Bourbon County Brand Barleywine - 2-Year Reserve
Goose Island Beer Company in Chicago, Illinois, United States 🇺🇸
Barley Wine - Barley Rotating Out of Production|
Score
8.09
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After 5 years away, we couldn’t think of a better way to welcome our Barleywine back into the Bourbon County Brand family than with a 2-year reserve. We were fortunate to be able to age this year’s expression in three exceptional sets of barrels from varying releases of the Old Fitzgerald’s Bottled In -Bond Decanter Series: 14, 16 and 17-year-old barrels. These exclusive barrels and the subtle nature within them further showcase the complexities found in our barleywine—a tapestry woven of rich malt, entwined with notes of toffee, vanilla and warming spices.
John E. Fitzgerald was a bonded US Treasury agent who had access to the rickhouses where bourbon barrels were aged. Using his keys, Fitzgerald let himself into the rickhouses, thieve bourbon from the best barrels, and take jugs home for himself—thus committing larceny. When it came time to dump the barrels, some were found to be unusually light and exceptionally smooth. These barrels became known as “Fitzgerald barrels.” Registered in 1884, and later sold to “Pappy” Van Winkle, the historic Old Fitzgerald brand carried on the legacy.
Today, john E. Fitzgerald lives on in award-winning bourbons: Larceny Small
Batch, Larceny Barrel Proof, and the Old Fitzgerald Bottled-in-Bond Decanter Series. Unlike other bourbons, these are made with wheat, resulting in a smooth profile that showcases extraordinary distilling pedigree at work.
For this Reserve, we worked with our friends at Old Fitzgerald to obtain three exceptional sets of barrels of varying ages from the distillery's Old Fitzgerald’s Bottled-In-Bond Decanter Series. This Reserve offers us a rare opportunity to highlight the distinct characteristics of our rich Barleywine aged in 14-year, 16-year, and 17-year-old barrels of an amazing bourbon pedigree. Bringing back our classic English-style Barleywine for the first time since 2018, we knew this was going to be something special. Our Two-Year Barleywine Reserve evokes the rich intricacies from that of Old Fitzgerald’s Bottled-In-Bond Series for a velvety taste of rich malt, entwined with notes of toffee, cherry, vanilla, fig, and almond.
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Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 7 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 7.5
Bottle shared at a recent tasting by Dave and Kelly, thanks for the opportunity! Dark pour for a barleywine with a minimal head. Rich sweet caramel and toffee with bits of bourbon and light vanillin Solid warming alcohol especially as this warms, nice sipper!
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8
Bottle at share. Mahogany pour, tiny ring of beige head. Aroma is malty, molasses, caramel, pit fruit. Taste is sweet and strong, brown sugar, toffee, bourbon. A bit on the boozy side.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 8.5
Bottle big thanks to Billy. It pours darkest / deepest brown with a small khaki head. The aroma is sweet, sticky, sappy, oily, fresh, bourbon, toffee crisp, coffee cake, dried fruit, sticky, nutty, green, booze-soaked oak and earthy. The taste is dry, bitter - sweet, slick, earthy roasted malt, toasted wood, chewy, toothy, toffee, nutty, loads of warming (but pleasing) booze, caramel, vanilla, bourbon soaked oak, fruit cake and nip of spice with a toasty finish. Fulsome body and moderate carbonation, slick rich mouth feel. Tasty stuff. Satisfying.
Upfront its barleywine perfection but as it warms up it's deficiencies come out, the light body, the barrel dependency, still delicious but it's a old Fitz barrel dominated fig juice boi vs db VSOJ which held up beyond room temp as revolution perfection.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9
Bottle thanks to Guillermo. Pours a cloudy amber with small beige head that lasts. The aroma is dark fruit, wood, bourbon. Slick body, raisin, fig, bourbon, wood, nice sweetness, enjoyed this.
Appearance - 8 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 7.5
Bottle best before July 26, 2027, drunk 1/2/23. Clear medium amber, small, beige head to ring. Rich malt and lovely bourbon. Unlike Barreled Souls, some alcohol does show through. Sticky toffee, caramel, raisin, date and spicy bourbon. Wow very strong bourbon, cuts the rich texture aggressively. Very spicy, rich, caramel and raisin forward with date and vanilla lingering alongside spicy bourbon and light to moderate alcohol. Some cherry and pepper but mostly warming bourbon. Maybe more appealing if you love Old Forester and/or bourbon, neither of which I do. Just want more thickness of texture, though I appreciate it's not a sugar-syrup bomb.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 8 | Flavor - 9 | Texture - 8 | Overall - 9
500 ml bottle. Thanks to TJ. The aroma and flavor go hand-in-hand. Flavors of toffee, warm caramel, vanilla and soft oak. For 17% is highly drinkable and no huge alcohol burn after the sip. Extremely flavorful. Worth $40.00 a bottle? Not easy for me to say.
Bottle split 4 ways aroma follows taste, toffee, dark fruit, nice old Fitz flavor. Abv is well hidden at 17%. Is it worth $40 a bottle. The jury is out.
Appearance - 6 | Aroma - 9 | Flavor - 8 | Texture - 6 | Overall - 8.5
Bottle shared by Ryan, thanks! Pours a clear copper amber with a tan head that dissipates quickly to the edges. Aroma has a nice bourbon and sweet grain combination with sweet grains and a hint of toffee supporting. Flavor has a great sweet grain, toffee and barrel combination with a bit of caramel underlying.