This years BCBS...What the heck, ABInBev / Goose Island

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Look at avery's the beast. It varies quite a bit from year to year. I think that is just the case with really big beers. It is nearly impossible to keep it consistent from year to year
 
I have to of Avery's Beast 2012 I think aging to see what I get!


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Probably always had some wheat in it as well.. but with all this gluten free, organic crap movement going on now they feel like they have to label it. Haven't had a 14 yet but look forward to a side by side in the near future with '12.
 
Also... BCBS ABV can change even within the same year.. FYI

13bcbs.jpg
 
wow... I'm surprised they go to the trouble to be honest.... That would lead one to assume it fluctuates between each batch.
 
ruger988 said:
Probably always had some wheat in it as well.. but with all this gluten free, organic crap movement going on now they feel like they have to label it. Haven't had a 14 yet but look forward to a side by side in the near future with '12.
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Barley has gluten just like wheat, though I've met several "gluten sensitive" people who are miraculously not affected by beer. They seem to suffer from more of a logic sensitivity, but that's a whole different conversation.

I guess the real test will be to see if the ABV or quality keep dropping over the years. Having wheat all along wouldn't surprise me. It has a big mouthfeel, but it's hard to tell if it's just the heaviness of the beer or some of the ingredients.

One of the things I heard about the ABInbev buyout is that they wouldn't be messing with the barrel programs outside of allowing them to expand. Having the barrel master leave in 2012 might cause more quality issues possibly anyway.

They mention the ABV thing in this post by the way: http://blog.lakeshorebev.com/blog/2014-bourbon-county-stout
 
Thanks for the link. I guess I'm quick to make judgment. Quote from the article: " Jesse Valenciana (Goose Island): A few thoughts before we start, this year’s Bourbon County is more mellow than in years past because of the crazy weather we had last year. It was the first time ever that we had to turn heaters on in the barrel warehouse because of those -40 degree days. As a result, the barrels weren't contracting as much as in past years and we ended up with almost a full percentage point lower in ABV than we had in 2013's release.*"
 
But this year's batch tastes mighty smooth. I was able to score 5 4-packs with a little help from my wife and daughter and a couple trips to the local Wegmans.
 
Well AZ, my original postulation was that AB was trying to perfect making the beer cheaper to produce. But, given the explanation in the article above, I SUPPOSE I'll let them off the hook this time ;)
 
BeerGrylls said:
I'm noticing two things, first, 2012 @ 15%, 2013 @ 14.9%, 2014 @ 13.8%. Second, the 2014 label now says contains wheat. I think it's obvious that someone is effing with the recipe to one of my favorite beers on the planet. What gives!?
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You're complaining that a 13.8% beer is not boozy enough for you?

I think you may have a problem.

I don't really like the regular stout version, taste-wise. The barleywine's where it's at. Takes me 45 minutes to drink 12 ounces, but it's GOOD.
 
LandoLincoln said:
You're complaining that a 13.8% beer is not boozy enough for you?

I think you may have a problem.

I don't really like the regular stout version, taste-wise. The barleywine's where it's at. Takes me 45 minutes to drink 12 ounces, but it's GOOD.
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I think everyone is missing the point....

It's not really about the ABV, His concern/question was whether or not AB/Inbev was finally starting to influence the "good side" of Goose Island by changing the recipe and saving $$. We've read the explanation of why it's lower this year than it has been historically and I for one am happy enough with that. If I drink this years batch and think its crap (highly doubt that will be the case) then I'll hate on AB/Inbev.... until then I'll take their word for it.


BW is good stuff, 2012s are drinking awesome right now. Trying to get my hands on some of the Proprietors this year as well, not having much luck in VA unfortunately.
 
LandoLincoln said:
Something tells me that if it's better than years past you won't be praising AB/Inbev.
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Will I ever PRAISE THEM? No, but I'll certainly give credit where credit is due. My understanding is that they don't mess with the Barrel Series at GI so I don't think they'd really deserve the credit. If in fact they do then I'll gladly give it to them.

I love good beer and people that treat their employees and customers liek they should, do that and I have no problem regardless of who you are or what you represent.
 
ruger988 said:
Will I ever PRAISE THEM? No, but I'll certainly give credit where credit is due. My understanding is that they don't mess with the Barrel Series at GI so I don't think they'd really deserve the credit. If in fact they do then I'll gladly give it to them.

I love good beer and people that treat their employees and customers liek they should, do that and I have no problem regardless of who you are or what you represent.
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If they don't mess with the barrel series and the beer is crap, then it should be Goose Island's fault and not AB/Inbev, right? So don't hate on them for something Goose Island screwed up.
 
