Introduction
Bourbon County Stout (BCS), a beer that redefined the craft beer landscape, is often hailed as the world’s first bourbon barrel-aged stout. Brewed by Goose Island Beer Company in Chicago, its rich, complex flavors and innovative aging process have made it a legend among beer enthusiasts. At the heart of its creation is Greg Hall, the former brewmaster whose vision and chance encounter with a bourbon legend sparked a revolution in brewing. This article explores the origins, development, and lasting impact of Bourbon County Stout, with a focus on Hall’s pivotal role.
The Genesis of an Idea
Goose Island, founded in 1988 by John Hall in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood, was a pioneer in the American craft beer movement. By the early 1990s, Greg Hall, John’s son and the brewery’s brewmaster, was looking for a way to mark a significant milestone: the brewery’s 1,000th batch. Inspired to create something unique, Hall’s opportunity came during a beer, bourbon, and cigar dinner at LaSalle Grill in South Bend, Indiana. There, he met Booker Noe, the master distiller at Jim Beam and grandson of the iconic Jim Beam himself.
During their conversation, Hall inquired about the fate of used bourbon barrels. Noe explained that once emptied, the barrels were often discarded or repurposed, as bourbon regulations prohibit their reuse for aging bourbon. Seizing the moment, Hall asked Noe to send a few barrels to Goose Island, envisioning a bold experiment: aging a beer in these oak vessels to impart the bourbon’s rich, woody, and vanilla-laden flavors. Noe obliged, and soon after, four Jim Beam barrels arrived at Goose Island’s Clybourn Brewpub.
Crafting the First Bourbon County Stout
Hall chose a Russian imperial stout as the base beer for this experiment—a style known for its robust, roasty flavors and high alcohol content, which he believed could stand up to the intense characteristics of bourbon barrels. The decision was a gamble, as no one had paired a stout with bourbon barrels before. As Hall later reflected, “Decades later, we know that stout goes with bourbon like cherries go with lambic, but at the time, Hall and his brewers were just taking a guess.”
The barrels arrived in the summer of 1995, during a Chicago heat wave, and were filled with the imperial stout. Percy Young, Hall’s assistant brewmaster from April 1995 to April 1996, recalled the excitement: “I was stoked. I thought it would be phenomenal flavors working together.” The beer aged for approximately 100 days in the barrels, absorbing notes of vanilla, caramel, and oak, while the stout’s dark chocolate and coffee flavors melded with the bourbon’s warmth.
There’s some debate about the exact year of BCS’s creation. Goose Island long cited 1992 as the origin, based on Hall’s estimate that the 1,000th batch occurred around that time, calculated from an average of 200 brews per year since 1988. However, extensive research, including interviews with Young and media records, points to 1995 as the likely year. The earliest mentions of BCS in newspaper archives, such as a Chicago Tribune article about the 1995 Great American Beer Festival (GABF), support this timeline. The absence of earlier media coverage, combined with Young’s certainty that the barrels arrived in 1995, suggests that 1992 was a rough estimate, as the original brewing log was lost.
A Groundbreaking Debut
In 1995, Hall entered Bourbon County Stout in the Great American Beer Festival, a prestigious event showcasing the best in American brewing. At the time, craft beer was still niche, with only 359 breweries operating nationwide in 1992, compared to over 9,000 today. BCS was a revelation, but its unconventional style confounded judges. Unfamiliar with barrel-aged beers, they struggled to categorize it, with some even questioning whether it was beer or whiskey. Ultimately, BCS was disqualified from competition for not fitting any existing style category, but it earned an honorable mention in the Strong Ale category and was named “Best in Show” by attendees, a testament to its immediate impact.
Brewers at the festival, including Garrett Oliver of Brooklyn Brewery and John Harris (then at Full Sail), were among those who lined up to taste it, offering enthusiastic feedback that convinced Hall he was onto something revolutionary. The beer’s bold flavors—dark chocolate, vanilla, toffee, and a bourbon bite—set it apart in an era dominated by traditional European styles.
The Rise of a Legend
Bourbon County Stout’s debut marked the birth of the barrel-aged beer category, which would become a cornerstone of modern craft brewing. Goose Island continued to refine the process, aging BCS in barrels from distilleries like Heaven Hill, Buffalo Trace, and Wild Turkey. The brewery’s non-temperature-controlled warehouse, subject to Chicago’s extreme seasonal swings, enhanced the aging process. Summer heat pushed the beer deeper into the barrel’s charred oak, while winter cold contracted it, creating a dynamic interplay of flavors.
By the early 2000s, BCS had gained a cult following, with its annual release on Black Friday becoming a highly anticipated event. In 2010, Goose Island introduced variants, such as BCS Coffee Stout, made with Intelligentsia coffee, and Bramble Rye, aged in rye barrels with blackberries. These innovations kept BCS at the forefront of the craft beer world, with some vintages achieving near-mythical status among collectors. For example, a 2010 BCS bottle has been listed for $100 on eBay, and a 2021 Blanton’s Stout fetched $289.
The beer’s intensity, typically 13–15% ABV, and its dense, velvety mouthfeel made it a sipping beer, best enjoyed in small snifters to savor its complex aromas. Over the years, BCS evolved, with some vintages criticized for being overly sweet but later batches achieving better balance with notes of coffee, dark chocolate, and subtle tobacco or licorice.
Greg Hall’s Legacy
Greg Hall’s tenure as Goose Island’s brewmaster spanned 20 years, from 1988 to 2011. During this time, he not only created BCS but also helped elevate Goose Island to national prominence. His inspiration for BCS was partly drawn from Sam Adams’ Triple Bock, an 18% ABV strong ale aged in whiskey barrels, which Hall admired but wanted to surpass by crafting a distinctly beer-forward barrel-aged product.
In 2011, Anheuser-Busch InBev acquired Goose Island for $38.8 million, a move that sparked controversy among craft beer purists who feared the loss of the brewery’s independent spirit. Hall stepped down as brewmaster shortly after, citing a desire to pursue new ventures. He was succeeded by Brett Porter, and Goose Island continued to produce BCS under its new ownership.
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