Goose Island Brewing Company, as it is today, started in 1995 in Chicago, Illinois.  They are most known for their Bourbon County Stout, of which a friend and I tried numerous variations of last week.  Below is a comparison, and review of all of them.

First up was a comparison of a 2007 and 2009 Bourbon County Brand Stout (BCBS), the original.

The ’07 has basically no head, while the ’09 has a small brown head that dissipates quickly. Hardly any lacing.  The ’09 smells much more balanced. Chocolate tones make it sweeter than the ’07, which is pretty heavy on the Bourbon. Regardless, both are pretty boozy. Woodiness comes through on both, but more for the ’07.  Like the smell, the ’09 seems to be the better tasting one. The balance between the Bourbon and Chocolate is wonderful, a bit of woodiness and vanilla coming through also. ’07 is more heavy on the Bourbon. Chocolate is there, but subdued and the wood comes through far more. Warming alcohol feeling noted on both.  The ’07 is lighter than the ’09, but both are pretty creamy overall. Carbonation is nice in both.  Not bad drinkability for the ABV. The ’09 is the clear winner, and is more drinkable. Not to say the ’07 is bad, they’re both solid, but if given the choice, I would definitely choose the ’09.

Next up is Rare Bourbon County Brand Stout, which has a numbered bottle (11644), brewed in 2008, and cost around $45 I’m told.  From one of the brewers at Goose Island:

“BCS rare, I’m excited. Brewed in 2008, aged for 24 months in 23 year old Pappy Van Winkle Barrels. These are the very best smelling barrels I’ve come across in 18 years of barrel aging beer. Barrels were originally filled with spirit in 1985. We have 50 bourbon barrels aging, it will be a one time bottling, it will not be repeated.”

Pour is black as the night. Nice sized brown head, but only with a very vigorous pour. Doesn’t stick around for long, but some lacing is noted.  Far more balanced smell than the ’07 or ’09 BCBS I had last night. Loads of chocolate coming through to balance the bourbon nicely. Neither smells are subdued, they’re both in your face and wonderful.  Big chocolate flavor up front, blends nicely with bourbon that isn’t overpowering. The best of both flavors come out here. The backend brings a nice coffee roastiness that I wasn’t expecting at all. Vanilla and some oak are mixed in, but take a backseat to the 3 big flavors previously mentioned. Extremely enjoyable.  Bit of carbonation, very creamy to drink. The alcohol is masked very well.  Crazy drinkable for 13% ABV and Bourbon aged. The flavors balance so nicely, the smell is phenomenal, I wish I had more of this to put down!  This was a lot better than the BCBS we had the night before. Not even comparable. Right on the same level as Eclipse Four Roses and Black Magick though. All of them are simply amazing.

Finally, we did a comparison of Bourbon County Brand Coffee Stout, essentially BCBS brewed with Intelligentsia Black Cat Espresso Beans and Bourbon County Brand Vanilla Stout, BCBS spiced with Vanilla beans

They both look exactly the same. Black in color, a hard pour gave a nice sized brown head, Coffee Stout is a bit lighter than the Vanilla Stout. Recedes down to a film along the brim of the glass. Very nice lacing. The Coffee version has a big fresh coffee bean smell, but it masks the bourbon a good deal. Not really getting any alcohol here, but it isn’t quite as balanced as Vanilla Stout, which has a very sweet smell with amazing depth. The bourbon hides nicely behind the vanilla and oak, with perhaps a hint of booze.  The Vanilla Stout has the vanilla taste is up front, followed nicely by bourbon, and finished off by a nice sweet taste. Alcohol is noticed on the backend a bit.  For the Coffee Stout, the coffee taste is present in the beginning and sticks with you throughout. The bourbon is more subtle than I expected, coming after a big hit of coffee. Very slight oak and vanilla noticed, but no alcohol.  Both have a bit of a tinge of carbonation, but not a lot. Very heavy bodied and pretty dry throughout.

They were all very good, but I like Rare the best, followed by Vanilla, Coffee, then the 2009 BCBS and finally the 2007.  I’d like to try 2008 and 2010 BCBS, but that will have to be in the future. I would recommend anyone tried any of them if they were into Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stouts!

Voodoo is a small brewing company based in Meadville, PA.  They are relatively new, but output some great beers.  This week I enjoyed both their Big Black Voodoo Daddy and Black Magick.  BBVD is a 12% ABV Imperial Stout aged in conditioning tanks with oak staves.  Black Magick is a little more complex.  It is a 15% Imperial Stout aged in Elaigh Craig 13 1/2 year old Bourbon Barrels for a year. and then primed and bottled to bottle condition for continued aging and celler life.  It is only released every two years and is pretty difficult to come by.  If you’re interested, I talked a bit about barrel aging in my review of Brooklyn Black Ops

First, I will review each beer, then talk about the differences.

