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Episode 149 - Bourbon County Brand Stout 2024 Lineup Preview
105 Plays1 month ago
This week Brandon and Tony recap their visit to the Goose Island Salt Shed Brew Pub as they sampled this years Bourbon County Brand Stout lineup.
Theme music provided by Myke Kelli (@mykekelli)
Outro music provided by @FluidMinds
Check out all our episodes at www.themaltinghour.com
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Transcript
Goose Island Bourbon County Event Overview
00:00:39
Speaker
here for me on purpose? No, that's the one where I gave you three last time and you left it there. Oh, cool. So if you need an Advil... I might, I might, because you and I just got done doing the Goose Island, Bourbon County media preview. Yeah.
00:00:55
Speaker
We got a chance to try all of the 2024 Bourbon County lineup um with some surprises thrown in there as well. And we're going to do our best to rehash that for you right now for this special Wednesday episode. Is that the... Yeah, it's my special Wednesday music. ah Well, let's just go over general impressions. Brandon, how did you feel about the evening?
00:01:20
Speaker
ah The great setup, it was my first time at their their new salt shed location. I obviously had not been there before. ah they e it's a lot smaller than the Clyburn location. So for folks going there, if you haven't been there, don't expect ah the big space and like a lot of room like they had in Clyburn. Very quaint, very nice, but they do have a fantastic out outdoor space right along the river. And right now in Chicago, it is like 70 degrees yeah here. um Well,
00:01:56
Speaker
Yeah, exactly 70 degrees. So if you're... Unseasonably warm for this time of year. So if they're open, I think they're normally closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. But, you know, Wednesdays they open, so if you get a chance to go today as you're listening to this. Yeah, go today, go today, because go and sit outside. Yeah, it's it's it's really it's a really... I'm sorry, I need an unlike.
00:02:18
Speaker
Tony's dying.
Tasting Experience and Food Pairings
00:02:19
Speaker
i It's that bait, baby. It's a really cool spot. um And I'm glad we got a chance to go. got Glad we got to taster the lineup. And then we got some fantastic food at the end.
00:02:34
Speaker
Very quickly. Yeah. When we first got the email about this, it said it was a dinner, and then it turned into heavy appetizers at the end. That was a heavy meal at the end. It was a meal at the end, yeah. And I get why they did that. I guess you didn't want to pair these beers with those dishes. Yeah. Because I don't think it would have It would have taken away from the beers. They did say that they the dishes that you were getting were meant to be paired with certain beers. Sure. um But yeah, it like just you know having people the way they had it set up, having people trying to eat and do this kind of stuff, like that that's a lot. So I get it. um There was charcuterie in the beginning and throughout the tasting we could have gotten. Yeah.
00:03:26
Speaker
There was, I got some literally right before the food came out. I was like, oh, I'm going to get some charcuterie and some like prosciutto and you know cheese, whatever. So I had a little bit of that and then we got into the food that they had. But we're not necessarily here to talk about the food. Food. Although the food was food was good fucking fantastic. We will touch on that. That was the first, so I had been there before and that was but that was the first time I've had any food from them. Really? ah Yeah, because the the two times I had been there was during the Rose on the River music fest they had where I saw my morning jacket. Yeah, the 4th of July weekend.
00:04:06
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah.
2024 Bourbon County Lineup Introduction
00:04:08
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, Thundercat. Well, and if you'd gone to the Clyburn location, and look, I always love the food there. So I feel like it's it's no different at the new place. um But I feel like it's there's some things that they served us that seemed a little more upscale. Yes, in a good way too. Yeah, but totally tasty. But like I said, we're not here to talk about the food, we're here to talk about the beer. There's six.
00:04:37
Speaker
beers this year. The OG and then, well, yeah, technically six beers. There are six beers, the OG and then five variants. So let's, we're going to want to plow through this because Brandon and I have had a long evening and I don't know how long this episode is going to be, but this is our official recap. Let's get into the OG. Do you want, well, do you want to go into the OG or do you want to talk about what all the variants are first? no let's let's we'll go We'll go through it one at a time. Okay.
00:05:07
Speaker
If you don't know what it is, come on. All right. The original Bourbon County, um this is I think it's 14.7% or 14.6% ABV.
Original Bourbon County Flavor Profile
00:05:21
Speaker
This one to me, I got a lot of vanilla.
00:05:27
Speaker
and a bit boozier in a good way, not like boozie, astringent boozie, like oh it's hot or anything, but it was very much barrel forward and I gotta say, probably one of my favorite, uh, OG bourbon counties in a while. I just thought it was fantastic. It was, it was very, very good. One of the things that we learned about the barrel aging process is that from these barrels, like two to five gallons of bourbon remain in the wood. Yep.
00:06:05
Speaker
And they get about, when it comes, when we'll talk about some of the other, as we talk about some of the other variants, we'll we'll we'll talk about what they do, or I'm gonna say it now. ah They can like grab some of the bourbon from the barrels and they'll like run through like coffee filters and stuff so they can actually taste the bourbon. I don't know if they're doing that with the OG stuff because it's mainly, not mainly, but it's Heaven Hill, Buffalo Trace, and Wild Turkey.
00:06:35
Speaker
Those are the three barrels that they use ah to blend to make regular Bourbon County, the OG Bourbon County brand. How did you feel about this year's OG? I like, OG is like my go to and it's always solid. um This year, I felt like I got a lot more like decent barrel barrel character out of it.
