This Week's Beer News: 2024 BCS Variants Officially Announced

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We now know what this year’s Bourbon County Stout variants will be.

Per an announcement from Goose Island this morning, the annual Black Friday release will include:

• Bourbon County Original

• Bourbon County Vanilla Rye Stout

• Bourbon County Macaroon Stout

• Bourbon County Proprietor’s Barleywine

• Bourbon County Bardstown Cask Finish Stout

Outside of the OG, that’s two adjuncted stouts, one barrel variant and a truly unique barleywine. Vanilla Rye is obviously a return to the near-iconic version released back in 2014¹ and Macaroon promises coconut, ginger and cocoa nibs, which sounds just fine to me.

This year’s Proprietor’s Blend - a barleywine, for the first time ever - sounds like a particularly daring swing. From the Goose release:

“This year marks the debut of a barleywine under the coveted Proprietor’s name. Having fallen in love with the popular Mexican spoon candy, brewer Colby Magratten crafted a recipe with Goose Island’s bourbon barrel-aged barleywine that blends together tamarind, lime, whole Guajillo chiles and piloncillo.

Chicago and the people who call it home are forever a source of inspiration in all that Goose Island does. 2024 Bourbon County Brand Proprietor’s Barleywine is a direct reflection of that inspiration and unlike anything they’ve ever done before. With a subtle dried fruit sweetness, refreshing lime zest and a delightfully warming finish, this barleywine is decidedly Chicago.”

Emphasis mine. Wow. If you’re wondering what Mexican spoon candy is, it’s this.² I’m personally looking forward to the return of any BCS barleywine (it’s kinda the only barleywine I like) but especially something out of left field like this.

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Now that we know what’s officially coming, maybe you’re wondering what labels were sent to the TTB but not released? Good news! We’ve got all that info for you (and we’re probably the only place to find it, too).

On the variants side, Goose submitted three other labels that didn’t make it to prime time. There was a BCS Cordial Stout (with chocolate, cocoa nibs and Amarena cherries), an intriguing sounding Upside Down Cake Stout (with pineapple, vanilla, brown sugar and Maraschino cherries) and this Proprietors label for a BCS Junior Mint. Or Andes Candy. Or … Frango Mint.

A year with two Props would have been a lot of fun, but I guess it wasn’t meant to be. Hop Butcher’s Minted stout can continue on, free of competition.

As for the barrel-aged options, the Cask Finish Bardstown is apparently the only one out of five shared to the TTB. Not included in this years batch is a rye stout double-barrel aged in King of Kentucky barrels, a Jack Daniels 12-year barrel aged option, a two-year Bardstown Origin Series stout, and a mostly-blank “Single Barrel Pick” label.

I still think that there’s a place for the special Single Barrel Pick option. Maybe it’s just a matter of sorting out the logistics, or maybe it’s just being held back to be announced later. Either way, it’s a cool idea and I bet a few drinkers would be lining up to pick their own BCS barrel. TBD!

One more related piece of news we noticed this week: The recent World Whiskey Awards says that one of the best cask-finished whiskeys in the world … was a Bardstown Bourbon finished in Goose Island BCS Barrels. How ‘bout that.

Most-clicked link in last week’s email: By far the most clicked email was the news about which three breweries would be closing their taprooms for RNC events … or just during the RNC in general.

Premium Subscribers saw the labels Goose submitted weeks ago in our previous Label emails (linked above) but now since the lineup is official, y’all are fully in the loop. Makes you want to subscribe, doesn’t it?

• If you’re looking to drink a beer outside, Block Club has a list of 200+ outdoor spaces, patios, and beer gardens around Chicago (including their dog-friendly status and a map). Pretty handy!

• WBEZ’s Curious City segment answers the question: Why does Chicago have so many Irish pubs?

• Forbes recommended 8 beers for summer drinking, including Belgian at the Beach by the new-to-town Cerveceria Paracaidista.

• We mentioned this on Friday but here’s the link to the short blurb on Dovetail from the recent Chicago magazine Best Of issue.

• Out in Maple Park, the Lodi Tap House is taking orders for their Christmas in July advent calendar.

• Per Brewbound, Boochcraft is now available in Chicagoland.

• The Daily Herald reported on the release of Brother Chimp’s gold medal award winning Vienna lager over the weekend.

• WGLT reports on the new partnership between Destihl and the Hanson brothers line of beers.

• Axios enjoyed both the name and the beer itself when it cracked into Rocking Socks and Sandals from Bad Dad Brewing.

• WBIW reported on the results of the 25th annual Indiana State Fair Brewers Cup. You’ll be shocked to discover that Sun King did well.

•  Per the Iowa Brewers Guild, craft beer in Iowa has a 1.25 Billion dollar impact on the state economy.

• Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced that July was officially Michigan Beer Month.

• Jolly Pumpkin Grand Rapids is now closed, but owners have a new concept lined up for the space and are also looking to reopen elsewhere. This story also has a stunningly obvious quote from CEO Dave Crawford:“If it was successful, I would have probably kept it open.”

• The Midland Daily News previews the Great Lakes Beer Festival, bringing 70+ beermakers to Dow Diamond.

• The Star-Tribune digs into what the best breweries in Duluth might be.

• Bud Light slipped to the #3 spot in nationwide beer sales, behind Modelo and Michelob Ultra.

• Goldhorn is celebrating their 8th birthday by releasing a light lager.

• Not a ton of beer news from the RNC, but I do love that people are discovering how great New Glarus Spotted Cow is (and, it is, naysayers). Wisconsin’s senator dinged NG saying “the owner is an ultraliberal“ and recommended Leinie’s instead as the conservative option, whatever that means.

• Isthmus looks into the increasing number of options from Pilot Project’s Brewers Kitchen line of beers.

• 3 Sheeps announced that they were joining the Hacienda taproom in Milwaukee to create a shared space for their beers. More coverage here and here. Sounds like the kind of thing we’ll be seeing more in the future.

• In LaCrosse, the weekend’s official Old Style Day was documented.

• You may have noticed a familiar name or two in this Vinepair piece about the death of Hipster Beer; it was a pleasure to talk to Maggie about the state of beers like PBR and Miller High Life and how breweries are filling the gap left by Bud Light.

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1. As opposed to the somewhat divisive, overwhelmingly vanilla-y 2018 version.

2. Yep, that’s an affiliate link. Always be hustlin’.