LandoLincoln said:
If they don't mess with the barrel series and the beer is crap, then it should be Goose Island's fault and not AB/Inbev, right? So don't hate on them for something Goose Island screwed up.
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The lack of reading comprehension around here amazes me.

Between the drop in ABV and the addition of "contains wheat" to the label the man asked what was going on and why it was changed.

We have established there were no changes in the recipe...

Everyone is happy...

Nobody screwed up... except whoever controls the damn weather :D
 
ruger988 said:
The lack of reading comprehension around here amazes me.

Between the drop in ABV and the addition of "contains wheat" to the label the man asked what was going on and why it was changed.

We have established there were no changes in the recipe...

Everyone is happy...

Nobody screwed up... except whoever controls the damn weather :D
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"We've read the explanation of why it's lower this year than it has been historically and I for one am happy enough with that. If I drink this years batch and think its crap (highly doubt that will be the case) then I'll hate on AB/Inbev"

So you accept the reasoning for the lower ABV (cold weather) BUT if it tastes like crap, then you're going to hate on AB/Inbev and NOT Goose Island. Because...because AB/Inbev didn't give them enough heaters for their barrel rooms? Or did I not comprehend enough yet?
 
I thought the % difference was so they could sell it in states with a 14% limit or something along those lines.

Also the 'contains wheat' thing is definitely a CYA warning.

If anyone has some from this year and can't deal with these issues I'll send you my address. I assure it'll be properly filtered before disposed.
 
LandoLincoln said:
"We've read the explanation of why it's lower this year than it has been historically and I for one am happy enough with that. If I drink this years batch and think its crap (highly doubt that will be the case) then I'll hate on AB/Inbev"

So you accept the reasoning for the lower ABV (cold weather) BUT if it tastes like crap, then you're going to hate on AB/Inbev and NOT Goose Island. Because...because AB/Inbev didn't give them enough heaters for their barrel rooms? Or did I not comprehend enough yet?
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Should have said I'll hate on Goose if it sucks this year, my apologies.
 
bigmike99 said:
I thought the % difference was so they could sell it in states with a 14% limit or something along those lines.

Also the 'contains wheat' thing is definitely a CYA warning.

If anyone has some from this year and can't deal with these issues I'll send you my address. I assure it'll be properly filtered before disposed.
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Is there a state with a 14% limit? Seems like if there was an ABV limit it wouldn't be quite that high. I take living in a free(ish) state for granted sometimes.
 
I thank whomever jumped in to explain that I'm not buying a $6 limited offering beer to maximize my alcohol intake. What I'm concerned with is erosion of standards at a prime example of a respected craft brewery now under control of the largest macro in the world. To not scrutinize their most celebrated offering would be folly in my estimation. I get the excuse given in that linked article, and it sounds reasonable. However, if you read the article there is plenty of mention of the beer being significantly thinner than previous years. How would a more effective barrel maturation influence the perceived 'thickness' of a beer? I would expect that to be a function of the recipe and not the ageing process. Does that add up to anyone?
 
There is a decent amount of evaporation in the barrel aging process plus what the barrel itself absorbs. This is known as the "angels cut". If water evaporates out of the beer and leaves the sugar and other properties behind this will slowly make the beer "thicker" as you put it. So yes in a sense different conditions create different characteristics year to year and can affect both the gravity and the "thickness".

Barrel contraction- barrels are just like any other wood they expand and contract as temperature and humidity change just like hardwood floors which is why hardwood floors buckle or have gaps if they were not properly conditioned in your home before they were installed. If the volume of liquid remains the same inside the barrel as the barrel expands and contracts it forces the beer into and out of the wood which is what enhances the flavor, contact with the wood and the bourbon flavor that is in the wood from the previous aging cycle different years temperature changes affect the barrels changes and therefore affects the end product.

I made my own bourbon barrel, I bought a virgin 5 gallon med char oak barrel and filled it up with bourbon and left it in the basement for 12 months while I was gone. It soaked up almost 3/4 of a 1.75L in 12 months it was being topped off every 30 days. I aged two imperial stouts in it and I put the bourbon back in between them. They are both good the bourbon county stout clone was better than the other. They are both still bulk aging in a corny until January or so.
Bourbon coming Out

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1417324570.814917.jpg


Beer coming out
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1417324893.958995.jpg




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How was the bourbon?

