profile of coffee, maple and vanilla.
Bourbon County Caramella Ale
In 2018, Goose introduced for the first time a wheat wine variant for a lot of fanfare and a FoBAB medal. The following year, they tried a wheat wine again, but popular opinion claimed that the beer was too sweet and 2018 was the preference. For what it’s worth, I liked the 2019 release.
2020 brings another wheat wine with Caramella Ale. Caramella Ale is Italian for candy, in the Larceny Wheated Bourbon fats in old age, with apples, cinnamon and caramel flavors. The taste profile should look like an apple juice with hints of caramel, red apple, and cinnamon on an autumn day.
“Caramella is a recipe I’ve been calling at Goose Island for the past three years,” said Joey Tidei, creator of Caramella. “Inspired by my aunt Jean’s insanely delicious Apple Crisp dessert, I decided to make it my own with my BCS by adding a liqueur of caramel to support the sweet and toffee-like Wheatwine base. The aroma is heavy in sweet caramel and cinnamon herbs, while the flavor comes in to reflect the bourbon-soaked Larceny boxes and red apple notes, reminiscent of a fatty apple brandy. ”
Owner of Bourbon County Stout
Emily Kosmal, who created Proprietor’s of 2016, is back for 2020. This year’s Prop is inspired by the Italian frozen spumoni. The popular tricolor dessert has nuts and candied fruit between the three layers of pistachio, cherry, and chocolate.
Prop this year is mixed with pistachio, cocoa, candied Amarena cherries, and natural vanilla flavors. Kosmal is the first beer brewer to brew her recipe twice for Prop.
“I think so often about BCS, that it sometimes appears in my dreams,” Kosmal said. “I had a dream that I was in the Goose taproom serving spumoni ice cream and BCS. The moment I woke up, I knew it was it. Spumoni would make a nice new variant. As an Italian American, spumoni has always been my favorite flavor of ice cream. “
Birthday Bourbon County Stout
Old Forester’s Birthday Bourbon is released every year on the birthday of founder George Garvin Brown. The bourbon is selected from 11-year-old fats and all the bourbon is picked from one specific production date. In 2019, the bourbon was described as “rich oak and black currant, combined with light maple, caramel cake, and white floral notes.”
These are the fats that have housed Bourbon County Stout for a year and produce a variety with berry, maple, chocolate and vanilla.
“Both Old Forester Birthday Bourbon and Goose Island Bourbon County Stout are highly anticipated releases, so it’s been fun bringing these two famous products together,” said Old Forester President and Managing Director Campbell Brown.
Anniversary Bourbon County Stout
Celebrating the 10th anniversary of the release of Black Friday, Goose Island’s anniversary Bourbon County Stout for two years in Weller 12-year celebrations. Typically aged in 4-5-year-old fats, the older barrels, along with the extra year of aging, will provide a more robust and bourbon-forward flavor profile.
Expect notes of dried fruit, bourbon, chocolate, and vanilla in what will likely be the lineup’s strongest beer.
“This year’s Bourbon County Stout lineup is special because it marks a milestone of which we are especially proud, the 10th anniversary of our namesake Black Friday release,” said Goose Island President Todd Ahsmann. “Back in 2010, we had no idea the impact our Bourbon County Stout release on Black Friday would have on the craft beer community, and today we are proud of the tradition it has become.”
My thoughts
I have learned not to rate a Bourbon County Stout based on the description alone. I remember going in 2017 and hearing the taste notes for Prop and thinking it would be awful. Today, Prop 2017 is one of my favorite variants of all time, right there with Prop 2014.
I’m always up for the OG. It’s usually a really naughty age and can really set the tone for the whole lineup.
For me, it’s all about the barrel and the characteristics it develops in the beer. That anniversary Bourbon County Stout and Birthday Bourbon County Stout are two that I’m very excited about.
Kentucky Fog interests me. It will be interesting to see how the tea is incorporated into the beer. Tea can be a very light flavor, and so how it will play out within the powerful notes of the barrel-aged stout is what I am interested in trying.
We are getting closer to bringing back a straightforward coffee variant. Special # 4 is the closest thing we’ve had in a few years and as long as the maple does not dominate the taste profile, coffee seems to be a prominent flavor in the Bourbon County Stout lineup again. The last two years of Coffee Barleywine and Café de Olla just did not work for me. Goose has great connections with local coffee brewers – show off your coffee!
I hope Prop is not too fond. There are many supplements in that one, and if the cocoa, vanilla, and cherries are not balanced, it may be too much. But as I have learned in the past, it is best to wait and try everything and then see.
Normally, the announcement of the variant is the biggest news ahead of the Black Friday release, but this year it’s just part of the comparison, because Goose has not announced how they will release the beers this year. With the pandemic, it seems almost impossible that they are doing the issue with big lines at Binny’s and liquor stores around the country.
For now, the conversations will rage on the message boards with hot-take about the variations, what will happen with Prop Day, and how will the release happen.