00:06:59
Speaker
and Like they told you right off the bat like smell the chocolate smell this and like I Hear that with every so you know a lot of stouts and like this one I was like I was getting subtle notes of chocolate and I was getting some wood I felt like there was a oh he was getting wood folks. He was getting I felt like there was a good um Balance between like the beer and the barrel um They they did a really good job this year with with the regular you know some of the other things they mentioned is like dried fruit and nuttiness and I don't think my pallet's that refined to pull those notes from it. Even as they were saying it, you know how we talk about the influence of what people are saying like, oh, you'll taste this and you'll taste this. Like I didn't, I didn't get those, but I do know that those are characteristics of Bourbon County every year.
00:07:47
Speaker
And so I wasn't surprised to hear that. Um, but I'll tell you this as far as, you know, regular bourbon County is the original barrel age stout. So, uh, it's, if if there's one you.
00:08:05
Speaker
If you don't feel swayed to try any other ones, definitely just get regular bourbon county because it's affordable. It's 16.9 fluid ounces and it's 14.6 or 7% ABV. It's a good beer to share between one or two other people or even if you're just going to sip on it for an hour or two, um it's just great. It's just a good a good solid barrel aged
Unique Variants and Innovations
00:08:28
Speaker
beer. yeah i mean if but i mean again that's the perfect representation of bourbon county south um and then obviously we get into the other barrel variations and this year they did they did some play on the the malt bill
00:08:46
Speaker
Right. they they Well, will they did have the barley wine. Not the malt bill, but they did. they The barley wine is the one that's that's different. Everything else is still an imperial stout, but some of the other things they did were use rye barrels. Yes. yeah So there's two rye barrels and there's a cherry wood barrel, which is the next one.
00:09:02
Speaker
which is the Cask Finish Bardstown, ah I don't know if that's included in the name, but I know it's a Bardstown cat Cask Finish ah Reserve, I think is what it's called. um And this one, there are Cherrywood Staves. It's a rye whiskey barrel that's toasted with infrared. Instead of it being like, oh man, Brandon just did a French press of what year Bourbon County did you end up grabbing? thiss a twenty twenty two He grabbed 2022's Bourbon County and we did a quick French press of it with some Chips Ahoy chocolate chip cookies because it wouldn't be a Bourbon County episode if we didn't do a French press. But yeah, so this one is very interesting. From what we were told there, it was like he said it was a zebra effect. Yeah. Where there's cherry wood and then oak.
00:09:54
Speaker
and for the actual barrels, and it was a rye whiskey barrel, and it was toasted with infrared, which is yeah crazy. So they're not using actual flames to toast, they're using infrared to toast it. So i I'll tell you this, right off the bat, the nose was cherry.
00:10:13
Speaker
like actual cherry and the taste up front when it hits your tongue was cherry but it wasn't like cherry cherry but it was like it's hard to explain because they've done cherry wood stuff before and i didn't really like i liked the i want to say it was 2022 there was a cherry wood or a 2021 cherry wood that was maybe 21 that i really like the cherry wood but If I didn't know it was cherry wood at the time. Yeah. i But this, this was. Yeah. This was kind of like a pop in your face. Yeah. And it was fantastic. I thought.
00:10:51
Speaker
Speaking of fantastic, I just took a sip of this French press you did. There's Bourbon County and Chips Ahoy. It is like two distinct flavors in there. Holy shit. How many cookies did you put in there? Did you count? Like six, I think? Oh, man. Didn't let it sit that long either. No. It looks milky and kind of weird, but that's delicious. Yeah. Holy cow. No, I thought it was like, let's just throw something together. Because I didn't want to just drink regular Bourbon County Scout.
00:11:17
Speaker
No, that's fun. Well, that's a winner right there. Chips, oh, it works. um But yeah, i was I was excited about this because last year at Prop Day,
00:11:28
Speaker
ah the Bardstown was there. We tried some of their... Burbins. Burbins. We tried the Goose Island barrel-aged. It was a barrel that had Bourbon County in it that Bardstown then took an aged bourbon in. Correct.
00:11:47
Speaker
I didn't care for that one too much. It was a little hot, but there was another one that they have like a signature series or however they worded it that was just super smooth and like Bart sounds up there in price. So I have not bought a bottle of it yet. um But this was having this as the second one. They told us to go back and have the original so you can taste it because all this is is the original.
00:12:08
Speaker
Bourbon County aged in these barrels. Correct. That had the cherry wood staves that were also toasted with the infrared. Now, the one thing that stood out for me with this beer was the aftertaste of like bourbon. like I sipped on bourbon. Not that I had a bourbon-barreled stout or a bourbon-barreled beer.
00:12:31
Speaker
but the aftertaste really tasted like I
Bardstown Collaboration Highlights
00:12:34
Speaker
just took a sip of bourbon and that's what I'm tasting after the fact. Yeah, I didn't. I mean, I got that. But like to me, like i mean we talked about it. I love the... Yeah, we have different opinions on these beers, but yeah. I love the aftertaste of bourbon, um like in a good bourbon. And I think you would comment like, is there a bad aftertaste of bourbon? Yeah, there is. like I've had some bourbons that are just like, no, that's that's not good. Or if you can't handle your liquor and you're throwing up. Yeah, well, I mean, that yeah, that aftertaste is not good.
00:13:07
Speaker
But yeah, it was it was super pleasant and like I think it complimented the beer really well. Absolutely. Especially when like when it is a barrel aged beer, you want something like that. That just kind of like brings it all together. And I felt like that was a good closer to that beer. Like, you know, take us, you know.
