00:00 Bourbon County Original Flau-vado, Flau-vado. Flau-vado. I Googled it later, I don't think Mike explained it very well. It's the zest. It's the peel, but not the white part, it's just the zest. And then they must preserve it with a little bit of sugar, so it's not just acidic and oil. Do you say Flau-vado or Flau-vado? Flau-vado. Flau-vado. Flau-vado. That's a joke, guys. I don't know what's a Flau-vado. Flau-vado, Flau-vado. Potato, potato. So I learned something today and I hope you do too. Here we go. You're listening to Barrel to Bottle, The Binny's Podcast. I'm Greg, back in your feed with Bourbon County. I'm Lexi. Chim, Communications. You didn't say what you do, Lexi. Yeah, I didn't either. I was just saying, Communications, Communications, Communications. We're all Communications. Except for me, I'm Roger, and I do beer. This is always a wonderful time of the year, stout season. We got the chance to sit down with the folks at Goose Island, take a walk through this year's lineup. Some really interesting innovation. I'm always really excited about the barrel aging ones, but I was pretty wowed by some of the adjunct ones this year as well. I agree. Yeah. The OG. Big news this year. Original is transitioning into four-pack, 10-ounce bottles. 10-ounce might seem a little strange. I think what they're going for is that with a lot of these really high-gravity, high-alcohol stouts, very rich, very potent, if you want to try to just enjoy one yourself and you're not sharing it, 16.9 ounces can be a lot. Yeah. When it comes to packaging things in smaller bottles, there's limitations. There's a lot of history behind this. A lot of really big beers like Barley Wines used to come in little tiny seven-ounce bottles, and breweries like Anchor out in San Francisco and Rogue, they used to have these little bottles for their Imperial stouts and their Barley wines, but those bottles are pretty expensive. They can be a challenge to use on the bottling line, so this little 10-ounce bottle will fit with their current setup. It looks a lot like they shrank with a miniature gun, the 16.9. I think it's a nice change. I think it's cute. Having tried to drink some whole 16.9-ounce bottles of Bourbon County before during the COVID times, it can be a lot. Greg, no problem. Yeah, they're fine. Then you should have two. It's 20 ounces. Even better. I've said for years now with the can world that these kind of beers belong in 8-ounce cans. You just take a 16-ounce can, cut it in half, same format, everything and package it that way. There's a couple breweries that have invested in that, but it's few and far between. I don't know. I like this effort. I think we're moving in the right direction. Is that the same size as the Choum, those THC things? The little buddies. Little buddies. In little buddies, yeah. Got you. That would be delightful. Yeah. That's a really good size for you. Little can o'stout. Yeah. I think that would be great for everything. Even off-color Dinosmores, I would love it in an 8-ounce can. I would prefer that over the 16. I can't drink a 16 of Dinosmores. 8, 10, both work. I think your standard, it's really not that surprising to see a 5-ounce pour of Bourbon County on the bar. Yeah. Knowing that there's a shareable two bar pours in one of those bottles makes sense. I was surprised to hear you say that. I could see you flipping a table. Someone gave you a 5-ounce pour of Bourbon County. Oh, yeah. No, I said, can I get this in a shaker pint? The lady was like, no. I was like, okay, then please bring me four of them. I'll do the pouring together. Again, a pour of Bourbon County should be like 9 ounces. Again, we're really splitting hairs here. Nine ounces? 11.5 are bust, man. I don't know. Snifter pour at nine is pretty standard. Well, let's talk about how it tasted because that's really what matters the most. It is a combination of beer aged in Buffalo Trace, Four Roses, Heaven Hill, and Wild Turkey Barrels. One ABV statement this year at 14.8 percent. Last year, I remember it being as woody as it's been in a while. This year, I think the pendulum swung and it's on the sweeter side, which I am not complaining about. Yeah. That was much- That's hilarious. I have the exact opposite. Really? Seriously? I really have older, more mature, less perceived sweetness. Okay. That's how you describe Greg, though, also. Yeah. Right. Well, let's all go with Roger's opinion, but I still think it was on the sweet side. I thought it was definitely way more subdued. I didn't get a ton of those Barrel characteristics, other than just the normal stouty chocolate, roasty. I didn't get a ton of vanilla though. I did get a lot of, I know they said it probably 15 times, but the molasses really was heavy. Yeah, agreed, especially on the palate. Yeah, it was a lot. I think in a lot of Imperial stouts, dark chocolate is probably the most common descriptor. I think one of the things that sets Bourbon County apart is that there's