I’ve been “revealing” these beers for the last two months, but today Goose Island has made it official with the announcement of their 2020 Bourbon County Stout variants:
From Goose Island:
More than twenty years ago Greg Hall wanted to brew something truly unique for the 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, Bourbon County Stout.
This year, Goose Island is celebrating the 10th anniversary of releasing Bourbon County Stout and its variants on Black Friday. The first variant was introduced in 2009 at the Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beers in Chicago and we’ve been releasing Bourbon County Stout on Black Friday since 2010.
This year’s lineup is a celebration of innovation made possible by our entire Goose Island family and our distillery partners with highly-coveted brands like Buffalo Trace’s W. L. Weller, Heaven Hill’s Larceny, and Old Forester’s Birthday Bourbon.
We are releasing seven variants this year:
- Goose Island Bourbon County Stout
- Goose Island Bourbon County Kentucky Fog Stout
- Goose Island Bourbon County Special #4 Stout
- Goose Island Bourbon County Caramella Ale
- Goose Island Proprietor’s Bourbon County Stout
- Goose Island Birthday Bourbon County Stout
- Goose Island Anniversary Bourbon County Stout
This year’s Bourbon County Stout Original is aged in a mix of barrels from a variety of whiskey distilleries. Aged for a year in the barrel, BCS Original boasts a complex mouthfeel and a unique blend of flavors such as fudge, vanilla and caramel. 2/9
FAST FACTS
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The 2020 Goose Island Bourbon County Stout lineup will go on sale this Black Friday, November 27, 2020 and includes:
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Bourbon County Stout
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Bourbon County Kentucky Fog Stout
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Bourbon County Special #4 Stout
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Bourbon County Caramella Ale
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Proprietor’s Bourbon County Stout (14.2%-AbV)
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Birthday Bourbon County Stout
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Anniversary Bourbon County Stout
DESCRIPTIONS
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Bourbon County Stout: The Original Bourbon Barrel aged Imperial Stout. Our primary focus every year is to make this beer the best that it’s ever been, with the best ingredients, which includes the finest of bourbon whiskey barrels. This year’s Bourbon County Stout is aged in a mix of bourbon barrels from whiskey distilleries like Buffalo Trace, Heaven Hill Distillery and Wild Turkey. Barrel-aged for a year to develop the complexity that only time can provide, Bourbon County Stout boasts a unique blend of flavors such as fudge, vanilla and caramel — topped off with a rich, complex mouthfeel.
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Tasting Notes: Cocoa, fudge, vanilla, caramel, almond, plus leather and tobacco
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Bourbon County Kentucky Fog Stout: Pinkies up – we’re excited to debut our first-ever tea-inspired variant. Brewer Paul Cade brought this idea to life, inspired by his girlfriend, Martha, who prefers tea over coffee. Our Bourbon County Kentucky Fog Stout is a take on the London Fog tea drink. With that flavor profile in mind, we added Earl Grey Tea and Black Tea from Kilogram Tea, as well as clover honey from The Honey House, to make a Bourbon County Stout variant with a complexity like none before. Trust us, you’ll just have to try it. This variant brings a new meaning to I’m a little teapot short and “stout”.
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Tasting Notes: Black licorice, white pepper, citrus, florals, graham cracker
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Bourbon County Special #4 Stout: Bourbon County Special #4 Stout is an oatmeal stout variant of our original Bourbon County Stout recipe, also aged in bourbon barrels, that uses crystal oats to add a nutty character, as well as a smooth mouthfeel. After barrel aging, we add Intelligentsia Coffee, both their cold coffee and single origin coffee beans from Ethiopia, called “Metad Buku,” bringing out a pleasant fruity coffee character. Lastly bourbon barrel-aged maple syrup from Bissell Maple Farm in Ohio is added which provides complexity to the nutty oats and coffee to round out the flavors, ultimately reminiscent of your breakfast ‘special’ at the local diner .
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Tasting Notes: Coffee, vanilla, toasted nuts, cocoa, maple
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Bourbon County Caramella Ale: Caramella or ‘candy’ in Italian is a wheatwine aged in Larceny Wheated Bourbon barrels with apple, cinnamon, and natural caramel flavor added after aging. Just like last year, the sweet smoothness from the Larceny Wheated Bourbon barrels adds a lingering warmth that complements the added flavor nuance. Its nostalgia-inducing flavors are reminiscent of a caramel apple. Our Lab Tech, Joey Tidei, created this variant as a tribute to his love of seasonal flavors. This luscious embodiment of caramel perfectly paired with a slightly-tart apple flavor will transport you to a crisp autumn day.
