The yearly release of Goose Island’s Bourbon County Brand Stout has made Black Friday a holiday for beer lovers and helped usher in countless other big beer releases from a slew of breweries.
This November, Goose Island Beer is upping the total of Bourbon County stouts to six variants, one more than hit shelves in 2024. Similar to last year, Goose Island is playing it relatively safe with adjuncts. And unlike last year, there’s no barleywine, which was my least favorite BCS from 2024. Several 2025 options sound promising, but the most intriguing to me initially is the Chocolate Praline Stout.
“This year’s lineup is built around ingredients that each highlight a key characteristic of our bourbon barrel-aged stout,” said brewmaster Daryl Hoedtke in a press release. “Cocoa nibs enhance the roasted malt profile, cherries bring out rich stone fruit notes, double barreling amplifies the bourbon presence, and honey mirrors the caramelized sweetness that defines the Original Stout.”
Goose Island, founded in Chicago in 1988, is a pioneer in barrel-aged stout, introducing one of the first iterations of one of craft beer’s most prestigious styles for its fifth anniversary. Today, many breweries age a stout (or several) in bourbon (or other spirit) barrels, and in Milwaukee, Black Friday has become a major day for breweries to debut similar beers or other special releases.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
Here’s the Bourbon County variant list that’s being announced this morning. All of these should be available in the Milwaukee area on Nov. 28, except Proprietor’s Stout, which as always is only available in Chicago.
2025 Bourbon County Brand Original Stout
The consistently tasty base stout is aged in barrels from Buffalo Trace, Heaven Hill, Four Roses and Wild Turkey. One big change this year is that it’s available in four-packs of 10-ounce bottles. This is a smart move away from the single 16.9-ounce bottles introduced for most Bourbon County releases in 2015.
Tasting notes from Goose Island: Vanilla, cherry, cocoa, toasted almond, caramelized sugar
2025 Bourbon County Brand Cherries Jubilee Stout
Goose Island has had varying degrees of success when using cherries as an ingredient in past Bourbon County iterations. The approach here is a little different. The stout is aged first in bourbon barrels, and then finished in cognac barrels with Montmorency cherries, panela (a boiled-down cake of unrefined cane sugar) and citrus
Tasting notes: Burnished cocoa and vibrant dark stone fruit with a caramelized citrus finish.
2025 Bourbon County Brand Chocolate Praline Stout
This could be the hit of the 2025 batch. The stout is barrel aged with cocoa nibs, hazelnuts, almonds, cashews and dates. A touch of chocolate already resides in the base stout, and adding cocoa and nuts seems like a fine idea.
Tasting notes: Rich fudge, toasted marzipan, chewy toffee
2025 Bourbon County Brand Double Barrel Stout
Adjuncts can create some amazing variants, but Bourbon County Stout is at its best when it simply lets the barrels do the talking. The Double Barrel Stout is aged twice in Heaven Hill Bottled-in-Bond Bourbon barrels. Expect the oak to be the star of this barrel-aged show.
Tasting notes: Toasted marshmallow, warm vanilla with a pronounced oak finish.
2025 Bourbon County Brand Reserve Stout
Speaking of great barrels, Reserve Stout is aged for two years in Parker’s Heritage Collection 10-Year 17th Edition Rye barrels. The highly regarded whiskey should add plenty of character to the Reserve Stout, which will likely age nicely.
Tasting notes: Layers of dried fruit and marzipan with nuanced rye spice.
2025 Bourbon County Brand Proprietor’s Stout
This year’s Chicago-only release takes its inspiration from the flavors of baklava. The 2025 Prop is made with walnuts, pistachios, cassia bark and honey.
Tasting notes: Caramelized honeycomb, baking spice and roasted candied nuts.
