Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout Midnight Orange

It may have only been the second bottle in my vertical, but I couldn't quite shake the idea that maybe this wouldn't have as much variety as I was hoping. The nose carries those telltale notes of dark chocolate and wood char, and the sip is similarly roast-forward, with hints of vanilla and lots of mildly burnt caramel lingering through the finish. It's hard to find a lot of fault with this, and it certainly hasn't notably devolved; in fact, …

Great with cigar

Solid showing, yum factor was high as always. Touch more of the barrel influence that I recall from other recent vintages. Served with brownies and Ben & Jerry's Phish Food so it was chocolate mania. The BCBS held up very nicely to all that. Richer dark/bitter chocolate notes, edgy. Have one more '18 and will being looking forward to it.

After the first two bottles were so radically different, it was nice to see that the 2018 vintage didn't deliver nearly as much variance. The aroma is very reminiscent of the '17, like sticking one's nose straight into a freshly spent bourbon barrel. The palate is a significant change of pace, though, as the initial flavor is bourbon-soaked booziness, which eventually gives way to a dark, roast character that quickly subsides into an über-dry finish. Subtle, this bottle is not.

Getting better all the time. Still rather hot upfront but the chocolate is balancing it over time. Bourbon still dominates but in a good way now. I wasn't a big fan of the 18 originally and thought it was one of their weaker efforts in a while but it has become a beautiful beast.

As an evening of Disney+ gets deeper, so too do the cellar selections. I grabbed an extra bottle of last year's vintage while stocking up on this year's varieties, and decided to open it to compare with the '15 and the '19. The vanilla notes and mild char I loved when fresh are still there, and an already smooth brew has mellowed out even more. Still, it doesn't seem like it's evolved all that much over the year, leading me …

Oak, vanilla, maple, bourbon, licorice, woodsy bitter, roasty, light fruitiness, full bodied. A touch too young, seemed disjointed.

Still love these, the bourbon barrel finish is apparent, but they just get so boozy

I traded a bottle of Vanilla to be able to try one of these guys, and while it wasn't a perfectly even trade, I'm not at all unhappy! The classic BCBS flavor is there, with a little added chocolate punch from the cacao nibs. But really, you're here for the orange, and it's an easy adjunct to mess up, but they actually nailed it, hitting the perfect balance of present and flavorful without being treacly and overwhelming. After Vanilla, this …

Syrupy and goopy, clearly a very heavy-handed beer with lots of sweet brown and black elements. A creamy texture here, but with a little more zip than the 2014 (perhaps owing to its youth). This stuff is palatable in very small doses but it has too much alcohol for any reasonable amount of drinking.

[Bottled: 26 July, 2018; 14.7% ABV]. A bit syrupy. Seemingly better after 20 minutes.

After enjoying a small taste of the 14.7% on draft on Friday, I decided to open one of my 15.2% bottles tonight. I'm always impressed by how solid BCBS is, even as verticals prove it loses a bit each year. The 2018 vintage has really nice vanilla notes, leading into a solid bit of barrel char on the finish, but never really loses its smoothness. And it may not taste like 15%, but it damn sure sneaks up on you …