Barrel-aged beers are a double-aged sword. Sometimes they’re the result of meticulous care and tremendous effort to make a good beer richer. Others they’re a cover-up for an unimpressive batch in hopes a higher ABV and some oaky, vanilla notes can wash away a brewery’s failure and turn it into something better.
Goose Island’s Bourbon County stouts fall firmly in the former category. The Chicago-based brewer, now owned by AB InBev, began brewing these special celebration beers more than 30 years ago. That’s a long time to perfect a process — and to add new wrinkles along the way.
This year’s media tasting, fronted virtually by senior innovation officer Mike Siegel and senior brewmaster Daryl Hoedtke, among others, took us through the arduous process of creating each year’s lineup. Employees submit their own variants on the longstanding stout in hopes of making the cut. Pilot batches are produced. The end result is an impressive array of flavor that goes above and beyond the basic, dense taste endemic to many quick-fix barrel-aged beers.
I was fortunate to get my hands on all six of this year’s Bourbon County beers right as the weather began to turn cold here in Wisconsin. I’ll tell you right now, they’re all pretty damn good. Here’s what I thought of each of Goose Island’s 2023 special brews.