The annual “Black Friday” release of Goose Island’s Bourbon County Stout is set for November 26, and the Anheuser-Busch InBev-owned craft brewery revealed today the lineup of variants for the limited-edition beer.
The latest release includes the original Bourbon County Stout (14.4% ABV), an imperial stout aged in bourbon barrels from various distilleries — including Heaven Hill, Wild Turkey and Buffalo Trace — as well as six variants and a Proprietor’s release:
- Bourbon County Cherry Wood Stout (14.3% ABV): Goose Island’s senior innovation manager Keith Gabbett called the “fully matured stout” one of his favorite variants ever. The beer was finished with honeycomb-shaped toasted cherry wood chips to give it flavors of cherry and toffee.
- Bourbon County Reserve 150 Stout (15.6% ABV): This variant was aged for a year in Old Forester’s 150th Anniversary Bourbon barrels, which honors the bourbon company’s founder George Garvin Brown.
- Bourbon County Double Barrel Toasted Barrel Stout (16% ABV): This variant was aged for one year in Elijah Craig Small Batch Bourbon barrels, followed by one year in Elijah Craig Toasted Bourbon barrels, which imparted flavors of chocolate, carmel, vanilla and toasted marshmallow and a fruit and oak finish.
- Bourbon County Reserve Blanton’s Stout (15.4% ABV): The beer was aged for 18 months in Blanton’s Original Single Barrel Bourbon barrels, with notes of dark chocolate and oak and a clove, nutmeg and cinnamon finish.
- Bourbon County Classic Cola Stout (14.1% ABV): The beer was inspired by brewers Paul Cade’s and Jason Krasowski’s love for “classic cola,” with a flavor profile of a whisky cola using nine ingredients blended into the base.
- Bourbon County Fourteen Stout (ABV TBD): A twist on the 2014 Chicago-only Proprietor’s release with added rye, as well as cassia bark, cocoa nibs, panela sugar, and coconut water.
The 2021 Proprietor’s release draws inspiration from a frozen treat for the second year in a row, with flavor house specialist Emily Kosmal paying tribute to a strawberry ice cream bar with a blend of strawberries, vanilla and coconut. The selection of the stout makes Kosmal the first brewer to have three Proprietor’s concepts picked for release. Her concepts were also selected in 2016 (chipotle peppers and cacao nibs) and 2020 (Spumoni ice cream).
Many of the variants feature partnerships with distilleries, which Goose Island’s barrels and beyond beer innovations manager Mike Siegal credited with creating higher quality stouts.
“Goose Island has formed deep-rooted relationships with some of the most sought-after whiskey makers in the industry, and we’re grateful for the partnership and trust they instill in us to age beer in top notch barrels,” Siegel said in a press release.
“With Blanton’s Bourbon being the original single barrel bourbon and Goose Island Beer Company being the original Bourbon County Stout, we knew this collaboration would be special,” Aaron Lawrence, global brand ambassador for Blanton’s Bourbon, added.
Every year, some of the ideas for variants come from Goose Island employees in a contest that begins in early January. Entrants can take home the original Bourbon County Stout to experiment, allowing for a vast range of flavor inspirations — including some that may seem risky.
“We challenged ourselves to use whole ingredients as much as possible, whole coriander, whole nutmeg, cassia bark, and real citrus zest. It’s definitely not how cola is made these days, but we thought it was a cool nod to the history of this classic flavor and the best way to honor how special BCS is to us as a company,” Cade said of the Classic Cola Stout.
“Cola is such a familiar flavor. Our biggest challenge was getting all of the ingredients to taste like cola, not nine individual things,” Krasowski added. “In the end, this BCS variant has all the depth and complexity that you might expect from blending nine ingredients into our beautiful BCS base, while, surprisingly, being as refreshing as your favorite cola brand.”
Goose Island began producing the first bourbon barrel-aged beer in 1992 following a partnership with co-founder Greg Hall and Jim Beam distiller (and Jim Beam’s grandson) Booker Noe, and began experimenting with variants in 2009.