Goose Island was barrel-aging beers before the practice felt ubiquitous, and they’re still among the best at it. In other words, there’s a reason why the annual release of their lineup of Bourbon County Stouts is a big moment for beer drinkers.
This year is an especially significant one, as Goose Island has designated 2022 as the 30th anniversary of the Bourbon County Stout. At the Chicago Tribune, Josh Noel — who’s literally written a book about Goose Island — explored the accuracy, or lack thereof, of this figure. Suffice to say, sometimes the history of brewing beer can get a little complicated. It did, however, inspire the 30th Anniversary Stout, aged in Small Batch Bourbon Collection barrels from Jim Beam.
That’s one of the seven beers in the 2022 Bourbon County Stout lineup. Another is the classic recipe, made this year using barrels from quartet of distilleries: Four Roses, Wild Turkey, Heaven Hill and Buffalo Trace. This year’s Two-Year Barleywine Reserve, meanwhile, utilizes casks from Old Fitzgerald. It’s the only non-stout being produced in the lineup for 2022.
This year also brings with it a coffee stout, which re-teams Goose Island with Intelligentsia Coffee, with whom they’d last worked in 2017. That, in turn, makes for an interesting pairing with the Biscotti Stout set for release this year.
Biscotti isn’t the only type of cookie to be evoked in this year’s lineup. There’s also the memorably-named Sir Isaac’s Stout, which incorporates figs and graham crackers. And if that seems like an unexpected flavor combination, the Proprietor’s Stout takes that to an even greater degree. It’s described by the brewery as “a brewer’s take on a jungle bird cocktail,” with ingredients like banana, lime, pineapple and coconut.
It’s an intriguing lineup. As the Chicago Tribune notes in its article about the announcement, the Proprietor’s Stout will only be available in and around Chicago. How will these varieties stack up against those from previous years? There’s only one way to find out — and it involves tasting a lot of barrel-aged beer.
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