Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Café de Olla Stout

Adjuncts are fading fast here. Time to drink up.

Shared with some friends at a social responsible distance! The fading of flavors that was already showing up a few months ago has ramped up, with the orange peel all but gone. The coffee is still hanging around but a bit more mildly, with the dark roasty stout notes and barrel character helping accentuate some of the spiciness of the cinnamon. Definitely not the kind of beer to be aging if that's your thing.

I honestly wasn't expecting the night's conversation to steer toward BCBS and its variants, but since it did, this was an awfully suitable choice to share. The orange has faded substantively, but not exactly to the detriment of the overall flavor. The sweet cinnamon notes from the cassia and the bitter roastiness of the coffee are still hanging on nicely, and the finish has a delightful sweetness that betrays just how strong the beer is. Age has undone a bit …

Quite dark brown. Thick, smooth texture with flavors of very lightly sweetened baking chocolate. The orange comes through faintly on the finish, the bourbon is more faint still, while the cinnamon is barely perceptible. Definitely a dessert beer and meant for sharing. Very boozy at 13.5%abv. Best to wait a year to drink to give flavors more time to meld together.

Given how dodgy the 2018 Midnight Orange was after a mere year of aging, I was a bit dubious about this particular variant, but I was pleasantly surprised by the immediate result. The orange is subtle, with the coffee taking the lead and the cinnamon notes from the cassia bark coming through the main part of the taste and leading into the sweet finish, which is complemented by the faint citrus notes. Not quite as outstanding as some of the …