00:13:24
Speaker
Taking some sips like for me. I feel like it took a couple of sips before I started to get that But that could also be the beer warming up and everything like that But like dude, I took those like what once I took a sip and I was like Oh, I'm getting something different at the end and you were like I'm getting bourbon at the end. I'm like that's what it is like the bourbon starting to come through took a couple more sips and yeah that's that was nice yeah this one right off the bat i was like this is going to be a hard beer to beat for me because i just liked the complexity and the different layers i was getting from this beer
00:14:01
Speaker
And like even last year, you know, we tried the Eagle Rare and the Angels Envy. And I didn't really like the Angels Envy or Eagle Rare last year when we had it during Prop Day. Now it could be the weather, it could just been that time. Yeah. I didn't give it a fair shake, but I did have the Angels Envy again earlier
Rare and Vanilla Rye Variants
00:14:19
Speaker
this year. Clark and I went to Michigan and we broke that out during the Bears game. And I appreciated it a little bit more. Yeah. Like it it is good. And so I'm kind of interested in having the Eagle Rare again as well.
00:14:30
Speaker
But this one to me was just like, that's just a top notch beer. It was it was really good. i was I was very happy about getting this one. That is one of the beers we're not getting when we go to Rare Day, unfortunately. So we are going to have to go out and buy that one. But I would. I would. Yeah, absolutely. Me too. I do want to get this.
00:14:52
Speaker
After that, we were um presented with done Rare. They brought it back. Excuse me, I have to cough one more time, Brandon. Please talk. Yeah. So, um, for those that don't know, um, there is, there is no prop day this year cause it is rare day because they are bringing back a goose Island rare. Um, it's a beer that they've done two times before. Um, and this is the third time that they've, they've brought back or brought out rare and and third time. Yeah. said Third time. Oh, sorry. They've done it two times before. That's right the third time. love it And don't do math. I,
00:15:33
Speaker
I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't, I didn't by any means think it was going to be mad, uh, bad. And it was what? 18%. 18%. Yeah. It did not drink like it was 18%. No, it did not much like the double barrel from 2020 2021. Yeah. 2019. I don't, uh, it was a pandemic beer. i Um, yeah. And that it,
00:15:59
Speaker
it I was blown away with with how smooth it was um the amount of barrel character you got through that um and i and I was getting like the things that they talked about with OG like I was getting some chocolate I was getting slight hints of vanilla and I was getting a lot of oakiness and it was super well blended that like I remember I turned to him like this is 18% and I'm like So I stopped drinking it because I was like, yeah, I don't need to keep, cause I was going through the other ones pretty quick. I was like, I don't need to keep drinking this one so fast because that was like, it was super tasty, man. Yeah. I got like marshmallow and vanilla right away. Yeah. Uh, I think I turned to you and Sholanda, ABC, and for beric and I said, I'm getting marshmallow from this. Yeah.
00:16:45
Speaker
which I was excited about because I'm a big fan of vanilla, which we'll get to the other variant that they we had after this. I'm gonna read a quick description, it's not that quick, of rare this year because it is actually gonna be rare this year. This year, in celebration of the 10th anniversary of our barrel house, we are reintroducing Bourbon County brand rare stout. The journey of this beer began with barrels that once held the rare and highly sought after King of Kentucky, Bourbon.
00:17:14
Speaker
which we found out is super rare to get where the aftermarket price can go up to about $1,000. Dang. Which is insane. After aging for a full year in these exceptionally nuanced barrels, our Imperial Rice Stout started to capture the essence of Brown Foreman's remarkable craftsmanship and right legacy. But we didn't stop there! We then transferred the aged stout to another set of King Kentucky barrels, allowing it to mature for another full year. So this is a double barrel aged beer.
00:17:46
Speaker
Two years. A testament to our heritage and barrel aging, this 2024 Bourbon County brand, where Stout showcases a regal barrel expression with the words. and Woven caramels, rich cocoa, and luxurious long finish.
00:18:11
Speaker
We also learned tonight that Rare, unless you got tickets for a Rare Day, as Brandon and I have, which we're very happy about, will only be available on Black Friday and maybe a couple days after at both the Fulton and the new Salt Shed Pub. So it is not going to retail. It is an in-house release. You will only be able to get it at Goose Island.
00:18:38
Speaker
And it's going for about 50 bucks. And that's, you want to call it rare? That's how it should be. And I'll be honest, I will pay $50 for another bottle of this even though we're getting one at Rare Day. Because this one, this is up there. This one, it's in my top two. yeah I'm still deciding on what my number one beer was but that was really really good and it's nice to have another number one a rare back and also another double barrel beer back yeah from the goose island yeah and they and they and i want to say i think for me like the big kicker for it was just how easy drinking it was yeah like you know like i said it's it doesn't drink like an 18 percent beer but you get so much flavor and it's not
00:19:30
Speaker
that's I think that's what I love about bourbon county it's not like overly thick like they do the beer so well and they you know they spend enough time in the barrels to you know to get the higher a to impart the flavors of the barrels into the beers and then like you're not dealing with ah a thick pastry stout but there's a nice mouthfeel to it yes yeah yeah Yeah, again, super well done. Very, very pleased with that one. And and I was shocked because I was like, when when I think it was yesterday, today or yesterday, you were like, oh, by the way, it rose in 18 percent. Yeah. I was like, so yeah, a bitch. Yeah. I did not think I was going to enjoy it. I think this one will probably be hailed as the best of the
00:20:18
Speaker
selection this year by everybody. Yeah. I think this is the one that everyone's going to be like, that's the best variant of. If they can get it. If you can get it, which also will add to the hype of it, like, oh, yeah, yeah, it's cool. But it's very good. And yeah, Black Friday, maybe don't spend time going to Jewel. Just go to Goose Island. Yeah. Grab a bottle of the rare because that's what I'm going to do in the morning. I'm going to run to one of the Goose Islands and grab another bottle of it, man. It's just as you should. It's really good.
00:20:48
Speaker
After that, we took a little break. We took a little break. I don't know if we're taking a break on this episode. No, we didn't. We took a break after vanel the next one. No, we did. Oh, did we? Yep. Because then they brought the last two. Oh, son of a bitch. And Brent already revealed the next one. The next one is one that is close and near and dear to my heart. This is the third time they're doing it?