I'm still not clear why because the barrels didn't contract as much they got a lower abv. I can understand the more mellow part since that would mean the barrels didn't release as much of the oak and bourbon. Furthermore, if it got colder than usual, wouldn't that actually mean the barrels contracted more? Having to heat up the cellar sounds like they were trying to get the barrels to not contract. It could be he meant the barrels didn't evaporate as much, but again it doesn't make sense as decreased evaporation should result in maintaining a higher abv.
 
Sheldon said:
But this year's batch tastes mighty smooth. I was able to score 5 4-packs with a little help from my wife and daughter and a couple trips to the local Wegmans.
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ISO. ;)


BCBS has varied in ABV for a while, or so I thought.
 
orangehero said:
How was the bourbon?

I'm still not clear why because the barrels didn't contract as much they got a lower abv. I can understand the more mellow part since that would mean the barrels didn't release as much of the oak and bourbon. Furthermore, if it got colder than usual, wouldn't that actually mean the barrels contracted more? Having to heat up the cellar sounds like they were trying to get the barrels to not contract. It could be he meant the barrels didn't evaporate as much, but again it doesn't make sense as decreased evaporation should result in maintaining a higher abv.
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When the temperature gets warm, the oak opens up allowing beer to soak into the wood. When it gets cold the wood contracts forcing the beer back out. The more frequently this happens, the more barrel profile is imparted. I am assuming they meant there were less cycles of expansion/contraction when they said didn't contract as much. As for the ABV, There are 2 factors that could influence this after it got to the barrel.

1. The volume of alcohol left in the barrels when they were filled. If they were filled in cold weather, the wood would have contracted leaving less bourbon behind in the wood for the beer.

2. Humidity. In high humidity the primary evaporation from the barrels "the angels share" is alcohol which would decrease the abv. However, if the humidity in the barrel room was very low, the angels share would be mostly water therefore increasing the abv.
 
BeerGrylls said:
What I'm concerned with is erosion of standards at a prime example of a respected craft brewery now under control of the largest macro in the world. To not scrutinize their most celebrated offering would be folly in my estimation. I get the excuse given in that linked article, and it sounds reasonable. However, if you read the article there is plenty of mention of the beer being significantly thinner than previous years. How would a more effective barrel maturation influence the perceived 'thickness' of a beer? I would expect that to be a function of the recipe and not the ageing process. Does that add up to anyone?
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If it tastes more watery than years past, then that would be less unfermentables in the beer. Typically, that would mean a higher than normal ABV. Less unfermentables PLUS a lower ABV would mean that they significantly changed up the recipe. Maybe they did. I wasn't too thrilled with last year's regular stout so maybe I'll like this year's batch more.
 
LandoLincoln said:
If it tastes more watery than years past, then that would be less unfermentables in the beer. Typically, that would mean a higher than normal ABV. Less unfermentables PLUS a lower ABV would mean that they significantly changed up the recipe. Maybe they did. I wasn't too thrilled with last year's regular stout so maybe I'll like this year's batch more.
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That's sort of what I was thinking. It still smacks of a somewhat significant change to the brewing process, however I suppose we'll need to wait until next year to see if a trend emerges. Heck, who knows, maybe this year's will taste better. I haven't had the courage to open one of my 2014 bottles just yet.
 
A local bar had a keg of 2014 BCBS on tap for the last couple days and I stopped in on multiple occasions to have some ...... whatever they did..... it was still an awesome beer:mug:
 
To further confuse things, I just find out (via untappd) that there are both 13.8 and 14.4 versions of 2014, just like there were 14.9 and 14.2 of the 2013. I'm ready to give them a pass on all of this. Carry on!
 
Had 14 and 13 both on tap at a local bar last night. If you weren't confused enough already, the collar on the 14 keg said 14.5%.
 
zazbnf said:
2. Humidity. In high humidity the primary evaporation from the barrels "the angels share" is alcohol which would decrease the abv. However, if the humidity in the barrel room was very low, the angels share would be mostly water therefore increasing the abv.
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The alcohol fraction should be greater than the water in either case, so the abv can only go down. In low humidity there would just be more water evaporating relative to the high humidity. In high humidity the drop in abv would just be less.
 
BeerGrylls said:
To further confuse things, I just find out (via untappd) that there are both 13.8 and 14.4 versions of 2014, just like there were 14.9 and 14.2 of the 2013. I'm ready to give them a pass on all of this. Carry on!
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They make too much to blend at one time so blend multiple batches. To be legal, the actual alcohol % has to be within .3% of what the label says. Having one say 13.8% also allows them to sell in states like GA with a 14% cap.
 
If people are still looking to get some I live in duluth mn and there was another release today I was on a waiting list and they called and I was able to score a couple of bottles so maybe call the stores in your area and see if they got any more
 

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