Style: Imperial Stout Aged in Bourbon Barrels
Special Notes: Brewed with a combination of dark chocolate and two types of cocoa nibs. Only released in Chicago.
Hops: Millenium
Malts: 2-Row, Caramel, Chocolate, Debittered Black, Munich, Roast Barley
ABV: 14.4%
IBU: 60
Availability: No longer in production.
@untappd says: 4.54/5
It may have taken me three months, but the 2018 Bourbon County hunt is over!
As the great Beatles song says, sometimes you can only get by “with a little help from [your] friends.” Back on December 1, I posted what I thought would be the last 2018 Goose Island Beer Company Bourbon County Stout I would be able to find, the Bourbon County Brand Reserve. I was content with that. After all, I’d been able to procure the Bramble Rye Stout, the Coffee Barleywine, the Vanilla, the Midnight Orange, the Wheatwine Ale and the original. Seven out of eight ain’t bad, right?
A month later, I got a random DM from my good buddy, @bedwetr7 aka Josh. He had seen in my Instagram stories that I was hoping to score a Proprietor’s—a story I had posted mostly as a shot in the dark—and he’d answered my call.
Josh contacted me saying that he’d bought one with me in mind, if I was interested in a trade. All Josh wanted was some Trillium brews. I was pretty shocked. The Proprietor’s goes on Ebay for tons of money, after all. To get an offer for a fair amount of brews was great. Thankfully, I don’t live prohibitively far away from either Trillium location, and I’m always looking for a reason to go to them. I asked Josh to cellar my stout for a month while I planned a road trip to Canton. Two Saturdays ago, I went (you’ve been seeing the fruits of that trip for the last 9 days). A week later, I shipped out his beers, and he shipped me mine.
Last night, I got my end of the trade, and completed the greatest beer hunt of my Windowsill’s young life. So, what makes the Proprietor’s so special? Every year, Goose Island makes a special version of their Bourbon County Brand Stout for the ones they consider “the adventurous beer lovers who responded so favorably to our first batch of Bourbon County Brand Stout in the early 90s, and who loyally, year after year, share our passion for bourbon barrel-aged stout.”
The Proprietor’s is always the best of the best, made with unique ingredients from the rest and a special recipe put together by Brian LaGro. For 2018, the magic word is chocolate. It uses a combination of dark chocolate and two kinds of cocoa nibs. It’s rich, decadent and includes all the chocolate flavors, from “silky milk chocolate” to “deep and earth dark chocolate.”
Head over to Instagram to see this one it all its glory. Make sure you follow Beers on Windowsills for more great beer!