00:21:09
Speaker
Yep. This one is vanilla rye, but as my notes say, vanilla eye. Brad and both jokingly said, smells like vanilla extract, tastes like vanilla extract. It doesn't really taste like vanilla extract, but this is a very vanilla forward beer. And if you like vanilla stouts or vanilla barrel aged stouts or just vanilla in general, this is a nice visit back to what Goose Island does so well when it comes to vanilla beers. Yeah, I felt like right off the bat, you know transitioning off a rye.
00:21:46
Speaker
Um, which was very much barrel forward and just, you know, had all those we do rare. Yeah. Sorry. Right. Uh, we had a little rare. We started off with, we started off with Sam's of honkers. We also had some other drinks during the dinner that we'll get to. Um, so like that, um, like going off of the rare into the vanilla, like, yeah, my first.
00:22:11
Speaker
And I didn't, I didn't swirl it. I smelt it and I was like, that smells like vanilla extract. And I took a sip and I was getting, like that vanilla was just sitting on the top. Then I swirled it a little bit and then smelt it again. And it was like, it mellowed down or maybe my palate did. I don't know. And I took a sip and like the, the, the vanilla extract kind of faded away. The vanilla was still very much present, but then I was starting to get barrel and I was getting some of that rye character coming through. Uh, I.
00:22:41
Speaker
In the end, I ended up i enjoyed it. and but It was a funny thing. and like I don't drink vanilla vanilla extract. but He does, actually. I do enjoy vanilla extract. um Drinking it. like I love the smell of vanilla extract. Vanilla extract's fantastic. I love vanilla. Vanilla brings out so many other flavors, but also I just like straightforward vanilla. Yeah. so ah French vanilla ice cream is my favorite. Oh, yeah.
00:23:03
Speaker
um I don't know. This is my favorite. I do enjoy it though. But back to the beer, as I was saying, it was I thought it was well done. I don't know if it ranks up in my my top two. I take it out of my top ones. I know I said this earlier because OG and Vanilla, they just I can't put them in there because yeah I would just put those as number one all the time because they're just... that just So I have to take it out because I'm very biased. Yeah. I can't, if it was not good, if I didn't like it, I would rank it, but it's good. And I love vanilla. So that one again is just gonna, um I need to just. yeah Good job eliminating your bias. Thank you. This actually might be the fourth time they did vanilla. It it could be possibly. Because they've been on the last year. Did they? Yes.
00:23:55
Speaker
Was it vanilla rye or? No, regular vanilla. This is a vanilla rye. Okay. So, but it's another time they're doing vanilla, which yeah I like. It's very good, but this is more of a familiar vanilla bomb yeah in a good way if you like vanilla. that's it's It's a lot of vanilla, but it's really good. Madagascar vanilla beans in there. And that's an important note for people to listen to if you are not a fan of vanilla.
00:24:22
Speaker
Do not go and spend your money on this beer thinking it's going to be a subtle vanilla thing. Yeah, no, this is goes vanilla. This is vanilla. Because it's fucking vanilla. It's vanilla. It's a vanilla beer. Yeah. And if you don't like vanilla, don't drink it. If you like vanilla, if you like baked goods, if you're not a fucking piece of garbage, I'm joking.
00:24:42
Speaker
ah But I love vanilla so yes, I'm like I said, I'm very biased about this So I can't rank it at all because it'll always go to the top Yeah, Shawn is gonna make us all sorts of baked goods with that beer when we when we get it so Shawn that we're supposed to call you I don't think we're calling it because we're blowing through this episode real fast ah After that we did take a break. We did get a 10-minute break ah Who do we speak to during that then? ah Mike from Go silent. Yes, o to us it was very nice. It was it was good It I was gonna dip outside and vape and I'm glad I didn't cuz I probably would have messed up my palate And it was very nice talking with him because we talked about all things Bourbon County and then we did the same thing as we were exiting so it was very nice to talk to him we got a chance to have him present when we did our last
00:25:30
Speaker
bourbon not Bourbon County, but our last Goose Island Media event. Yeah, it was Goose Island Innovations when they had their... Oh, there were so many different beers. Yeah. We did an episode on that. Mike's very, very cool. Very nice to... And we did get it we did get a couple of chances to talk to Todd, who is the president of Goose Island. Todd kept coming to us because it was our first time and he was said we were officially off the blacklist. Yeah! I didn't know we were on a blacklist. We never said anything bad. yeah um But yeah, that was that was that was very cool. When we came back from the break, we went to one of the ones that, to me, I thought was gonna be a home run. who And I am, it's not it's not bad to me. It's not a bad beer. I'm just not sure it's for me.
00:26:20
Speaker
It is the macaron, yeah macaroon, macaron. I don't know how to pronounce it. Probably should have asked somebody how to pronounce it. Well, some a couple of people there said macaroon. Some people said macaron. Someone that who may be listening could knows, I'm asking, how do I pronounce it correctly?
Macaron and Proprietor's Barley Wine Reviews
00:26:41
Speaker
Let's go grab Becca. This one, to me, right ah right away off the aroma, I was like,
00:26:49
Speaker
um that's That's interesting, kind of different, kind of weird. I'm not sure what I'm doing or what I'm supposed to be experiencing. And I took a sip and I was kind of like, I don't still don't know what I'm trying to get here. And as they went through the descriptions, they brought up things of like vanilla and almond and then coconut and then ginger. yeah And then it hit me. Oh, I think it's the ginger and I like ginger. I do like ginger, but I don't know if that's something that I was expecting. So maybe it was kind of, it threw me for a loop. Yeah.
