Anheuser Busch Companies (BUD)

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One Bourbon County beer pulled from 2017 release: 'Doesn’t taste like what we wanted it to'

By Josh Noel
Contact Reporter
Chicago Tribune

Goose Island's ambitious Bourbon County menu for 2017 just became a bit less ambitious.

A plan to release seven beers from its heralded Bourbon County family — the most ever — has been adjusted to six beers, the brewery announced on its website Thursday.

Goose Island Brewmaster Jared Jankoski said Reserve Barleywine — a barleywine aged two years in barrels that aged whiskey for 35 years, and more recently held Goose Island's 2015 release of Rare Bourbon County Brand Stout — won't reach the public because "it doesn’t taste like what we wanted it to."

Goose Island sustained one of the beer industry's highest-profile infection issues when it recalled four Bourbon County beers in 2015, due to contamination by Lactobacillus acetotolerans, a souring bacteria that went undetected before release.

Reserve Barleywine was brewed and entered barrels at that same time. It was a highly anticipated beer by longtime fans, and Goose Island’s second attempt at a barleywine aged two years in “rare” bourbon barrels. The first release, King Henry, garnered rave reviews when released in 2011.

Though Jankoski didn't say whether the shortcomings of Reserve Barleywine were related, he wrote "we know that both re-using barrels and lengthy aging time can put us in a vulnerable situation."

The other six Bourbon County beers have been extensively tested and are "bada--," he said, invoking a term commonly used by American craft brewers to express enthusiasm.

"They check out by both our quality testing program and our validated taste panel, i.e. people who are very good at tasting beer and do it a lot," Jankoski wrote.

Goose Island’s Bourbon County beers are released every year on the day after Thanksgiving, and have carved out an increasingly large footprint since the brewery was bought by Anheuser-Busch Inbev in 2011.

The brewery also said Thursday that a limited edition Bourbon County beer will be added to the lineup, albeit in minute amounts and on draft only.

Double Barrel Bourbon County Brand Stout is the “original” version of Bourbon County Brand Stout (released widely in bottles on Black Friday) then aged longer in fresh bourbon barrels. It clocks in at a whopping 17 percent alcohol, and will debut at Chicago’s Festival of Wood and Barrel-Aged Beer on Nov. 10 and 11.

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