1001 Beers

Beer No: 38/1001
Page No: 645
Category: Dark

As I mentioned with "yesterday's" post, I'm a bit backlogged, so even though these are coming on line Monday, they're being back-dated to keep up my beer-a-day.  The reason I'm behind a few days, as I mentioned, was because my weekend was pretty crazy.  With Friday's post, I explained how I was all over San Diego and Orange drinking tons of good beer and I kind of kept it up on Saturday.  Being May 1, it was a good friend's 30th birthday, and we were all heading up to the Magic Castle for an evening of drinks, food, and magic.  So, not only was most of my day lost to the Magic Castle and all the mysteries that lie within, but also to running around doing last minute errands and cleaning the house before 19 people showed up for a bit of pre-party drinking before boarding the party bus to head up to Hollywood.

So yes, I'm still behind, but luckily on Sunday, with The Bruery's Show and Tell, I made it up with yesterday's awesome KBS, and today's almost equally-as-good Goose Island Bourbon County Stout.  Having this at the same time as the Founders KBS really gave me a chance to compare the two and taste some subtleties that belie each individual beer and many of the similarities that you'll find across all bourbon barrel aged stouts.  When all was said and done, I found the KBS to be just a slightly better barrel-aged stout with more complexity and a more well-rounded flavor whereas I think the Goose Island just needed a little more time to fully develop and come together.  Either way though, both are top-notch stouts and would be a welcome addition to my fridge at any time.

My review, cross-posted at RateBeer.com:

Goose Island Bourbon County Stout from Goose Island Beer Company

Aroma: 9/10
Appearance: 4/5
Taste: 8/10
Palate: 4/5
Overall: 16/20

Raing: 4.1 / 5.0

Had from bottle at The Bruery. Pours dark brown / black with no head and slight lacing around the edges. Aroma of heavy bourbon, chocolate, vanilla, and alcohol. The flavors are the same - lots of bourbon, fig sweetness, chocolate, coffee and a well-masked alcohol. Finishes sugary sweet with coffee and smoke undertones. Very viscous with great aftertaste. Maybe needs a bit longer to mellow and blend, but still a very good stout with lots of wonderful flavors.