Regular Berben Country Vertical

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

BoatsAndHoes

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2015
Messages
7,482
Reaction score
6,622
Location
Bye Felicia
Hey All, my friend is being kind enough to share his BCBS from '13 dating back to '05 (others are supplying '14 and '15 for science).

Has anyone blown the dust off the older vintages recently? Just wondering what kind of surprises (or not surprises) we have in store.

Cheers!
 
Had my last 08 a little over two years ago and it was great, but if I had to guess I'd say it's going downhill by this point. Tried an 07 a couple years ago and thought it was already clearly past its prime. Would definitely be curious to see some feedback from this tasting though.
 
Had my last 08 a little over two years ago and it was great, but if I had to guess I'd say it's going downhill by this point. Tried an 07 a couple years ago and thought it was already clearly past its prime. Would definitely be curious to see some feedback from this tasting though.
Will report back. It could be a while, coordinating schedules around the holidays is a bummer :(
 
My vert only goes back to '07 but I have drank about a case of that vintage over the last 2 years. The twist off caps mean TONS of bottle variation. It will be flat and probably oxidized. Some are good, some are truly awful. The bottles with lighter oxidation are still very good.
 
The twist off caps
Ron-Burgundy-What-Did-You-Say-Anchorman.gif


I had no idea. This is definitely going to be an educational share
 
2006 is usually pretty fudgy.
2007 has always been my least favorite. Every bottle I've had has been extremely oxidized.
2008 was always one of the best, but is probably a little over the hill.
Same with 2009 or at least that'll be the case soon.
2010 has always been my second least favorite. Thinner, boozy, and less complex.
2011 and 2013 are stellar.
2012 and 2014 are a notch below '11 and '13 from what I recall, but still quite good.
I loved 2015. Much less heat fresh, huge body, and plenty of barrel character.
 
I had 2009-14. 2012 stood out to the four guys doing it! 2010-11 both great. 2009 way passed its prime....13-14 great too. It's really all personal preference but I think 2012 was the best to all four of us :) can't wait to crush hoof Hearted with my brother in law on xmas :)
 
CAdF3Ro.jpg


Not one bottle had any sign of heavy oxidation or anything. 2010 and 2011 were favorites spread out among a few of us. We were all pleasantly surprised by all of them. We expected one or two to taste of cardboard.

However gpawned stored these before giving them to me should be the standard....and thanks again Josh
 
CAdF3Ro.jpg


Not one bottle had any sign of heavy oxidation or anything. 2010 and 2011 were favorites spread out among a few of us. We were all pleasantly surprised by all of them. We expected one or two to taste of cardboard.

However gpawned stored these before giving them to me should be the standard....and thanks again Josh

What level of variation were you able to perceive going down the line? We just had a big group do 09-15 and my biggest takeaway from the experience was an amazing level of consistency from year to year. The differences I could pick up were mostly related to carbonation or thickness of mouthfeel not as much the flavor.

11 has always been one of my favorites and the 09 bomber was still drinking awesome. 15 was as good fresh as any year I can remember and the only year that was a notch below the others was 13, which had the highest carbonation.
 
What level of variation were you able to perceive going down the line? We just had a big group do 09-15 and my biggest takeaway from the experience was an amazing level of consistency from year to year. The differences I could pick up were mostly related to carbonation or thickness of mouthfeel not as much the flavor.

11 has always been one of my favorites and the 09 bomber was still drinking awesome. 15 was as good fresh as any year I can remember and the only year that was a notch below the others was 13, which had the highest carbonation.
A lot of us were in agreement that there was no major variations over the years and it really was pretty consistent. We honesty didn't take notes or anything like that but there were little things like one year having a bit more chocolate flavor or other small things like that. Most of the variation came from mouthfeel/carb level.

Maybe Cynic-ale can chime in as well but like I said we were doing this for fun and none of us really got scientific about it.
 
What level of variation were you able to perceive going down the line? We just had a big group do 09-15 and my biggest takeaway from the experience was an amazing level of consistency from year to year. The differences I could pick up were mostly related to carbonation or thickness of mouthfeel not as much the flavor.

11 has always been one of my favorites and the 09 bomber was still drinking awesome. 15 was as good fresh as any year I can remember and the only year that was a notch below the others was 13, which had the highest carbonation.

Definitely agree on how good the 15 is right out of the gate. Prefer it to the 14 I had on draft a couple weeks ago.

Made reservations at a beer bar for NYE where you get to pick one bottle from their cellar stash with your reservation. We got one of the last 12 Boubon County bottles they made available, looking forward to see how that's doing.
 
A lot of us were in agreement that there was no major variations over the years and it really was pretty consistent. We honesty didn't take notes or anything like that but there were little things like one year having a bit more chocolate flavor or other small things like that. Most of the variation came from mouthfeel/carb level.

Maybe Cynic-ale can chime in as well but like I said we were doing this for fun and none of us really got scientific about it.

I prefer BCBS fresh, as it tends to have shaper edges in terms of taste. More bourbon and more booze compared to cellared bottles. '15 is a great batch. Recent years compared very well, I'd say going back to around '13. After that it was somewhat softer, less booze and heat. Bourbon was still there but chocolate, fudge and roasted notes start to appear more clearly in '12 and prior. It seemed to me that pattern held true back to '05. That is, prominent notes in older bottles are fudge and dark fruites, like raisins. More recent vintages had more bourbon and booze.

