2013 Goose Island Bourbon County Brand barrel-aged beers for sale in Dupont Friday

From an email:

“On Black Friday (Nov. 29) at 9 a.m. 11am ET Connecticut Ave. Wine & Liquor (1529 Connecticut Ave NW) in DC will begin offering a variety of 2013 Goose Island Bourbon County Brand barrel-aged beers to eager consumers including two new offerings – Barleywine and Backyard Rye.

During last year’s Black Friday release in Chicago, more than 400 people lined up outside a local retailer to purchase the 2012 offering of these barrel-aged beers.

The originator of the entire bourbon-barrel aged beer category, BCBS is an imperial stout that was first produced in 1992 in honor of the 1,000th beer batch at Goose Island’s Clybourn brewpub. Since that inaugural BCBS brewing, Goose Island has released several Bourbon County Brand variants, including Coffee, Vanilla, Bramble Rye, and Cherry Rye. The Friday after Thanksgiving, craft beer connoisseurs can begin experiencing the brewing-and-aging expertise in the 2013 vintage of the following selections of Bourbon County Brands

Bourbon County Brand Stout is one of the most sought-after beers in the craft beer world. It has been recognized by judges at the Great American Beer Festival and the World Beer Cup. BCBS is dark and dense in a powerful yet silky body made to be sipped. Its nose is an intense mix of charred oak, chocolate, vanilla, caramel, and smoke; finishing with a signature bourbon heat only this bold stout could harness. The beer is 14.5 percent alcohol-by-volume, develops in the bottle for up to five years and is sold in four packs of 12-ounce bottles.

Bourbon County Brand Coffee Stout is brewed using coffee roasted from Intelligentsia Coffee, our next-door neighbor at the Fulton Street brewery. This world-class roaster puts the same passion and skill into their coffee as Goose Island does with its beer. Each year, our brewers collaborate with the coffee experts at Intelligentsia to select a new bean. In 2013, we feature ‘Los Inmortales’ coffee beans from El Salvador. The beans were roasted and cold brewed just days before being blended into the stout. With the change in coffee comes a change in the flavor profile, making each release truly unique from the previous years. The beer is 14.3 percent alcohol-by-volume, develops in the bottle for up to five years and is sold in four packs of 12-ounce bottles.

Bourbon County Brand Barleywineis new in 2013 and is aged in the third-use barrels that were once home to Kentucky bourbon and then Bourbon County Brand Stout. This traditional English-style barleywine possesses the subtlety of flavor that only comes from a barrel that’s gone through many seasons of ritual care. The intricacies of the previous barrel denizens – oak, charcoal, hints of tobacco and vanilla, and that signature bourbon heat – are all present in this beer. Hearty and complex, Bourbon County Brand Barleywine is a titan and a timeline; a bold, flavorful journey through the craft of barrel aging. The beer is 14.2 percent alcohol-by-volume, develops in the bottle for up to five years and is sold in four packs of 12 ounce bottles.

Backyard Rye Bourbon County Brand Stout is new for 2013 and was inspired by the berries our brewers first remember eating from the trees in their backyards. Aged in Templeton Rye whiskey barrels with fresh mulberries, marionberries, and boysenberries. Full of dark, spicy and pleasantly sweet flavors, this trio of berries nicely complements the flavors imparted from the barrel resulting in a smooth, jammy stout perfect for sipping on your back porch. The beer develops in the bottle for up to five years and is sold in 22-ounce bombers.

In 2013 it was aged in Templeton Rye whiskey barrels with coconut toasted by hand by the Goose Island brewers. The beer develops in the bottle for up to five years and is sold in 22-ounce bombers.”