always an undercurrent of caramel toffee, and I really got a lot of that in this year especially. It brings to mind to me chocolate covered caramels type. They always frame things in a story, a theme for the year, and I think there is a clear theme here, which John repeated a couple of times, but the other theme that I picked up, I get cherry in every single one of these, and more than usual cherry note. In fact, on the adjunct side, the first one, I thought they f***ed up and poured the cherries jubilee for the first adjunct, the Praline one, because of the amount of cherry on it until I tried the second one. So in addition to what you're saying, yeah, toffee and dark chocolate and molasses, also just like a cherry preserve. I love it. Yeah, I always perceive it as like a cherry cola note. Yeah, I think the cola shows more on the reserve. 6:14 Reserve Rye Barrel Yeah, what do you want to try next, the reserve? I think that's what they served us next. Yep. Those are more than double. Greg, you're not doing your thing. What's more? Oh, right. Reserve. Midnight Orange. Midnight Orange. Podcasts of just Midnight Orange. Although, the clip show of the Midnight Orange is Midnight Orange. Say Parker's Heritage Rye. Parker's Heritage Rye. All right. Reserve this year was in a, you can't have this extremely rare whiskey, Parker's Heritage Rye came out in 2023. It was a 128 proof rye whiskey that retailed for the nice price of $200 a bottle. So this is a serious rye whiskey made in extremely small quantities. Parker's Heritage is like an anniversary release. This was the 17th rendition of this. They change the whiskey every year. But it's essentially one of the crown jewels in the Heaven Hill portfolio. I love barrel-aged beers aged in rye barrels. I think that spicy rye character is one of the components that can stand up to the heaviness of base stouts, where you have these really aggressive dark chocolate coffee notes. You need something to kind of... Sometimes the barrel character can get a little lost in that. So I'm always really excited to see a rye whiskey barrel-aged beer. Yeah, indeed. It's kind of dangerous. It could get overblown and overspice it. The differences on this one compared to the original were really pretty subtle, although it has an extra year, well, I guess an extra eight months because the OG was in the barrel for 14 months. This one saw two years in aging. Yeah. It's like very subtly original plus, and it's plus a little bit of spice, a little bit of mint and wintergreen. Then after 15 minutes of letting it warm up and coming back to it, that's when I started to perceive the cola. Pretty good and cherry, cherry cola. I had a weird experience with this one. Have you ever had a peppermint mocha, like a coffee peppermint mocha? Huh. Surely, right? Right. Had to have. Yeah, I think so. Okay. Now imagine you get an iced one, you drink the whole thing in let's say 15 minutes, and there's a little bit of watered down peppermint cola stuff. That is the note that I got at the very back end, where it's this really strong bourbon county stout, and then there's this weird almost peppermint mocha situation, but it's muted. It's not turned up all the way. It's just this little distant thing. That's rye spice. That's the green edge of rye. Yeah, mint is a super common descriptor for rye whiskey, so spot on. There we go. I wrote marshmallow for some reason. I just got the marshmallow. I wrote round. Yeah, I mean, the plushness to it. I think the toasty character can remind you of some of the toffee character, and then marshmallow is just vanilla. Yeah, right. That's always been the running joke with barrel-aged beers when they say they add vanilla versus they add marshmallow. It's like, isn't marshmallow basically whipped sugar and vanilla and air? For me, vanilla was huge here. It's worth saying for people that don't geek out on whisky. One of the main things that's extracted from New Oak is vanillin. That flavor compound is, as you can guess from the name, vanilla. The extra aging that this sees, you're going to see more vanilla from it as a result. Vanilla for me was a standout descriptor as well as I got a really cool berry note, which I think was also a product of the rye whisky. It was a blackberry jam. Really, really nice. Roger, you say it so elegantly. I've been saying vanillin like a dope. It's a total dope, but I don't know. Vanillin. What is it? It tastes like vanilla. Vanillin. I think vanilla is one of the most beloved flavoring. I was talking to someone once who said that they were allergic to vanilla and they're like, you have no idea how many foods use it. It's ubiquitous that people put a little vanilla in all sorts of stuff. I think from the barrel age beer world, it is without a doubt the most beloved adjunct. I think it was really cool this year to see how you can use the barrel as an ingredient because there's so much pronounced vanilla in this one, as well as I got even more in the double barrel. Before we transition, sometimes I use vanilla as an adjunct in my French toast. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, you have to. I like putting a little bit, if you, it's apple season right now, and if some of your apples are starting to get soft and you don't want to make a pie, if you end up making your own apple sauce, adding a little bit of vanilla and maple syrup to homemade apple sauce is pretty bomb. homemade apple sauce is pretty bomb. 11:20 Double Barrel Stout Double barrel. Double barrel. Can you do that in stereo, like two different reads? Probably. Double barrel. Double barrel. Double barrel. Double barrel. Double. Double barrel. Double barrel. Double barrel. I'm leaving all of those in. This one, for those that are unfamiliar, the double barrel treatment is when they age bourbon county as they always would in a freshly emptied bourbon barrel. Let it go the traditional amount of aging for bourbon county is somewhere between eight to 12 months. And then they empty that into a tank. And then they pour the beer into new, freshly emptied bourbon barrels. So it essentially just undergoes its process twice. Really interesting that he brought up the fact that there is attrition as beverages age in barrel. Some of it evaporates away. So by tanking and then refilling, they're essentially removing the air halfway through the two-year aging process. So this is going to oxidize differently than the reserve that just sat in the same barrels for two years. Exactly. That was interesting to hear. I think people don't appreciate that just like how stuff evaporates in whiskey, there still is some loss with beer as well. Plus, it leaks out the barrels and gets all sticky. Right. You've seen people walk around eating that caramelized barrel candy. All right. One, don't knock it till you've tried it. Two, it does still sound pretty gross. That's not food. It's like a combination of wood lignans and like- Vanillin. Yeah, it was just like weird chemicals probably. And like brewery dust and it sticks to it. And everybody's hand who also tried to touch it. Yeah, look. Gross. That aside, this release was, I thought, exceptional. I think this will be one of the most talked about of this year's batch. Probably because it's 17% alcohol. Yeah, it's 17.4. 17.4. Yeah, that's crazy. And I didn't really perceive it as boozy, though. Oh man, I did. I did. I thought it was. Yeah, I did too. And I don't perceive stuff as boozy. These first three were just, they were, and maybe it's always been like this and I've never noticed, but they were just like the first, it was a, it's a nice progression you can follow of amping up from the original to the third one. It's like. Russian imperial style nesting doll, if you will. Yes, it is. I thought it was a little bit of a punch in the mouth. Yeah. But I'm not a bourbon drinker, so that was a little surprising. Notably more viscous, spicy, black liquorish, finally. I thought it was so much sweeter too, because I thought the other two were still pretty subdued in the sweetness realm, but this one was boozy and sweet. And none of this is saying as a negative. Right. Yeah. And the wood, the actual wood. Yeah. This one for me, I think the perfect pairing and all my descriptors is a box of really nice chocolates. Like go to Seas Candy and get the buttercream assortment. Like that is everything that I kept getting out of this. Like it's a vanilla bomb. You mean Seas Candy in like California? Or just their website? Well, there's Seas Candy everywhere. There's like little shops everywhere. I didn't know it. I think they serve- He's a Fannie Mae boy. Yeah. He's a Fannie Mae boy. Seas puts Fannie Mae to shame. I know him. There's fruity notes that reminded me of like strawberry butter creams. There's coconut that reminded me of like macaroons. But everything was just like old time candy counter, rich opulent, but that like fruit nut nougat kind of thing is just in liquid form in this beer. This one tasted like pudding and it's viscous too. I couldn't get the idea of like chocolate shavings on top of pudding. You ever had a chocolate, a chocolate Swiss, French Swiss, French? French silk pie? French silk pie. Yeah. If you would make a dark chocolate French silk pie, that's what this was reminding me of. Yeah. That's something that happens. Dark chocolate. Yeah. I know. Is a dark chocolate silk pie, is that something people do? They should. You're making Jim excited. Yeah. Innovation, guys. I think I've seen a pie like that, but it wasn't called French silk then, it was called something else, but it looked like jet black, like really good cocoa powders, stunningly dark. Kind of want to make one now. Sorry. Give you a task for the week. Once again, we do this before lunch. Just going to go to Baker Square and get a fresh silk pie. A lot of people tend to buy these around the holidays and share with family. This is the one that I think would have the broadest