Tons of credit goes to the Bourbon County Stout HomebrewTalk thread, this is where I started my journey. This guide is going to be for those that would like to recreate the BCS at home.
The latest brew was actually my second attempt at cloning the Bourbon County Stout. In the first brew I used one oak spiral, soaked in bourbon for about 3 months. The beer was pretty good, but nowhere near the balance of flavors that I achieved using a 5 gallon barrel with the current attempt.
The original attempt at this recipe was quite an adventure. My friend and I melted his microwave shut since we had to finish part of the brew on the stovetop. I undershot the OG (1.095), the beer fermented too dry (1.018), but in the end the result was surprisingly pleasant! I aged this version on the oak spiral for for 6 months before pulling out and letting it age an additional 3 months before kegging. At this point, the oaky flavors were pretty heavy so I added a few extra ounces of bourbon to balance them out. The beer turned out surprisingly well, considering I missed my FG, undershot my OG. This beer scored 34 points at a local competition.
It seems like a heavy investment ($150 or so), but I think that it's very well worth it. Especially when you consider that you can usually barrel age two beers in a small 5 gallon barrel, one after another. This is due to the larger surface area that small barrels have. Your beer makes contact with over twice the oak than it would in a commercial 55 gallon barrel. I bought my first barrel with a friend, so we each paid $75 for it. Splitting a cost is a nice first jump into barrel aging.
The barrel is here!With a wealth of knowledge that's available there, I couldn't go anywhere else but this Homebrewtalk Thread. The grist was retrieved from Goose Island's Story of Bourbon County Stout video, and confirmed by several folks that went on tour at the brewery.
Here's the grist that is based on GI log sheet:
I just wanted to note that the grains in the video are mostly Briess. Bonlander Munich is made by Briess, and their C60 is probably the most popular on the market. This makes me think that Goose Island use 100% Briess malts for this brew, but I had to use what I had available at local homebrew store. I imagine there will be some variance because of this. Different maltsters use different process for malting and roasting, so the flavors of their malts vary quite a bit.
Goose Island's Malt BagsI tried to get as close to the log sheet grist as possible, but I undershot my OG on brewday and had to add some extract to meet my gravity targets. With extract added, my specialty grain percentages went down and the base malt percentage went up, so here's the actual grist that was used:
This beer was fermented with US-05 and S-04 yeasts.
OG: 1.120
FG: 1.034
11.3% ABV
60 IBU - CTZ hops
Final gravity measurement was taken from a 2018 bottle of BCS, but I'm planning to take another one soon, stay tuned. From there, I scaled up to get to approximate ABV, although I was still a tad low here. I assume that the barrel adds about 1% of ABV, so the non-barrel aged stout OG should likely be around 1.140 (13.7% ABV), and finished around 1.036.
After the beer was finished fermenting (2ish weeks), it went straight into the barrel.
Transferring into the barrel.Unlike commercial 55-gallon barrels, 5 gallon barrels have a higher surface area of oak to beer. My stout in a 5 gallon barrel makes contact with a little over two times the oak of the beer aged in a 55 gal barrel, so the beer was ready much quicker than GI's version. Check out my guide to barrel aging for more info on this.
I aged my stout for 4 months before pulling it out. Here's the diary of my tastings:
Bottled, labeled and distributed to friends and family. Just in time for the holidays!I have to admit, I'm pretty proud of this beer, given that it's my first true barrel-aged creation. Oak cubes are fun and all, but I've never quite gotten the same character with them as I did with this barrel. Here's to hoping I can replicate this type of beer again!
Aroma: Milk chocolate truffle, hint of bourbon pecan pie.
Flavor: Milk chocolate, vanilla macaroon with a nutty, boozy finish. Whiskey notes really come in the following sips along with a light raisin note, followed by Betty Crocker brownie batter.
Side by side tasting on Black FridayI just got my hands on the 2021 version of BCS and was happy to do a side by side comparison.
Body: The original BCS was definitely thicker this year than other years, so it already had a leg up in terms of body and mouthfeel. While my stout wasn't thin, it felt thin after tasting the BCS. The original stout was definitely more syrupy as well.
Flavor: While my version is much more chocolatey, BCS exudes pretty strong bourbon aroma that mine doesn't quite stand up to. It's likely that the unique blend of barrels is responsible here, but I've also come to believe that I should have let my stout sit for about 5.5-6 months in the barrel, rather than 4.5. The math on the surface area dictates that 12 months in a traditional barrel is equivalent to 5.67 months in a 5 gallon barrel.
BCS also has pretty heavy notes of leather, fig jam and raisin, with chocolate and vanilla coming through more as it warms. It certainly isn't as chocolate-forward as my stout, for which I believe the malts are responsible here. Despite the recipe being very close, I think using Simpsons and Crisp malts as opposed to Briess (like Goose Island do) had a pretty large impact here, with Simpsons bringing out more milk chocolate and brownie notes. Added vanilla may have something to do with that as well... But you won't see me complaining here, I think I would prefer my version better if I got a slightly higher OG and left in the barrel for a wee bit longer.
Final gravity from the 2021 Bourbon County Stout is around 1.044.At the end of the day, I made a beer that I'd pay good money for at a brewery. If you give this recipe a chance, I'd love to hear how it went. Brew on!