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Tasting Notes: Creamy caramel, red apple, cinnamon, funnel cake
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Proprietor's Bourbon County Stout: This year’s Proprietor's Bourbon County Stout was inspired by third-generation Italian American brewer Emily Kosmal’s love of spumoni, a classic Italian frozen treat. Spumoni is a tri-colored frozen dessert that contains candied fruit and nuts between each layer, historically including flavors such as pistachio, cherry and chocolate. Blended with fresh pistachios, cacao nibs, candied Amarena cherries, and natural vanilla flavors, the 2020 Proprietor’s Bourbon County Stout is incredibly complex and layered with cocoa, nut, and dark fruit notes with hints of vanilla and oak. Emily, who also created the concept for 2016 Proprietor’s, is our first brewer to have two Proprietor’s concepts picked for release.
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Tasting Notes: Cocktail cherry, pistachio, dark chocolate, vanilla, oak
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Birthday Bourbon County Stout: We partnered with the Old Forester Brand and paired Bourbon County Stout with barrels from one of the world’s most sought-after bourbons – Old Forester Birthday Bourbon. The limited-edition bourbon, released each year on the founder George Garvin Brown of Brown-Forman’s birthday, is made in hand-selected 11-year old barrels and chosen from one specific day of production – resulting in flavor profiles that vary every year and never replicated. Old Forester’s tasting notes for the 2019 Birthday Bourbon are: “Rich oak spice and blackcurrant coupled with light maple, caramel cake, and white floral notes.” This year’s Birthday Bourbon County Stout is a truly unique variation that is a must-have for bourbon and beer lovers alike.
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Tasting Notes: Chocolate, vanilla, maple, berry, cinnamon
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Anniversary Bourbon County Stout: Anniversary Bourbon County Stout is aged 2 years in Weller 12 Year barrels and is a special variant this year to celebrate Goose Island’s 10-year tradition of releasing Bourbon County Stout on Black Friday. The Weller brand is one of the most universally loved collections in all of bourbon, with Weller 12 Year being one of the hardest to get and most sought after. Our Original Bourbon County Stout is aged in 4-5 year old barrels for one year, so the added age of these Weller barrels, paired with an extra year of the beer in the barrel, adds stronger barrel flavors and notes of dried dark fruit.
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Tasting Notes: Chocolate, bourbon, vanilla, burnt sugar, oak, dried dark fruit
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2020 LINEUP + VARIANT QUOTES
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“I think about BCS so often, that sometimes it appears in my dreams. I had a dream that I was in the Goose taproom serving spumoni ice cream and BCS. The moment I awoke, I knew that was it! Spumoni would make a fun new variant. As an Italian American, spumoni has always been my favorite flavor of ice cream. Notes of chocolate, sweet cherry, pistachio, and vanilla paired with the rich, oaky, bourbon base of BCS is the dessert of my dreams.” – Emily Kosmal, Proprietor's Bourbon County Stout Brewer, Goose Island Beer Co.
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“Caramella is a recipe I have been dialing into the past three years at Goose Island. Inspired by my Aunt Jean’s insanely delicious Apple Crisp dessert, I decided to make it my own with BCS by adding a lick of caramel to support the sweet and toffee-like Wheatwine base. The aroma leans heavily into sweet caramel and cinnamon spice, while the taste comes in to show off the bourbon-soaked Larceny casks and red apple notes, reminiscent of a bold apple brandy. I’m truly honored to be able to continue the legacy that is Bourbon County Stout and release Caramella in this year’s BCS lineup. From my family to yours, cheers.” – Joey Tidei, Goose Island Lab Tech and Caramella Ale creator, Goose Island Beer Co.
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“I have been working to blend the flavors of tea and BCS for years. With characteristics like liquorish, molasses and Tobacco, tea’s inherent complexity was one of the biggest challenges. Earl Gray, a blend of black tea and bergamot oils, presented an interesting opportunity, a way to bring the rich deep flavors of tea and balance that with the brighter bergamot characteristics like citrus, floral and herbal. Sharing my trials with Martha and the rest of the tea lovers at goose island has been my favorite part of the production of the variant. I owe each of them for helping me get to the final product and I look forward to sharing it with the rest of the world soon.” – Paul Cade, Kentucky Fog Stout Brewer, Goose Island Beer Co.