00:27:25
Speaker
I'm looking forward to revisiting this one because I think it's one I would like. I just was kind of caught off guard. I think I was expecting something else. Yeah, for me, I feel like um that one caught me with flavor fatigue um because when I first had it, it was literally all of those flavors all at once. And I was like, what's going what's what's going on with this beer? And like, not in a bad way, but I was like, I can't figure out what it is I'm supposed to be looking for. And I knew it was a macaron beer, but I was like, I just don't know. like When you make a beer and you put a a ton of different flavors in there, there's a an essential flavor that you want people to kind of pick out first, I would assume.
00:28:15
Speaker
and I couldn't pick one out. I'm like, there's just so much going on here. um And then I think I had some water, took another sip and I was getting the same thing. And I was like, i my reaction was, I don't know if I'm gonna like this. And then they talked about the ginger and all that stuff. And then I was like,
00:28:32
Speaker
I mean, I don't hate ginger and I don't necessarily know. I mean, aside from some Christmas beers, I don't know if I necessarily like in a stout. I don't know if I've really had ginger stouts. I've had gingerbread stouts and stuff like that. So that's stupid. But but like where it's like an underlying flavor profile and and then like you were talking about the ginger and and I took another sip and I was like, there's the ginger.
00:28:57
Speaker
I like the ginger. I actually liked it. I liked the way it kind of played with the beer. um And it complimented for me the other flavors. And then as I kind of took a couple more sips, it's one that I, I mean, I didn't finish any of them, but that's one that I kind of got through. And I was like, I think I kind of enjoy this, like,
00:29:18
Speaker
you know in a weird way like everything played really well together because you know going through it the first couple sips i didn't think i was gonna be able to get through it i was like this is not a ah win for me but like it came together and i enjoyed it yeah i i don't dislike it and we were with shalanda and nick and we were talking to them about it nick was on the same page that i was where it was kind of like I don't know how I feel about this, but I will say that when we were done tasting all the beers and we were headed to the table to go eat some food, Nick took another sip of it and he was like, no, I'm getting it now. Cause originally he had said like, it just kind of felt like
00:30:00
Speaker
regular bourbon county, which I was like, oh, that's, he's like, am I immune to ginger? but and I was like, I don't know, man, you might be if you're getting that. Cause I'm, I'm, I'm getting something. Yeah. I'm definitely getting something from it. Uh, so yeah, it was, uh, it's definitely a different, I think this one might be, I don't know. I think this one might be one of the,
00:30:28
Speaker
perplexing ones, ones that might people might um not like, or it might be a full conversation of like why you like it. I think you're either gonna like it or you're not gonna like it. Yeah, and I think that falls into the the wheelhouse of how do you perceive you know perceive ginger, um and specifically in beers, because and they had said that too. like they they They said like ginger might be a sticking point for some people,
00:30:56
Speaker
um And for me, it it wasn't a good way. For you, it was where you're just gonna like, I don't know. And you like ginger, so. Yeah, and that's the thing. like I do think this might be a beer having it in the near future. um I think it's gonna be one that I might end up actually liking. I'm just, tonight I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it. Yeah.
00:31:25
Speaker
So I think that that's where maybe I'm trying to, I copied and paste the next beer. There we go. Uh, cause I couldn't read it in, uh, in the white on the white. I had to wear read it when I'm like, uh, yeah, I think that that's, uh, that's going to be one that I need another, another go at.
00:31:44
Speaker
And I'm interested to see what other people think about it as well because I don't think it's a bad beer. It's just, it may not be for me, but I think it probably is going to be for me. I just need to have it again. Yeah. Because there were things I kept going back to it. It wasn't like, Oh God, this is gross. I was just like.
00:32:00
Speaker
There's something there I don't know, so we'll see if for the second time I try it. Maybe have some macarons. Yeah. And the final one, well, technically the final one that we've had of the actual tasting before we went and ate some food was proprietor's barley wine. It was the first time prop is a barley wine, and I'm going to read the nice long description for everybody. Here we go. All right.
00:32:24
Speaker
Back in 2013, we created our first ever Chicago exclusive member of the Bourbon County Brand Stout family. Proprietor Stout was born out of immense gratitude to our city and to celebrate the birthplace of our brewery. This year marks the debut of a barley wine under the coveted proprietor's name.
00:32:42
Speaker
Having fallen in love with a popular Mexican spoon candy, Baroque Colby. Colby, I'm going to butcher your last name. My gratin. Crafted a recipe with our bourbon, barely aged barley wine that blends together. Tamarind, lime, whole guajillo peppers. Oh, chili, sorry. And to yeah which is, uh, that's a sugar. There's a sugar up there. I don't know how to pronounce it. Chicago and the people who call it home are forever a source of inspiration, all of what we do. 2024, Bourbon County brand proprietors Brother Wine is a direct reflection that inspiration unlike anything we've ever done before. With the subtle dried fruit sweetness, refreshing lime zest, and delightfully warming finish, by the Brother Wine is dedicated, is decidedly Chicago, not dedicatedly, decidedly.
00:33:32
Speaker
So I'll tell you this, I grew up with that candy. I remember having it when I was very young. It was very good. It's like tamarind, which is like a nice sweet tart paste. There's a little lime and maybe some chili and some, there is chili, but like a salt. It's just like, it's just this delicious Mexican candy on a spoon and it's so good. And I was, when I read that description and I saw a lime and I was like, what the fuck? Look. There have been props in the past that I just didn't connect with. I thought this one might be one of it, but this is a really good prop. To me, this is one of the best props I've ever had. It's awesome. That's a barley wine. Nick did ask the question, is there a stout version? Suddenly, everybody's ears popped up or perked up because they thought about doing
00:34:27
Speaker
The, they thought about doing it as a stout and they felt that with a brownie wine, it would fit better. Then Nick asked, will there be a variation of a stout? And they were like, which I said, you're hired. Yeah. Pub exclusive release. Yeah. I mean, I think, I think it would be fun. I think it would be fun to try it. Maybe a small batch of it where it's like just, you know, exclusive brew pub, uh, trying, uh, tasting.
