Goose Island Unveils 2025 Bourbon County Stout Lineup, Including 1st Cognac Finish, Baklava-Inspired Beer and More

The 2025 Goose Island Bourbon County Stout lineup is here. (Photos: Goose Island)

On Tuesday, Goose Island Beer Co. unveiled its 2025 Bourbon County Brand Stout lineup.

Released each Black Friday, Bourbon County is one of the most anticipated annual releases in all of beer. This year’s barrel-aged stout lineup comprises six variants, including two collaborations with whiskey powerhouse Heaven Hill: Original Stout, Cherries Jubilee Stout, Chocolate Praline Stout, Proprietor’s Stout, Double Barrel Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond Stout and Parker’s Heritage Reserve Stout.

2025 Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout Lineup

As always, we’ll publish our full review of each variant closer to the release date, so keep your eyes peeled for that! (and subscribe to our newsletter to keep up to date with everything in the beverage industry!) For now, though, let’s break down everything we know about the 2025 lineup. Pricing and ABV information has not yet been revealed by Goose Island.

2025 Bourbon County Brand Original Stout

Goose Island Bourbon County Stout sells in 4-packs of 10-ounce bottles this year.

Available this year for the first time in 4-packs of 10-ounce bottles, the 2025 Original Stout was aged an average of 12 months in a mix of freshly emptied barrels from Buffalo Trace, Heaven Hill, Four Roses and Wild Turkey.

Goose Island lists vanilla, cherry, cocoa, toasted almond and caramelized sugar as tasting notes for the 2025 Original Stout.

We asked a Goose Island representative if there was a chance we’d see the 4-pack format expanded to other variants in the future, and the brewery didn’t rule it out: “In terms of bringing the 10-ounce, four-pack to other variants, we never say never, but for right now, the smaller format is only for Original Stout. We’ll continue to keep a pulse on what our consumers want – and that goes for new recipes and brewing approaches, but extends as far as new packaging formats.”

Note: Each of the variants start out as the Original Stout before the finishings and additions of ingredients that make them unique, so while we don’t list the aging process for all of the variants, they’re the same as this one: Buffalo Trace, Heaven Hill, Four Roses and Wild Turkey, aged for an average of 12 months.

2025 Bourbon County Brand Cherries Jubilee Stout

The 2025 Goose Island Bourbon County Cherries Jubilee Stout features the first incorporation of cognac casks in Bourbon County history.

Doubling down on the stone fruit notes Goose Island brewers often pick up in Bourbon County stouts, the Cherries Jubilee expression takes the Original Stout and brings it to new heights with a finishing period in cognac barrels — which Goose Island tells us was done to “deepen the fruit character even further” — followed by an introduction of Montmorency cherries, citrus and panela, an unrefined whole cane sugar often made in Latin America.

The incorporation of cognac barrels is a first in the 30-plus-year history of Bourbon County stouts.

The result, says Goose Island, is a velvety and decadent stout with flavors of candied dark cherry, soft vanilla, caramelized citrus and burnished cocoa.

2025 Bourbon County Brand Chocolate Praline Stout

This stout, as you can probably guess from the name, is intended to showcase the classic flavors of a chocolate praline. To achieve that profile, Goose Island layered the stout with cocoa nibs, hazelnuts, almonds, cashews and dates. Listed tasting notes comprise rich fudge, toasted marzipan and chewy toffee.

2025 Bourbon County Brand Proprietor’s Stout

As always, the Proprietor’s Stout will be available exclusively in the Chicago area.

This year’s Prop Stout (the lone variant available only in the Chicago market each year) is inspired by the flavors of homemade baklava. The idea came from brewer Colby Magratten, who says she took inspiration from the beehives on her aunt’s Rhode Island homestead.

The stout was finished with walnuts, pistachios, cassia bark and honey. The brand cites caramelized honeycomb, baking spice and roasted candied nuts as tasting notes.

2025 Bourbon County Brand Double Barrel Stout

The 2025 Goose Island Bourbon County lineup is heavy on Heaven Hill.

The first of two collabs with Heaven Hill in the lineup, this stout was aged in two sets of freshly dumped Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon barrels.

Goose Island lists toasted marshmallow and warm vanilla as tasting notes, as well as the sort of pronounced oak finish you’d expect from a stout doubly aged in bourbon barrels.

2025 Bourbon County Brand Reserve Stout

For the Reserve Stout, Goose Island sourced some truly rare barrels from Heaven Hill: ones used to age Parker’s Heritage Collection 17th Edition Rye Whiskey Barrels for 10 years. Try to track a bottle of that whiskey down today, and you’re looking at an average price of $574, per Wine-Searcher.

The Parker’s Heritage Collection is dedicated to Parker Beam, who joined Heaven Hill in 1960 and became master distiller in 1975. Beam had a massive impact at Heaven Hill. He died in 2017 after a long battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Heaven Hill keeps his legacy alive with this series.

Goose Island rested this beer in those barrels for two full years. The result, according to Goose Island, is a stout with layers of dried fruit and marzipan, nuanced spice from the rye whiskey, lingering tannins and a long, warm finish full of baking spice.

“Rye whiskey often carries a bolder edge, and over the years, we’ve found that aging our stout in rye whiskey barrels brings a beautiful structure to the beer, thanks to the tannins they impart,” the Goose Island representative told us. “The spice notes from these barrels add a layer of warmth and complexity, creating a distinct experience compared to bourbon barrels.”

What Is Goose Island Most Excited About in the 2025 Bourbon County Stout Lineup?

We asked the Goose Island rep which expression they’re most excited about this year. They didn’t pick just one, but here’s what they said:

“It’s hard to pick a favorite because the characteristics of each stout are so unique. I think my favorite thing about this year is the common thread throughout the variants. I personally am a lover of all things chocolate, so I’m personally really looking forward to enjoying Chocolate Praline by a fire this fall; but Cherries Jubilee is something entirely new to the family as it’s the first-ever cask finished variant with cognac barrels. It’s such a beautiful beer and I’m excited for people to experience the way the cognac comes through and works together with the cherries.

“I’m also thrilled to be working with Heaven Hill and Parker’s Heritage this year and I think that the Bourbon County community is going to be blown away by what these barrels added to the Original stout. Again, it’s just so hard to choose because this lineup is truly special.”