Goose Island Bourbon County Brand #4 Stout with Coffee and Maple Syrup

Goose Island Bourbon County Brand #4 Stout with Coffee and Maple Syrup.

13.3 % ABV. Goose Island Brewing, Chicago, IL & wherever else. 

Clearing out the fridge sometimes means opening up bottles you don't need to. I could keep this longer, but I feel like I've waiting long enough. Also, I'm drinking through my list of beers alphabetically. Next up: something that starts with H. 

Solid blackness, complete opacity, brief brown head. 

In the nose: Maple flavor comes first, followed swiftly by the coffee. Big sweetness, accompanied by the usual suspects: cocoa, roasted malts, espresso, vanilla and cherry, bourbon barrel flavors spilling out. Rich and complex. 

In the mouth: Big and rich from the start. All the flavors from the aroma comes roaring onto the palate. In this beer, we have an oatmeal stout aged in bourbon barrels with the addition of Ethiopian coffee and maple syrup also aged in bourbon barrels. So many goodies in play. Thick, rich, deep and delectable. Full bodied, and overflowing with flavor. Vanilla and cherry mixes up with maple and coffee, all blended and balanced. 

Damn, this is my kind of beer. At 13 + % it's great for a nightcap, though it feels like it should be had with breakfast. 

Bourbon County Special #4 Stout is an oatmeal stout variant of our original Bourbon County Stout recipe, also aged in bourbon barrels, that uses crystal oats to add a nutty character and a smooth mouthfeel. After barrel aging, we added Intelligentsia Coffee, both their cold coffee and single origin coffee beans from Ethiopia, called “Metad Buku,” to bring out a pleasant fruity coffee character. Lastly bourbon barrel-aged maple syrup from Bissell Maple Farm in Ohio is added which provides complexity to the nutty oats and coffee to round out the flavors, ultimately reminiscent of your breakfast ‘special’ at the local diner.