00:34:56
Speaker
I didn't think I was gonna like this and I think yeah it's in my top three. I'll tell you this, it's in my top three. Okay. um Again, I'm excluding OG and Vanilla. OG and Vanilla, so that leaves four and that's in my top three. But it was, you know, I think we can all figure out what where that's at. Maybe not. I will say it at the end here. ah I was just pleasantly surprised how Nice it was because they were also talking about the spice from wahiyo peppers and wahiyo peppers are more smoky than spicy. There is a little kick to them. I've used wahiyo peppers to use like ah to make a hot sauce for wings before you get dried wahiyo peppers and rehydrate them.
00:35:44
Speaker
and you blend them up with the seeds and everything. And there is a kick to them, but it's not super spicy. But it's to me, it's more of a smokiness. I was happy with like the zesty lime that is in it, because it doesn't overpower. They didn't like focus like, we have to make sure that you know there's lime in there. And so it's like, here's some lime. Here's some lime in there. And just overall, there was like a tanginess and great for a barley wine.
Brewing Philosophy and Experimentation
00:36:11
Speaker
I'm very happy with this year's prop.
00:36:14
Speaker
Yeah, no, um it was not my favorite. There was just a lot going on and I didn't know what it was going into it. Like I will, I'm completely honest, I did not read anything about Bourbon County this year. like um Not because I didn't want to, but I was like, i I kind of wanted to go in being surprised. So I didn't bank on us getting ah access to this media event. I didn't bank on us getting anything. um But my whole point was like i like I like just going in and then just trying them, like not knowing what the flavor profiles were. Knowing when it's there. Yeah. And then I've never had the candy before. I grew up in Chicago, but I mean, it's
00:36:58
Speaker
as far as my recollection can go I don't think I've ever had it I didn't hate it um but yeah it was just like that one was another one that was like there was so much going on that I didn't know what I was supposed to be getting because I like they brought it out they had it out it was sitting there and they're like oh you know we're gonna go on to the next one and then like I took a sip and I was like What the hell is going on here? And then they started explaining it. It made sense. So everything they explained was represented in that beer. um Yeah, I don't know. It was just like, to me, it was it it's and honestly, it's not one that I would probably seek out again. Oh, right on.
00:37:37
Speaker
Well, you're dumb. No, I'm just joking. No, no. that's Again, it's one of those things where it's like, you're gonna hit... You're not dumb, by the way. That was that was a joke, guys. I don't think Brandon's dumb at all. He hates you. He hates me. You know, that's the thing about when we talked about ah with some of the folks there tonight that They're not all going to land, but they're there is purpose. like Nothing was done on an accident to make yeah these beers. they They made these beers on purpose, and what you're tasting is on purpose. Whether or not
00:38:10
Speaker
your palate or your preference agrees with it is another story but like this is what they set out to do that was the grand consensus and that's what they're putting out so you know Brandon and I see those two last beers different ways which I think is nice that those ended up being the last two beers because I think that those two are going to be the two beers where people are going to be like, I don't know. Yeah. And and to to their credit, they wouldn't have put it out if they didn't think that there would be, you know, an audience for it because absolutely, as they said, like they encourage people to
00:38:47
Speaker
And I think he said, like, we give people like a liter of the beer and said, go home and play with it. People who work at the break. Yeah, people who work at the break. You can't just show up and be like, give me a liter of beer.
Post-Tasting Reflections and Future Plans
00:38:57
Speaker
I want to come with the prop. I want to come with your next prop. But yeah, so like they get a liter of the beer, they go home and they get to experiment. They get, you know, the probably French press or whatever they do, like, but they get to play with flavors. And if they find one that they think is going to work for that base beer,
00:39:14
Speaker
You know, then they come back and then they share it with people. And if they share it with people and everyone thinks like, you know, the general consensus is like, yeah, that that could work, then that's that's how they move forward. So it's not just like one person being like, I like this. um We go with you. It's my turn. Yeah. Here's my dirty sack beer. Like ah it sounds good, dude. It's not how it works, but there is a process and they they go through tastings and they share it with people and.
00:39:41
Speaker
You know, so yeah, I can appreciate the fact that, you know, there's people because I know there's people out there that would enjoy that. And like Tony is one of them. And, you know, same thing with the the macaron beer. Like, you know, you're not saying you hate it, right? But you're you're just you're not sure how much you like it or if you like it. I'll take this. I'm happy that I'm getting it at rare day because I don't know if I'd go out and buy. I mean, I might have gone out and buy it to try it again. But yeah, I'm glad we've already paid for it to try it again. Yeah, I will say, though, the last two beers that they did give us were a lot colder than the ones that they did give us initially the first four, because they poured those pretty early on, like around six thirty. And then they started the event at like seven. And then those other ones came out like at the break. So it was like, you know, they had just literally a couple of minutes of warming up, which was shocking to me because I thought, like, in my head, I'm like, you
00:40:35
Speaker
in one of the conversations we had, I don't know if it was with Mike or Todd, but they were saying like, let the beer warm up. And it's like, you gave it us cold. So ah yeah, it needed to warm up a little bit. so um And and i I think that might be a true testament to the proprietors. I feel like if it was warmed up a little bit more, the the flavors would blend a lot better. and i I'd probably try it. I mean, I would never not try it again because, you know, if it's that prop day or a rare day, I'm definitely going to try it again. We're going to try it there and then we get a bottle to take home. yeah So we got two more, we got two more attempts to to try those. Indeed. So following that, so that was the original thing and they're like, okay, thank you. And we're going to bring out some food. So Nick, Shalonda, Brandon and myself grabbed the table, not too far away. Also, Shalonda and I,
00:41:28
Speaker
did a Cuvee of the first four and then all six. All six were really good. So we we poured a little bit. I think I said that that was the all six was really good. Like I could taste just a little bit of everything. Yeah.
