Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout (2025)

The team framed Original as the control: the same base beer used for every 2025 variant, blended from multiple bourbon barrels and aged to develop chocolate, molasses, cherry, vanilla, coconut, and oak spice. They emphasized that they brew it for aging, where time and the barrel are ingredients, not afterthoughts. Mike Siegel described it nicely: “if you’ve never had it before, ‘liquid dessert’ is kind of the simplest way to describe it…chocolate, cherry, vanilla, caramel, coconut…you like those flavors, and it delivers.” Daryl Hoedtke highlighted vintage nuance: “you get some dried fruit character, a lot of cherry, and the whiskey for sure is there. Some oak notes as well.”