Overall, I was impressed how well it held up, even back to '05. I assume the bottles we had were stored properly because none were oxidized messes. It's an impressive beer. Still, best enjoyed fresh, IMO.

Thanks again, Tyler!
 
I prefer BCBS fresh, as it tends to have shaper edges in terms of taste. More bourbon and more booze compared to cellared bottles. '15 is a great batch. Recent years compared very well, I'd say going back to around '13. After that it was somewhat softer, less booze and heat. Bourbon was still there but chocolate, fudge and roasted notes start to appear more clearly in '12 and prior. It seemed to me that pattern held true back to '05. That is, prominent notes in older bottles are fudge and dark fruites, like raisins. More recent vintages had more bourbon and booze.

Overall, I was impressed how well it held up, even back to '05. I assume the bottles we had were stored properly because none were oxidized messes. It's an impressive beer. Still, best enjoyed fresh, IMO.

Thanks again, Tyler!

I think this is spot on. The balance of barrel and the base beer is so impressive fresh I think it loses a little luster with significant age. I d think 1.5-2 years of age is the sweet spot.
 
I prefer BCBS fresh, as it tends to have shaper edges in terms of taste. More bourbon and more booze compared to cellared bottles. '15 is a great batch. Recent years compared very well, I'd say going back to around '13. After that it was somewhat softer, less booze and heat. Bourbon was still there but chocolate, fudge and roasted notes start to appear more clearly in '12 and prior. It seemed to me that pattern held true back to '05. That is, prominent notes in older bottles are fudge and dark fruites, like raisins. More recent vintages had more bourbon and booze.

Overall, I was impressed how well it held up, even back to '05. I assume the bottles we had were stored properly because none were oxidized messes. It's an impressive beer. Still, best enjoyed fresh, IMO.

Thanks again, Tyler!
While it may be imperceptible now, there was a time when Bourbon County was almost undrinkably hot when fresh. They used to blend barrels at 100 days instead of when it was deemed ready. It is no coincidence that more recent vintages of BCS are better right out of the gate.

I have always wondered if the newer vintages would hold up as long/well as the '05-'09s did.
 
I have always wondered if the newer vintages would hold up as long/well as the '05-'09s did.

This interests me a lot. Thinking about how they were handled(and having zero knowledge of how Goose Island has operated, just a fair bit of modern brewery experience) I would think theres some major tradeoffs as the years have gone on how the beers will age.

Likely they used to transfer with head space pressure at best, gravity at worst. This beats up the beer a bit, and isn't as O2 safe as a diaphragm pump which they probably use now. So more O2 during transfer before.

Less time in the barrels means less O2, which is good for the beer. So less O2 before.

But what kind of bottling equipment were they using? an old maheen? maybe a older italian machine? Not likely a krones or even a modern rotary line. And then there's the screw caps, dear god. Anybody know what equipment they have now/had before?

It's pretty funny, in the end, when all of us beer geeks try to compare a fledgling breweries B1 imperial stout to the 15th year Imperial stout. Its likely as similar as comparing their 15th year stout to a different breweries stout.
 
Figured this was as good a spot as any to put this in.

p512o29.jpg


Did a mini vert of BCBS and BCBBW. Among the three of us consensus on regular was 15 > 13 > 14. For the BW it was 13 > 15 > 14. Not sure what's up with the 14 batches for both but for the BW, it just lacked the depth and richness of 13 and even 15. I was surprised by how much I liked 15, as I had a pour on draft and didn't enjoy it as much but the bottle was great. The current batch of BCBS is just perfect though.
 
Last edited:
When I drank a 2007 back in 2014 I was shocked that it had a twist off cap. It was slightly oxidized but it honestly tasted like someone dropped a shot of whiskey in my glass. I couldn't believe how hot it still was.

Had 2 bottles of 2008 that I drank in 2013 and 2014. I couldn't believe how well they held up. I have had a lot of beers that haven't aged well but BCBS is not one of them.
 
When I drank a 2007 back in 2014 I was shocked that it had a twist off cap. It was slightly oxidized but it honestly tasted like someone dropped a shot of whiskey in my glass. I couldn't believe how hot it still was.

Had 2 bottles of 2008 that I drank in 2013 and 2014. I couldn't believe how well they held up. I have had a lot of beers that haven't aged well but BCBS is not one of them.
This. I have had 07 and 08 on 2-3 occasions between 2010 and 2013 and 07 always tasted hot an unbalanced where 08 was one of the better vintage bourbon counties I have tried
 
Posted this on BA recently. Sharing it here as well.

Recently did a 2006-2015 vertical. 2006 and 2007 were still surprisingly good-ish but oxidized and past their prime for sure. 2008 was great when it came out (maybe best batch ever), and is still great. Definitely better than '09, '10 and '11. 2012 was great as well and my winner. '13 and '14 were good ('14 is better than when it was fresh for sure) and '15 was excellent. Did they change a ton? I don't think so. I was time-traveling by the end, but I'd rank them as follows:

2012
2015
2008
2013
2014
2011
2010
2009
2007
2006

Also, what up lurchingbeast, it's a-me Luigi!
 
stumbled on this thread today. looking through my "cellar" over the weekend at things i had forgotten i had. '09 - '12 Bourbon County's. wondered how they might be doing and whether i could save them for friends later this summer or if they might have gone to **** by now.

educational, indeed!
 
Back
Top