Pats vs Eagles! Dilly dilly!

2017 vintage, tasted at Goose Island BCS media preview. This year's version is 14.4% abv. Previous vintages of the BCS Barleywine were aged in third-use barrels that had another BCS variant in them. This year's releases uses the same fresh Heaven Hill barrels as most of the Stouts. The beer is a very dark brown, compared to the black stouts. The smell is strong with wood and earthy spice, partly thanks to the use of Pilgrim hops, a recently introduced English cultivar (the Stouts in this year's release all feature Millennium hops). The hop comes through more cleanly than the bourbon character, but it's still heady with vanilla and a bit of tannin.

500 ml bottle into snifter, bottled on 10/6/2017. Pours crystal clear very dark ruby red/brown color with a small dense light khaki head with solid retention, that reduces to nothing pretty quickly. No lacing and some clinging bubbles on the glass. Aromas of big raisin, plum, prune, cherry, fig, date, apple, caramel, brown sugar, molasses, toffee, vanilla, bourbon, coconut, toasted oak, nuts, and brown bread; with lighter notes of leather, tobacco, milk chocolate, cocoa, coffee, and yeast/oak/toasted earthiness. Slight booze in the aromas as it warmed, but not overwhelming. Damn nice aromas with great balance and complexity of dark/bready malts, fruity yeast, and bourbon barrel notes; with great strength. Taste of huge raisin, plum, prune, cherry, fig, date, apple, caramel, brown sugar, molasses, toffee, vanilla, bourbon, coconut, toasted oak, nuts, and brown bread; with lighter notes of leather, tobacco, pepper, milk chocolate, cocoa, coffee, and yeast/oak/toasted earthiness. Mild herbal/roast bitterness and bourbon/oak tannin spiciness on the finish. Lingering notes of raisin, plum, prune, cherry, fig, date, apple, caramel, brown sugar, molasses, toffee, vanilla, bourbon, coconut, toasted oak, nuts, brown bread, leather, tobacco, pepper, milk chocolate, cocoa, coffee, and yeast/oak/toasted earthiness on the finish for a while. Amazing complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready malts, fruity yeast, and bourbon barrel flavors; with a solid malt/bitterness and bourbon/oak spiciness balance; with no cloying sweetness after the finish. Slightly increasing dryness from lingering bitterness and bourbon/oak spiciness. Light-medium carbonation and fairly full body; with a very smooth, creamy/silky/velvety, and slightly slick/syrupy/sticky/chalky/tannic mouthfeel that is fantastic. Mildly increasing warmth of 14.4%, with minimal barrel booziness lingering after the finish. Overall this is an amazing English barelywine! All around incredible complexity, robustness, and balance of dark/bready malts, fruity yeast, and bourbon barrel flavors; very smooth and dangerously easy to sip on for the huge ABV, with the mildly bitter/tannic/drying finish. Perfectly balanced rich malts, fruity yeast, and bourbon barrel integration. Not overly boozy/tannic. A highly enjoyable offering, and amazing style example as expected. A bit better than when I first reviewed it in 2014.