Bourbon County Brand Stout
Goose Island Beer Company in Chicago, Illinois, United States 🇺🇸
Stout - Imperial Winter|
Score
8.48
|
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Every year since its inception in 1992, we strive to honor the original Bourbon County Stout recipe. And, 30 years later, we continue Gregory Hall’s legacy and passion for making the best beer possible, starting with the best barrels the bourbon trail has to offer. This year, our Imperial Stout is aged and blended from freshly emptied bourbon barrels from Heaven Hill, Four Roses, Wild Turkey, and Buffalo Trace distilleries. Expect flavors of vanilla, dark chocolate, toffee, molasses, almond, and dried fruit.
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8.8/10
—
Appearance 9
Aroma 9
Flavor 8.5
Texture 9
Overall 8.5
Fles 29,5cl thuis. Roasted malts, vanille, eik, caramel, redelijk boozy, bourbon, fudge, licht plakkerig, pure chocolade, wat liquorice, marsepein, bittertonen, zoeten. (13-3-2026).
Tried
from Bottle
from
De Poort van Kleef
on 13 Mar 2026
at 22:58
9.1/10
—
Appearance 9
Aroma 9.5
Flavor 9.5
Texture 9
Overall 8.5
500ml bottle, 2024 vintage. Roasted malt aroma with notes of chocolate, brown sugar, vanilla, bourbon and oak. Pours deep brown with a thin mocha brown head that has little retention and no lacing. Starts with rich roasted malt, brown sugar and oak flavors as well as having a rich, full body and silky smooth mouthfeel. Finishes incredibly smooth with chocolate, bourbon and vanilla flavors. Truly elite imperial stout.
Tried
from Bottle
from
J&K Liquor
on 08 Mar 2026
at 05:23
8/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 8
2005 bottle acquired in an awesome trade with Htsprint1. Thanks so much Noah! Shared with Eyedrinkale and Egajdzis on 8/27/2005.
Pours a thick, viscous deep black, opaque, heavy looking substance, with a small, thick tan head, that is not long retained, little bit of legs on the glass. Sediment on the bottom of the bottle. Aroma of coconuts, sweet molasses and rich toffee. Oaky and just very strong. Touches of charred wood smoke is very dry in the nose and gives some balance to the sweet coconut, chocolate fudge, vanilla and light alcohol. Being very underwhelmed by most Imperial Stouts I have tried lately, especially the barrel-aged ones, I’ve got to say, I was incredibly impressed and refreshed by this one. Granted this isnt a terribly refreshing beer, but it was just nice to see a unique imperial stout that dosent bludgeon you with hops or alcohol. Even the roast is fairly restrained here, relatively speaking. What you do get a lot of, is coconut, sweet vanilla beans and chocolate fudge, though a bit drier than all that sounds. Rich, thick mouthfeel is borderline syrupy, and significantly malty sweet, but for me, it works. Very viscous and oily, with a very low carbonation. It goes down easy, on my palate, though. The bourbon is somehow flavorul, moreso than it is drying or sharp. Sweet chocolate-vanilla sticks with you, as some late hops grows as it warms. Bourbony flavors are always present but don’t really bother me, even at the end of the glass. Very full body. Love to get more of this stuff.
Rerate Or rather, resample, I’m not changing my marks because this beer is maturing very nicely. At about a year old now, the bourbon is still under control, even moreso now, with a creamy/chocolatey texture without gobs of harsh roast or hops. Smokiness and ashiness are controlled and used to balance, not overwhelm. Awesome.
