Goose Island Unveils 2023 Lineup of Renowned Bourbon County Stouts, Featuring 1st Cask Finish, Rice, Bananas and More
The 2023 Goose Island Bourbon County Stout lineup (Photos: Goose Island)
On Monday, Chicago-based beer producer Goose Island announced the 2023 lineup of its renowned Goose Island Bourbon County barrel-aged stouts, which beer enthusiasts eagerly await each year.
The 2023 Goose Island Bourbon County Stout lineup comprises the Original Stout, the Eagle Rare 2-Year Reserve Stout, the Angel’s Envy 2-Year Cask Finish Stout, the Bananas Foster Stout, the Backyard Stout and the Proprietor’s Stout.
“Our number one priority with the barrel program every year is to make the best Bourbon County Brand Stout. After that, we challenge ourselves as a team to craft exciting variants to that original stout,” Goose Island Senior Manager Innovation Mike Siegel said in a news release. “We continue to lead the industry in creating adventurous and delicious flavor profiles within the category of barrel-aged stout. We think about each one of these individually, each an expression of exciting flavors, but also as a whole family of beers to be enjoyed in tandem with each other. Lovers of Bourbon County Brand Stout and the nearly 70 variants we’ve made over the years will no doubt find plenty to enjoy within this year’s line-up.”
Details About Each Member of the 2023 Goose Island Bourbon County Stout Family
2023 Bourbon County Brand Original Stout
This year’s base Bourbon County stout is aged in a blend of freshly emptied bourbon barrels from Buffalo Trace, Heaven Hill, Four Roses and Wild Turkey.
Aged for an average of 12 months, the 2023 Bourbon County Original Stout is said to have tasting notes of vanilla, cocoa, cherry, caramelized sugar and almond.
2023 Bourbon County Brand Eagle Rare 2-Year Reserve Stout
The beer of the bunch most likely to excited bourbon enthusiasts, this stout was aged for two years in barrels that formerly contained Eagle Rare 10 Year Old — a beloved bourbon produced by Buffalo Trace. Goose Island describes this beer as “an incredibly complex and boldly rich stout that celebrates the essence of American brewing at its finest.”
2023 Bourbon County Brand Angel’s Envy 2-Year Cask Finish Stout
A milestone for Bourbon County, this is Goose Island’s first “Cask Finish” stout. In the spirits world, cask finishing refers to the process of aging a spirit in a second barrel after its initial maturation. This period spent in a second barrel is called a “finish.”
Goose Island says its first cask finish was inspired by Louisville, Kentucky distillery Angel’s Envy. After a year in Angel’s Envy Kentucky Straight Bourbon barrels, this stout was transferred to a Ruby Port Wine barrels, where it was aged for another year.
“We’re thrilled to be partnering with Goose Island, to be a part of their annual iconic Bourbon County Stout line-up,” Angel’s Envy Master Distiller Owen Martin said in the news release. “What’s exciting about the Angel’s Envy BCS collaboration is the beer is finished in a way that replicates how we finish our award-winning bourbon, in port wine barrels. We believe that the secondary finishing process, when done with intention, opens up exciting, new opportunities to enhance and elevate bourbon — or in this case, stout — to unexpected places.”
According to Goose Island, the finishing process “refined and amplified” flavors of cherry, spice and cocoa in the stout.
2023 Bourbon County Brand Bananas Foster Stout
The Bourbon County Bananas Foster Stout was first introduced to the lineup in 2017 as a member of the brand’s Proprietor’s Stout series, which is a subgenre within the Bourbon County lineup that the brand says it creates “for Chicago.”
Returning for 2023, this stout is made with banana, three different types of almonds and cassia bark.
“We released our first-ever Proprietor’s Variant in 2013, the same year I started as an intern here at Goose,” said Quinn Fuechsl, commercial innovation manager. “The bold coconut flavor in that variant set the tone for what Proprietor’s would be as part of the BCS portfolio – something that was boundary pushing and adventurous. For my part, I’ve always loved and gravitated towards the flavor of bananas; I’m a big fan of chocolate covered bananas, my favorite pie is banana cream, and bananas are a staple on my breakfast menus. Yet, I rarely ever saw them used in stouts, so I thought it would be an ideal ingredient to add to a Proprietor’s variant. Over the next few years I submitted multiple variants using bananas in different forms while pairing them with all sorts of complimentary ingredients. Roasted almonds and cinnamon ended up being the bridge to the Original Stout notes of vanilla, chocolate and oak that allowed the banana character to shine through and put its unique stamp on Bourbon County Brand Stout. Since then I’ve been lucky enough to try a lot more barrel-aged stouts from many talented brewers across the country, each with their own unique take on how to express that flavor I enjoy so much. I’m humbled by the love this beer got in 2017, and I’m very excited to share it with a larger audience in 2023.”
2023 Bourbon County Brand Backyard Stout
Goose Island released “Backyard Rye” in 2013, made with mulberries hand-picked by senior innovation manager Mike Siegel. Ten years later, this stout returns (minus the rye aspect; the 2013 version was aged in rye whiskey barrels) as Goose Island says it was “feeling nostalgic.”
This year’s edition is aged in bourbon barrels for at least a year and then finished and blended with mulberries, boysenberries and marionberries.
2023 Bourbon County Brand Proprietor’s Stout
This year’s version of the aforementioned Proprietor’s Stout is inspired by rice pudding. Made with cassia bark, raisins, brown sugar and toasted rice, this stout is the first Goose Island has ever made using rice as an ingredient.
About Goose Island Bourbon County Stouts
Goose Island releases a lineup of Goose Island Bourbon County Stouts each year on Black Friday. The series is highly popular and sought after.
The first Goose Island Bourbon County Stout was brewed in 1992 to celebrate Goose Island’s 1,000th batch of beer for that year. In 1995, Goose Island entered its Bourbon County Brand Stout into the Great American Beer Festival, but it was disqualified because it didn’t fit into any style guidelines at the time — a sign that it was ahead of its time.
Goose Island first packaged and released Bourbon County in Chicago in 2005.
To read about last year’s lineup, click here — or here for our tasting notes.
Certain craft beer fans turn their nose up at Goose Island since it was acquired by Anheuser-Busch in 2011 for $38.8 million. Still, all in all, the beer brand is thriving, and each year, Bourbon County is still extremely popular — and damn good.
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