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Bourbon County Brand Stout variants announced

Black Friday is getting a little bit blacker this year with Goose Island’s announcement that this year’s Bourbon County Brand Stout (BCBS) release will include seven variants of the highly-coveted brew. The glut of variants come courtesy of some lost barrels that were recently found and an abundance of great brewing ideas.

As is expected, the anchor of the BCBS line is its original stout aged in fresh Heaven Hill bourbon barrels. The brewery’s website promises that this year’s edition will be good as ever and possibly a touch heavier in alcohol content.

Like the original, this year’s barleywine has been moved to fresh bourbon barrels. Because of this move, imbibers can expect higher alcohol content as well.

Intelligentsia’s Black Cat Espresso was used in the coffee variant this year marking a hearkening back to the first year BCBS was offered with a coffee variant.

Brewmaster Jared Jankoski says on Goose Island’s website that this year’s national variant, “Is from a concept that has bouncing around in my head for a couple years, combining some of my favorite flavors – blueberry and almond.”

Jankoski goes on to say that the almonds add a marzapan-like character that compliments the blueberry notes beautifully.

One of the most sought-after variants of Bourbon County Brand is the Proprietors. This year’s version is a blend of flavors that features bananas, cassia bark and roasted almonds.

The two new variants that will surely be the hottest bottles on Black Friday include what Goose Island is calling Bourbon County Brand Reserve Stout. This special edition consists of the BCBS base aged in freshly emptied 11 year old Knob Creek barrels.

The second extra variant comes courtesy of some long-lost barleywine barrels. Once found it was discovered that the barrels had been lost for two years and had aged superbly. Wanting to make the beer even more special, it was transferred to 35 year-old Heaven Hill barrels where it remained for an astounding 20 months.

With variants like this year’s the annual BCBS release on Black Friday is sure to be even more popular than in the past. My suggestion, if you want all to variants, start saving your pennies now and plan to line up very early in the morning on the day after Thanksgiving.

Goose Island releases Bourbon County Brand Stout documentary

26 Sep

One of the craft beer world’s most coveted annual releases is brewed in Chicago, Ill. by Goose Island Brewing Company. But, the story of how Bourbon County Brand Stout is comes to be does not just take place there. As a new and beautifully shot, documentary commissioned by the brewery shows, The story winds its way through the distilleries of Kentucky and the white oak forest of Missouri’s Ozark Mountains. The documentary was shot over the course of a year and recounts the hard work so many people put in to create Goose Island’s masterful brew.

Bourbon County Brand Stout first saw the light of day in 2004 as the result of Goose Island’s first experimentation with barrel-aging in 2004. But, the story of this legendary beer began in 1992 when brewmaster Greg Hall wanted to brew something truly unique for the the then Goose Island brewpub’s 1,000th batch, he just needed inspiration. Then a chance encounter between Greg and Jim Beam’s Booker Noe led to Goose Island acquiring the barrels for what was to become the world’s first bourbon barrel aged beer. In 1992 Greg Hall, wanted to brew something truly unique for the brewpub’s 1,000th batch, he just needed inspiration. That first year the brew was in limited supply and the brewery had to entice bar-owners to put the highly-alcoholic beer on taps. In November 2008, Goose Island made news when a small batch of Bourbon County Brand Stout became available for the first time in Western states. Categorized as a Russian Imperial Stout, it was cask-conditioned in oak Bourbon barrels from the likes Elijah Craig 18 Year Old Single barrel bourbon, 25-year-old Pappy Van Winkle bourbon or Jim Beam Bourbon barrels.

Back to the documentary though. Because Bourbon County Brand Stout is such a labor intensive product and so many hands touch that process, Goose Island thought it would be a good idea to make a documentary that illustrated just how this remarkable beer is made. From the loggers who harvest the white oak that coopers use to make bourbon barrels to the master distillers that fill those barrels with bourbon and use them only once. The film follows the thought process of how the idea for the beer came about and the highly inefficient process — the yield of each batch is only about 60% — and how variants of the beer are brainstormed and chosen.

In all, the documentary titled Grits & Grain consists of nine chapters that will be released each Friday leading up to this year’s Black Friday release date. Music for the entire movie was provided by folk band The Black Oil Brothers. You can few the first chapter of Grits & Grains below. Watch for future chapters on the brewery’s YouTube page.

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Posted by mwisdom562 on September 26, 2015 in Beer News

Tags: BCBS, Bourbon County Brand Stout, Goose Island Brewing Company, Grits and Grain

Black Friday brings 2014 release of Goose Island’s Bourbon County Brand Stout

25 Nov

For many, the day after Thanksgiving — referred to as Black Friday — is a day of getting up before the rising sun, standing in lines for hours to grab great prices on electronics and other gifts meant to reside under a Christmas tree. But, for beer lovers in the United States it means something different. Black Friday marks the annual release of Goose Island Brewing Company’s coveted Bourbon County Brand Stout (BCBS).

Once a year the brewing experts at Goose Island pull out all the stops and release several varieties of this brew that has been rated as one of the top 20 beers in the world. This year, the brewery has gone over the top in several cities including Jacksonville, Fla. to host a release event that will live on in the memory of those lucky enough to attend. This year’s event will feature partnerships with local artisans Edgewood Bakery and Brew Five Points, in addition to custom Goose Island gifts to the first 200 beer fans in line.

Continuously pushing boundaries and flavor profiles of the lauded beer collection, this year’s BCBS varietals include: Coffee, in partnership with Intelligentsia, Vanilla Rye, Barleywine and Original. First crafted in 1992, Goose Island’s BCBS has paved the way for the art of aging beer in bourbon barrels, and is widely considered the standard of excellence for this specialty craft beer category.

This is the fifth year Goose Island is releasing Bourbon County Brands on Black Friday. In 2013, at the release event in Chicago, more than 500 people lined up to experience the Bourbon County phenomena firsthand. In 2014, with special Black Friday events in additional cities featuring unique collaborations with local artisans from coffee roasters to donut makers, the company expects an even greater turnout.

In Jacksonville, Beer:30 at 1271 King St. in Riverside will host the festivities.