00:41:43
Speaker
It was pretty fun. It was pretty fun to do. I'm not going to lie. like The Kuveh was good. but ah so we we I finished what I had, except for Vanilla and Rare is what I had left. and I brought that to the table, yeah which had I known what we were about to get, I probably wouldn't had. I didn't even have any of the honkers that we split.
00:42:03
Speaker
Oh, we got a full, we got two full pints of honkers, uh, brought to us. but what That was like, there's four people at the table and you brought about two pints. It was perfect because I didn't drink anything. But they didn't, but they, they didn't give us anything. Like there was no glasses split it. We had water glasses and that's what we ended up using to split it, which is that was funny. like Um, so they have a menu of what they gave us, which also did play into now looking at it.
00:42:30
Speaker
played into what the beers were. Because the very first thing is pork rinds with lime zest, wahio, and tamarind sauce, which I didn't know that's what that sauce was. Oh, I didn't try it. I didn't try the sauce either. I thought it was ketchup. That's what I thought. Yeah, so. That's weird. Because I don't dip pork rinds. And by the way, the pork rinds came out nice and warm. Oh, yeah. Those are so good. Oh, god. That is so good. But to that point, I thought those were on the table for things that were coming.
00:43:00
Speaker
And I was like, okay. That's what I thought too. But then things started coming and I was like, that doesn't even catch up. Yeah, exactly. I didn't put it together. Maybe the word done the burger that came out. ah The next thing was the flatbread that had cherry goat cheese and prosciutto, which to me was fucking fantastic. And that cherry played into the Bardstown.
00:43:21
Speaker
yep cherry uh staves uh what they had for for that so that was very good next was the bourbon county stout lamb burger that had bur bcs caramelized onion whipped cheese and bcs burial save house smoked bacon that was clearly straight up just bourbon county and that fucking lamb burger was that was amazing rich amazing so delicious i don't make it a habit to eat lamb i do like lamb though i just can't like i Love all animals. There's some animals. I'm okay with eating. I Just think lambs I can't like you want to make me a lamb meatball or lamb chops fine But I just think lambs are on the course of like dogs and cats. I don't know why I'm gonna start serving you lamb every time you come over But but i'll fucking need it but it was such, it was like a ah very thin lamb burger. It wasn't a smash burger. It was like super thin. Yeah. Oh, so good though. Like a red on it. That was fantastic. The bread on it was, it wasn't a bun, but it it was like a focaccia. Yeah, exactly. what Yeah. It was like a focaccia bread. So good. Uh, next was the pastrami and in quotes sandwich, which to me was the most interesting, interesting fucking meal of the night. It was a rye subrick.
00:44:36
Speaker
whatever the fuck a subrig is to you and you and I, you said souffle. Yes. Which I feel like is maybe that's what a soubrig might be close to it. It's like a brick souffle maybe, which was awesome. A cheese fondue and pickled mustard seeds on top of a chunk of the fucking pastrami. Yeah. and Brandon, I don't know if you're going to post it. I'm going to post it. But that picture needs to be posted of how that was. It was ridiculous. Also very rich and very good. And then we had the... So a that plays, I think, on the rye. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Obviously. And then the tostada had confit duck, barley, wine, mole, pickled shallot, and cojita cheese. So we got barley wine mole. So we're going back to the barley wine. Yep. So that was good.
00:45:19
Speaker
and then at the end was vanilla and macaron bcs milkshake with whipped cream which was just fucking a little thick to be called a milkshake yeah but it was fucking delicious also during that while uh we were being served that food we also had uh some shooters brought to us from bardstown uh which it just says the origin series and i'm not sure It says Kentucky straight rye whiskey, ah something in toasted cherry wood and oak barrels. So I'm gonna assume that this origin series bourbon that we drank might be the barrels that the Bardstown cask, straight cask, barely, yeah might be aged in.
00:46:07
Speaker
Shalanda was sneaky, got another bottle, take home, o get out of here, get out of here lady. Then we had the big surprise right there at the end. When it comes to 2025 we are told that they are going to do single barrel releases of Bourbon County and as some of you may know a couple years ago You could get Bourbon County where it had the Easter eggs on it, where there were a little by the date bottle on and the ABV, there were little letters left there. It might be WT, might be BT, might be HH, which we all then put together was, oh, it's single-barreled. Buffalo Trace, Heaven Hill, and Wild Turkey.
00:46:56
Speaker
They've taken it a step further and they're going to release this starting next year at the brew pub where they're going to do a single barrel versions of Bourbon County. And and so while it might be in 2025, I don't.
00:47:10
Speaker
From my understanding, it's not going to be next year this time. No, no, it's next year. like I think next year is starting maybe January or February. Those are going to be like bottle releases. where Instead of just being like, you're going to grab a bottle of 2024, Bourbon County, you're probably going to get a... And there's a label for it as well. It's like a black and gold label. And then when we got to try, which was...
00:47:39
Speaker
A four-year... Was it four roses? Four roses aged for six years. The barrel was... 20 months. 20 months in a four roses, six year bet. Six years, yes. So four roses was aged for six years in a barrel and the Bourbon County was aged for 20 months. Yep. So almost two full years and this was really nice.