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“This year’s Bourbon County Stout lineup is special because it marks a milestone that we are particularly proud of, the 10th anniversary of our namesake Black Friday release. 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’s become. Cheers to our fans and those who have been with us all of these years!” – Todd Ahsmann, President, Goose Island Beer Co.
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“This year’s Bourbon County Stout lineup includes some of the most exciting flavor combinations yet, brought forth by Goose employees and backed by personal inspiration – such as this year’s Bourbon County Proprietor’s, brewed by an Italian-American brewer for her love of spumoni, an Italian frozen treat. With each sip of BCS we want fans to be taken on a journey through flavor profiles and nuances that are thought provoking and truly unique.” – Keith Gabbett, Brewmaster, Goose Island Beer Co.
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“When we set out to develop the Goose Island Bourbon County Stout lineup, our fans are always top of mind as we hope to continue to exceed their expectations; providing not only the best barrel-aged stout out there, but pushing ourselves to create a lineup that is unparalleled.” This year’s release continues in that tradition and we hope you enjoy it, cheers.” – Keith Gabbett, Brewmaster, Goose Island Beer Co.
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“Goose Island has been fortunate to partner with the best bourbon makers for Bourbon County Stout, and this year is no different with partners like Old Forester, Weller, and Larceny. These distilleries have crafted some of the world’s most sought after bourbon including Old Forester Birthday Bourbon, for our Birthday Bourbon County Stout, and Weller 12 Year for our Anniversary Bourbon County Stout. As a bourbon lover, I’m excited to work with these great barrels and bring them together with Bourbon County Stout. Together with the rest of the variants, I couldn’t be happier with how this year’s lineup turned out." – Mike Siegel, R&D Manager, Goose Island Beer Co.
SPIRITS PARTNERS
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“2020 is a special year for Old Forester. We’re celebrating our 150th year anniversary as the only bourbon continually sold by the same company before, during and after Prohibition, showing our resilience and resourcefulness since 1870. While we’re certainly proud of our past, innovation and strategic partnerships that are true to the core of Old Forester are an important part of our vision moving forward. Both Old Forester Birthday Bourbon and Goose Island Bourbon County Stout are highly anticipated releases, so it's been fun to bring these two celebrated products together.” – Campbell Brown, President and Managing Director, Old Forester
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“We’re excited to extend our partnership with Goose Island through the use of our Weller Bourbon barrels, especially for this year’s 10th anniversary release. It’s always great to see bourbon barrels find a second use, since so much skill and craftsmanship go into making each one. Our Weller 12 Bourbon and Goose Island’s Bourbon County Stout are two of the most anticipated releases each year, and we hope fans will enjoy our collaboration.” – Harlen Wheatley, Master Distiller, Buffalo Trace Distillery
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“Heaven Hill Distillery is proud to continue a partnership with Goose Island built on the shared ideals of quality and innovation. Each year we look forward to tasting the creative, complex Bourbon County Stout variants that showcase how Bourbon and beer can make a special pairing. This year’s use of Heaven Hill Distillery barrels is no exception.” – Conor O’Driscoll, Master Distiller, Heaven Hill Distillery
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Bourbon County Stout Original
Birthday Bourbon County Stout
Anniversary Bourbon County Stout
Bourbon County Stout Special No 4:
Bourbon County Special #4 Stout is an oatmeal stout variation of our original BCS. We added
coffee and bourbon barrel-aged maple syrup from
Farm after barrel-aging, creating a beer reminiscent of your breakfast ‘special’ at the local diner. 4/9
Bourbon County Kentucky Fog Stout: We’re excited to debut our first-ever tea-inspired variant, Bourbon County Kentucky Fog Stout. We added Earl Grey Tea and Black Tea from Kilogram Tea, as well as clover honey from The Honey House, to create flavors reminiscent of the London Fog tea drink. 3/9
Bourbon County Caramella Ale:
Bourbon County Caramella Ale, or ‘candy’ in Italian, is a wheatwine aged in Larceny Wheated Bourbon barrels with apple, cinnamon, and natural caramel flavor added after aging. It’s nostalgia-inducing flavors are reminiscent of a caramel apple equal parts tart and sweet. 5/9
It would appear that Peaches & Cream and Toasted Coconut are FAKE
Stay tuned on Special Reserve & President’s Choice
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