Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout - The Original - Review and Tasting Notes

So, I decided to play the Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout game this year.

You know... frantically drive to every grocery or liquor store in the area Black Friday morning.  Cope with bottle limits.  Call ahead to ask if the stores farther from town had any stock left.

I made off with a grand total of four bottles after about 2 hours of work.

Yeah.  I know.

To my credit, I worked an overnight shift (yes, I worked overnight Thanksgiving into Black Friday...) and didn't get off until about 9:30 in the morning.  At least I had my priorities in order: beer over bed.

Ardbeg 10 - Review and Tasting Notes

The Story

For some reason, I have always seen Ardbeg as something of a rival to my beloved Laphroaig.

This is ridiculous, I know.

It's the many similarities but critical differences that do it to me.

They're both Islay distilleries that produce an unabashedly peaty malt that avoids being one dimensional.  Key similarity.  A key difference is the "type" of peatiness, with Ardbeg's being the more smoky and dry campfire type and Laphroaig's being the more wet, moist and drippy type.

New Holland Dragon's Milk - Beer Review

Bourbon Barrel Aged Stout

I had planned for a long time to review the occasional beer on this site.  Although scotch is by far my true liquor love, beer certainly has its place in my world.  I thought it might be nice to ease the transition by reviewing a bourbon barrel aged stout.

So there's still some whisky in there.

Sort of.

Since I'm up front in my scotch reviews about my bias towards more strongly flavored whiskies and my love of the peatier malts such as Laphroaig, I'll get my beer preferences out of the way.  I'm a dark beer guy, a lover of stouts and porters, although I certainly enjoy a good amber or brown ale.

I'm also not a hops lover, although I can appreciate them if they're done right.