00:48:04
Speaker
I really wish this was an earlier tasting. Yeah. it kind of I mean, i'm glad I'm so grateful we had to try it, but there was so much going on. There were so many flavors happening that I didn't get it. It was a nice surprise. Yeah. And it was very tasty. I remember liking it very much. Oh, it was fantastic. But I didn't get a full experience because of where it landed.
00:48:27
Speaker
But it's also like we were in the middle of all the food and like... That's what I mean. like where it landed So there was a lot going on. Yeah. I actually saved that little bourbon taster for us to go outside and and enjoy the evening yeah before we left. So Brandon, I'm going to give this to you right now. if And I'll do the same thing. um I'm going to bring back in VCS and Vanilla. If you had to rank these six beers this year in order,
00:48:53
Speaker
How are you going to rank them, top to bottom? ooh You can have some ties in there, too, because I'm going to have some ties in there. um I'm going to do Cask, Rare, Vanilla, OG, Macaron, and Proprietors. Cask is your number one. Yeah. Interesting. Nice. Well, and I'll say tie. Cask and Rare are a tie for me. I'm going to go. I like that. I like that lineup.
00:49:19
Speaker
Say it one more time. Kask and Rare, Vanilla, OG, Macaron, and Proprietors. So I'm gonna go Rare,
00:49:31
Speaker
Kask, Proprietors, Vanilla, OG,
00:49:41
Speaker
mac
00:49:44
Speaker
Yeah, I stand by that statement. Yeah. And again, that's not, I'm not saying macarons bad. I just, I wasn't, was feeling it right there and then. I think that is going to be one that maybe you might, maybe it might change in time. Maybe something's going to fade and and something will pop up, but I'm interested in trying to get in a and I'm basically a month from now. Yeah. And I also like, I say it's hard to gauge all of that stuff when you're drinking them all sequentially. Yes. So like,
00:50:13
Speaker
Flavors blend your palate gets burnt out because honestly for all I know that four roses Single barrel could be in that lineup don't but agreed I just I didn't want to put it in there because of where we were in the No, and that wasn't that wasn't what we were there to initially taste. Yeah It's not fair to throw that in there with the lineup That was just a special treat for us. It was and everybody else will get to try it. I will say this I Thank you Goose Island for...
00:50:43
Speaker
ah inviting us this year. You know how we we we told many people what we've done over the years. And it just feels very ah humbling and rewarding to finally you know be a part of the media thing and and and to be a part of it. And honestly, both Brandon and I, are just our socks were knocked off by how awesome it was and it was just such a great experience. And being able to talk with people involved with making Bourbon County and these variants and being open and honest about the way we felt about these beers felt even more ah rewarding and being able to hear the stories behind these beers. Yeah, and everybody there was super friendly. And, you know, as Tony said, like, willing to talk, willing to chat, answer questions, willing to listen. um You know, and even when we were walking out, to and trying to walk out the door with like, we got caught in conversations, not in a bad way. But it was like, you know, just
00:51:38
Speaker
People just wanted to share with us. like And wanted to hear what we felt about the beers. Yeah. They wanted to know our opinion. So ah you know not to feel self-important, but like you know we kind of did. Because you know like hey, it's finally at ah at at a chance at ah an event like this where like people were like really curious to know, like well, what were your favorites? What didn't you like? um And we got the chance to ask those questions to, to them. Yeah. And I think that's, you know, that's really the purpose of these events is for them to get those, that initial feedback, you know, because, you know, media people like in general, it's, it's a mixed group of people. Not everyone's going to like the same things like Tony and I had varying opinions. Um, and I think having that large group of people in, I say large, it was not that large. I think there was, you know, like 20 people there, maybe. Yeah, it was very intimate. um which which Which made it nice, it like made it like a very cool experience for us to just kind of sit down and like sipping on the beers. But yeah, they just made it feel like super like, hey, you know, you're our friends here and we want to know what you think. And yeah, they made us feel very welcome. Yeah, very cool. Super, super humbled and and and glad that we got to do that. And
00:52:52
Speaker
hopeful you know that we get to do this in years to come because you know we you know regardless of being invited to this or not like we already bought tickets to rare day like we we plan on you know partaking in the beers and we will for years to come so just adding this to like the things that we can do to appreciate goose island uh bourbon county just um is nice Absolutely. And your ice maker just gave the beeping i damn it that the timer is officially done. You don't have to unplug it. We're we're wrapping it up. Oh, nice. ah Yeah, this was this was great. And it's a good way to to kick off. This is our Halloween episode, too, by the way, everybody. who We didn't do a pumpkin beer episode yeah this year. um It just didn't work out. And that's fine. We we need to take a break out pumpkin beers. um But yeah, this was a great way to to to kick off what
00:53:46
Speaker
especially in Chicago, becomes... ah Stout season. Yeah, stout season, barely-age beer season. um Brandon, I've got some Rev beers and some off-color beers, and it's just gonna keep on and and coming. Like, this is a great time of year to be in Chicago. Oh, in the Midwest yeah when it comes to beers. So, Brandon, I love you, buddy. Love you too, man. And thank you everybody for tuning in for a special Wednesday edition of The Melting Hour. Bye!
00:54:18
Speaker
This has been The Malting Hour. Be sure to follow us on all social media by searching The Malting Hour and at themaltinghour.com. You can also follow us individually on social media. Brandi can be found on Instagram as bmdub81, on Twitter, bdub81, and on Untapped as bdubdrinksbeer. Tony can be found on Instagram and Untapped under Ace of Hope Chicago. On Twitter, The Ace of Hope Chicago. Clark can be found as Clarkowski on all three. Dan can be found on Instagram as hip underscore underscore hops and the hip hops on YouTube. Be sure to subscribe, like, and rate the show on your preferred podcast listening platform. Until next time, cheers from all of us at The Malting Hour.