650 ml bottle shared with friends, thanks to Glen. Black color with small beige brown head. Malty roasted aroma, chocolate, caramel, light soy, dark dried fruits, red fruits, berries, wood, alcohol. Sweet and light bitter fruity taste like aroma. Full silky oily body with soft carbonation.

Vintage bottle at Bart’s Bourbon County tasting in Bruges. BCBS aged on rye barrels (like several other variants) and ’fruited’ with rather unlikely fruits: marionberries (an American bramble species), boysenberries (a hybrid of bramble and raspberry) and mulberries (a completely different and delicate kind of fruit with superficial resemblances to brambleberries). Thin, yellowish beige, quickly dissolving head, black robe with mahogany edges. Wonderful bouquet of bitter chocolate, wet wood, vanilla-like oak, whisky, toasted brown bread, old dry sherry (maderisation effect - stunningly beautiful in this case), lots of berries but indistinguishable from each other (could just as well be blueberries or blackcurrant, though a blackberry juice aspect is certainly there), cooked dark fruit or even ’forest fruit’ jam, old raisins. Intense fruitiness in the onset, a ton of dark berries providing a soft, fruit jam-like sweetness alongside a crisp but soft, vivid sourishness surrounding a more ’deeply’ situated dried fruit sweetness and meaty umami aspects; thick, oily, softly carbonated body. A multi-layered, deliciously thick caramelly, nutty and eventually deeply chocolatey maltiness ensues, providing a mouth-filling bittersweetness in which this lush dark fruit sweet-and-sourishness unabatedly persists, cutting through the whole and refreshing it at the same time; drying wood tannins, spicy and perfectly dosed hops and a lot of warming, but non-astringent, old port- or sherry-like alcohol bring the finish to utmost perfection. I had great tasting experiences with this world famous brand of beautiful beers, but this one stands a good chance at being the most perfect, delicate, complex and wondrous Bourbon County I ever had the pleasure to taste. Absolute genius at work here.

Pours black with brown head. Aromas of bourbon, berries, roasted malt, chocolate. Similar flavors with some spice from the rye. Full body with minimal carbonation.

Bottle 22fl.oz. @ The Danish (Ulfborg) Ratebeer Summer Gathering 2016, TNO(U)DRBSG16 @ fonefan & Brugmasia House. [ As Goose Island Bourbon County Stout - Backyard Rye Barrel ].ABV: 12.7%. Clear dark black brown color with a average, frothy - creamy, good lacing, mostly lasting, beige head. Aroma is moderate to heavy malty, chocolate, roasted, dark malt, raspberry, tart notes. Flavor is moderate to heavy sweet and bitter with a long duration, raspberry, chocolate, rye. dark malt. Body is medium, texture is oily, carbonation is soft to flat, finish feel is light alcoholic. [20160820]

Bottle@Danish Ratebeer Summer Gathering 2016 - Black pour with tan head. Sweet and roasted malty with notes of sweet chocolate, some caramel, some berry fruits, sweet cocoa finish.

Bottle, 12.7%. Very dark brown with small beige head. Aroma is roasted malts, berries, wood, oak, chocolate and coffee. Flavour is roasted malts, chocolate, coffee, berries, medium sweet, bourbon, vanilla, rye, wood, warming with notes of alcohol.