Pours a thick, viscous deep black, opaque, heavy looking substance, with a small, thick tan head, that is not long retained, little bit of legs on the glass. Sediment on the bottom of the bottle. Aroma of coconuts, sweet molasses and rich toffee. Oaky and just very strong. Touches of charred wood smoke is very dry in the nose and gives some balance to the sweet coconut, chocolate fudge, vanilla and light alcohol. Being very underwhelmed by most Imperial Stouts I have tried lately, especially the barrel-aged ones, I’ve got to say, I was incredibly impressed and refreshed by this one. Granted this isnt a terribly refreshing beer, but it was just nice to see a unique imperial stout that dosent bludgeon you with hops or alcohol. Even the roast is fairly restrained here, relatively speaking. What you do get a lot of, is coconut, sweet vanilla beans and chocolate fudge, though a bit drier than all that sounds. Rich, thick mouthfeel is borderline syrupy, and significantly malty sweet, but for me, it works. Very viscous and oily, with a very low carbonation. It goes down easy, on my palate, though. The bourbon is somehow flavorul, moreso than it is drying or sharp. Sweet chocolate-vanilla sticks with you, as some late hops grows as it warms. Bourbony flavors are always present but don’t really bother me, even at the end of the glass. Very full body. Love to get more of this stuff.
Rerate Or rather, resample, I’m not changing my marks because this beer is maturing very nicely. At about a year old now, the bourbon is still under control, even moreso now, with a creamy/chocolatey texture without gobs of harsh roast or hops. Smokiness and ashiness are controlled and used to balance, not overwhelm. Awesome.
Tried
from Bottle
on 02 Mar 2026
at 00:21
9/10
Tried
from Bottle
on 01 Mar 2026
at 23:18
8.8/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 9
Flavor 9
Texture 8
Overall 9
27 February 2026. BCBS Tasting @ Stacks (Sint-Kruis). Cheers to Ward for hosting the event! Many thanks to Louis for generously sharing the bottles!
Cloudy black, no head. Intense bourbon, medicine, tobacco, espresso, teriyaki, black olive, pecan, liqueur-filled pralines, vanilla bean, oak. Sweet date, raisin & prune wrapped in a dark-chocolatey, pecan-nutty and dark fudge-like malt body with subtle umami teriyaki, some smoke and bitter coffee. Peppery hops in the finish, lingering bitter coffee, fondant, oaky vanilla and warming bourbon alcohol. Full body, thin, oily texture, soft carbonation. Has evidently aged (thinned by alcohol; umami, somewhat medicinal flavours) but this has only added layers of complexity to an already rounded base beer. Excellent!
Cloudy black, no head. Intense bourbon, medicine, tobacco, espresso, teriyaki, black olive, pecan, liqueur-filled pralines, vanilla bean, oak. Sweet date, raisin & prune wrapped in a dark-chocolatey, pecan-nutty and dark fudge-like malt body with subtle umami teriyaki, some smoke and bitter coffee. Peppery hops in the finish, lingering bitter coffee, fondant, oaky vanilla and warming bourbon alcohol. Full body, thin, oily texture, soft carbonation. Has evidently aged (thinned by alcohol; umami, somewhat medicinal flavours) but this has only added layers of complexity to an already rounded base beer. Excellent!
Tried
on 27 Feb 2026
at 16:29
7.6/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 7.5
Flavor 8
Texture 7
Overall 7.5
Bottle. Pours opaque dark brown with a small frothy dark beige head, bourbon aroma, low carbonation, medium bitter dark chocolate, oak, bourbon taste, coffee flavor, smooth body, long bourbon finish. Tasty but boozy.
Tried
from Bottle
from
Warehouse Liquors
on 19 Feb 2026
at 21:15
7.9/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 7
Overall 8
Bottle to snifter. Pours pitch black with a thin, lasting beige head. Aroma is oaky, bourbon and chocolate. Taste is similar and boozy. Thick texture, a few steps below chewy. Pretty great overall, one of the only good brews out out by AB.
Tried
from Bottle
on 02 Feb 2026
at 06:06
8/10
—
Appearance 6
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 6
Overall 10
Bottle shared, black beer, small head. Aroma is booze, vanilla, bourbon, wood, liquorice, roast. Taste is the same, quite heavy and boozy but nice
Tried
from Bottle
on 31 Jan 2026
at 23:14
7.9/10
—
Appearance 8
Aroma 8
Flavor 8
Texture 8
Overall 7.5
Tap at BeerTemple, Amsterdam, 15th January 2026. It’s a good stout as it should be, but found this vintage a bit boozy
Tried
from Draft
on 21 Jan 2026
at 20:59
9/10
Tried
from Bottle
on 05 Jan 2026
at 19:08