Goose Island is to release the 2017 version of its eagerly anticipated Bourbon County Brand Stout in the UK on Friday, November 24 — also known as Black Friday.
There will be limited stocks of the 14.1% ABV brew, though, which will retail with a recommended price of £20.
The first-ever UK Bourbon County Brand Stout launched in 2016 and the limited 100-bottle release sold out in under an hour, which equates to 862ml of the rare beer sold per minute, or 14ml per second. The release also generated a footfall of beer fans, who patiently queued around the block.
2017 Bourbon County Brand Stout will be available to buy on November 24 at Ghost Whale in Brixton, Kill The Cat in Shoreditch and on beerhawk.co.uk, while stocks last, from 11am. Craft beer and Indian restaurant Bundobust, in Leeds and Manchester, will also be serving a Bourbon Country Brand Stout dessert pairing, available for £25, from 6pm.
Goose Island’s principal brewmaster, Jared Jankoski, said: “We’re really excited to be bringing Bourbon County Brand Stout to the UK again. It had such a great reception last year.
“The 2017 edition is deliciously smooth, with notes of vanilla and chocolate which get more noticeable with every sip. We hope you enjoy this year’s 2017 variant as much as we’ve enjoyed brewing and, of course, tasting it!”
In the US, meanwhile, another five variants of the beer will be released. There was due to be six, but as Jared says: “We will not be releasing Reserve Barleywine. This beer was aged for nearly two years in 35-year-old bourbon casks, and it was one of our most ambitious barrel projects to date. We know that both re-using barrels and lengthy ageing time can put us in a vulnerable situation. But why not try it?
“Well, as it turns out, it doesn’t taste like what we wanted it to. We noticed before release, so it won’t be shipping out this year.”