Big Black Voodoo Daddy has a, gasp, big black pour. One finger off white, brownish, color head subsides to a thin film atop this bad boy, lacing nicely.  The smell has Coffee, bitter chocolate and hints of oak and smells roasty.  Nice chocolate taste to start off the taste, along with oak and hints of vanilla, really wonderful. Coffee on the back end, roasted malts throughout.  Heavy body and actually a nice bite of carbonation. Dry aftertaste.  Not bad, the dry aftertaste keeps you sipping, as does the taste.

Black Magick has a black pour with a really nice brown head. No retention though, very thin ring forms around the edges and laces only a bit.  Hints of Bourbon on the smell, lots of chocolate though. Really can’t wait to delve into this one.  Bourbon up front, followed by tons of delicious chocolate, and only a hint of alcohol. Vanilla and some roastiness on the backend. I enjoyed this more than a few Bourbon aged beers I’ve had, including Black Ops.  Very heavy bodied, some creaminess.  You seriously can’t tell this beer is 15% ABV. Which is the deciding factor for this one, really delicious.

Time to consider the differences.  With age, the beer mellows out a bit.  The chocolate taste really comes out well in Black Magick, while it is present in BBVD it doesn’t wow me.  Also, with age the coffee subsides a bit, leaving a more balanced taste.  The increased alcohol content (12.5% to 15%) really isn’t noticeable, which is mind boggling.  Regardless, both of these beers will knock you over if you don’t watch out.  The head on Black Magick really struck me, a deep brown head sits beautifully atop a black and opaque beer, BBVD left only an off-white topping.  Don’t get me wrong, BBVD was delicious, but Black Magick was better.  I’d love to grab a few more BBVD and Black Magicks to set in the cellar for a bit.

My grandfather is going through a project where he’s taking all of his 8mm film and converting it to DVDs.  He has videos from the early 1930s through the 70s!  This was of particular interest to myself: footage from a game in roughly 1960.  At halftime of this particular game (against West Virginia I think) bands from throughout the Central PA area came to play on the field with the Blue Band.  The student section even puts on a show with their version of the S-Zone, using cards.  Open endzone, track around the field, Rip Engle as the head coach, Mt. Nittany looming in the background, and much more!  Thanks for saving this Poppy!

Check out the love this video is getting on these blogs!

This Is Getting Old

Linebacker U

Odell Brewing Company was started in 1989 by Doug, Wynne, and Corkie Odell in Fort Collins, CO.  Then just the second microbrewery in all of Colorado, now they boast roughly 45,000 barrels of beer output every year.  I received one of their beers, Odell Friek, from a Beeradvocate living very close to the brewery.  I am just getting into the style, under the umbrella of a ‘sour’.  This specific subset of sours is characterized as having whole fruits added after spontaneous fermentation. Cherries and Raspberries are commonly used.  Kriek meaning cherries, Framboise meaning raspberries.  Once the fruit is added, the beer is subjected to additional maturation before bottling, in this case aged in oak barrels. The ABV tends to be low.  The Odell website goes into more detail about this specific beer:

FRIEK is an evolution, an imaginative amalgamation invented by our brewers. Multiple KRIEK Lambic style ales are fermented with WILD yeast and TART cherries and then moved into OAK BARRELS to age and sour taking on the CHERRY flavors. As the beer matures, FRAMBOISES (raspberries) from Schroyer Family Farms in Fort Collins are handpicked and readied for the beer. The fresh RASPBERRIES are added immediately prior to the final blending. The sweet and tart flavors MINGLE on the tongue with a sparkling dry finish.

I am just getting into the style, and wasn’t wowed by this offering.  The beer poured red with a small pinkish, maybe beige head, no retention or lacing at all. Very hazy and dark.  Full of sourness when you smell it, I liken it to vinegar. Slightly sweet from the fruits, cherries come through stronger as it warms.  The sour taste sticks with you throughout, but is complimented by an oakiness, some vanilla, and a small amount of tart cherry and raspberry sourness as well.  Crisp and light, and a decent bite of carbonation. Dry finish.  The tartness, sourness, and bite of carbonation is a bit much to drink a lot of it.  I’ve had much better Krieks, but no one palate is the same!