Nice mixer B R U V

Bourbon county shines when it embraces its spirit-driven roots. That is what made bourbon county famous. Sure, cherry cordial variants get gout-footed new balances in 15 minute lines, but the past grounds BCBS.

This year the lines are smaller, the consumers are larger, and the variants are more bonkers. Last year we had to suffer through Midnight Oranges but we also were treated to the crushingly good Knob Creek reserve. Goose Island is a stern but vengeful stout God from the Old Testament dealing our pain and bounty in equal measure.

The variant I cared the most about was the two year reserve. I love the Knob/Noe/Bookers/Bakers/[not Basil Hayden’s] canon. The 2 year extended casking in amazing 11 year barrels is something that would be a Rare event in 2010, and end up on shelves in target in 2015. But good lord is this beer good.

I gushed black patent drippings over BBT and this a Shasta bbt of sorts. Some people even prefer Marshmallow Mateys and Mountain Mist. It is a pure lacquer and spirit Bomb in the best way. One thing instarones love to do is acquire an ultra casked beer and then complain that the spirit profile, the very thing they paid a premium for, is “too hot.” Then they will say “[this beer that aged for over two years] needs more time.” I would never want to be a brewer and deal with this level of constructive criticism.

So much is massaged from the oak: cassia bark, hazelnut, potpourri, the cocoa batter wrestles with the rye spice and it has the long pronounced drag of an overheating planing machine. Carb is laughable and this is not something you can embrace in long sessions. It’s excessive in a way that you don’t see from @gooseisland because they have to cater to grocery story stepdads who are the “beer guy” at their Lions Club meetings. Truly the worst kind of men. It’s fantastic and such a pure flex for a giant brewery to show they can still play these diabetic reindeer games and turn out purist stouts. Please seek this out, it is goose island at the top of their game.

Or you can enter a razzle for like some picobrewery from Nebraska being hyped up by four locals and pay three times as much for a worse beer. Your choice.