audience appeal, just like a little tiny splash of this who don't know anything about beer. This is the Bourbon County your grandma is going to adore. Anybody would love the richness and confection quality of this, I think. One more thought. A cynic like me sees co-branding exercises, and I just think these ridiculous corporate deals and sales opportunities and co-displays of- You're the only marketing guy who doesn't love co-branding initiatives. No, I roll my eyes. But once again, they insist that these are handshake deals, they're not exchanging money. That just speaks to a co-operative industry spirit that's been around for a long time that is really pretty cool. Yeah. Yeah. It's a brand like Heaven Hill where some of the best unpretentious offering excellent whiskeys at normal prices. And Parker's Heritage. Yeah. Well, that's the one exception. Yeah. They really go kind of crazy on that. And they've been changing over time, but they almost had the reputation in the past of being too cheap, yet they have all these exceptional products. That is true. I'm glad to see Goose shine a light on because they know, I think a huge portion of the barrels used in the original have always been Heaven Hill. Oh, yeah. Steady supply, quality, and they know how good their liquid is. Did you say the bottle and bond part for this one? No. We did not. Unlike the Heritage, which is like a one-off, this is a product which you can visit any local Binny's and buy a bottle of. It is Heaven Hill Bottled in Bond, which I believe carries a seven-year age statement. That's right. Yeah. They used to be not really available, and now we have it all the time. It's great. It's still like 40 bucks. Yeah. It's really easy to buy that bottle. Yeah. Pick up a bottle of this and a bottle of the bourbon, and you can do a side-by-side. There you go. 17:50 Chocolate Praline Chocolate praline. I have a lot to say about this one. Okay. Lexi, as someone who lived in New Orleans, was I wrong in being like, where are the pecans? Okay. First of all, it's praline, not praline. Okay. Chocolate praline. No one says praline. Down south, they sure do. You say praline, and they go, where are you from? Hey, give me some pralines. I thought this was a delicious beer. I do not think that this is a praline. No, it was not. Praline beer, not at all. I thought it was very marzipan-y and almond-y, and I loved it, but I did not. I also put chocolate pie for this one, but it had that if you could make a nut crust, like a graham cracker nut kind of crust. Again, the cherries overwhelmed me, and I thought that this might accidentally have been the cherries jubilee until I tried the cherries jubilee. So, yeah, they really set their target on something kind of difficult here. I kind of suspect that they had a combination of caramel and nuts that they wanted to shoot for, and then landed on the word praline. Yeah, I don't think that they really took it literally. I think it was like, oh, this sounds like... Wikipedia says pecans, hazelnuts, or almonds as a Southern American praline praline. Well, Goose Island probably edited that Wikipedia article. I think what we're misconstruing is that I think two things coexist. When you specifically look up chocolate praline, then it becomes more of this chocolate fondant that was made with some nut. They're saying it's ubiquitous with, or it's a synonym to Belgian chocolates in general, that are just filled with stuff. I see specifically the word marzipan right here, for the Belgian. So they nailed it. So a chocolate Belgian, yeah, they're just not, it's not very clear that it's not an American praline. Now that you guys are using Wikipedia for your flavor reference guide. Well, now it makes a lot more sense. So now it's kind of like what I was just saying about the last beer, that it reminds me of these, you know, like buttercream chocolates. Oh, that is definitely what this one is. And the chocolate, native to Bourbon County brand Stout, is amped way up here. This is the most, I would go so far as to say that this is the most natural hazelnut tasting beer I've ever had. And I think most people, so I asked Mike during the presentation, he kind of joked about the head retention thing, where I was like, what do you do about the other brewers that I've talked to, who have been like, working with actual real nuts is a disaster. Because of all the oil in them, it leaves like the sheen that looks gross, and then it also kills any kind of head. And he didn't say this, but they have really big tanks and they let it rest. They probably skimmed that off. Yeah, maybe they had a way to remove it somehow. They probably didn't want to say they filtered it, but either way, normally when they make a hazelnut beer, they just add an extract. And they can be nice, but they taste like an extract. It makes it taste like that one coffee creamer. Yeah, it's kind of like just walking down the coffee aisle in the supermarket where you get that weird amalgamation of vanilla, hazelnut. But this had a true hazelnut, or I also enjoyed how they kept saying Philbert. Philbert. Very Philbert. Philbert's fun. Yeah, it's the goofy, the less pretentious, you know, they're not hazelnuts. Wait a minute, is that like a chickpea and a garbanzo bean? Yeah, basically. Oh, my gosh. I didn't know that. Yeah. But I thought this deserves some real credit in having this awesome pronounced hazelnut, which it was not subtle, but it wasn't over too much. And I thought the pistachio really came through in a way that, I think they used pistachio a couple years ago in something, and I've had it in a few other beers, but it's never really worked. I think it was very pronounced here as well. The narrative that they were saying about this year is that it really is accentuating different qualities of the Bourbon County Stout, and they've talked about that in past years too, sometimes more than other years. But this one to me just really seems like they made an Imperial Bourbon County Stout. Like they used adjuncts to reach Bourbon County Stout squared. You know what it kind of reminded me of too is that a few years ago, didn't they do like a Napoleon kind of flavor in one of them or something? God. You're looking for Neapolitan ice cream. Yeah, right. Except it wasn't. It was Spumoni. That's right. Good memory. So the Spumoni one was weird. This reminded me of- It was fine. The combination of flavors here and the nuttiness and the chocolate, and there's always a fruity note that we identified like the cherry. It reminded me of like ice cream sundae kind of, the apollitan ice cream kind of. Yeah. So it's really interesting. It's definitely different. It had in addition to, I don't think it'll be read off here. So it's finished with coconibs, hazelnuts, almonds, cashews. I'm sorry, Ghanaian coconibs. Yeah, yes. He did emphasize that. Cashews and dates. So there's some dates in there, nature's candy. Dates are really, they're a great, if you're looking for something to up your charcuterie board, they pair super well with beers like big opulent stouts, Belgian beers, barley wines, because there's some synergistic flavor there because of the deeply You can easily just wrap a piece of prosciutto around it and put a toothpick in and it looks really fancy. Stuff some blue cheese inside of them. The blue cheese sounds good. It's always off putting the texture. That's my issue with them too because it tastes good. It's like a giant raisin. Yeah. It's confusing. One tip, never buy pitted dates. Pitted dates you should only buy if you're baking with them so that you can soak them first to rehydrate them. When they pit them, they get way too dried out. You want to buy pit in and they're soft to the point of almost like a caramel candy. Totally different texture. That is the hard-hitting fruit king advice that people tune in for. Fruit king. All right, so chocolate praline, praline, I guess we probably say it praline. It's probably praline up here, yes. Think box of chocolates, not the Southern delights. This was a good one. Made with date syrup from the date lady. Oh, yeah, the date lady. I like that. That was cute. I got to look into that. Yeah. Careful Googling that at work. 24:39 Cherries Jubilee Cherries, Jubilee. Okay, so this one actually really smelled like cherries. Yeah. It tasted like cherries and a much higher toned fruit that I thought was from some kind of cherry preservation method or something, but no, it's citrus. I liked what Jim had said about it. Maraschino cherry syrup, which is again like kind of an almondy kind of flavor. Although, I think that's something you also get in cherry pits, because when I make the cherry syrup with the pits, there is an almond note in there, which I guess could be- It's like the family secret cherry syrup recipe. What's the chemical in cherry pits? The one that kills you? Cyanide. Cyanide. How about no joking about that they've evoked a dessert from the 19th century? When I initially saw this, I had a hearty laugh like who knows what cherry's jubilee is anymore? It seems like a limited time offering from Applebee's. It was actually quite the pomp and circumstance. It was developed for the Diamond Jubilee Celebration of Queen Victoria. Oh, that's not very American. By a Scauffier. It's not. It's a French dessert. It was this big flambéed, poured over ice cream. It's super cool. I feel like no old restaurants have served this in 50 years. It seems like something that has been previously a beer flavor from someone else. Some other pastry style has been called Jubilee, Cherries Jubilee. Maybe. Ironically, Boulevard just put out a version of their, it might not be the straight up the Six Glass, but like a big Belgian style quad with cherries, and I think they called it Cherries Jubilee. I don't know what a Cherries Jubilee is, but I have to imagine a sparkler stuck in it. When I hear Cherries- Do you think they have Deschutes, because they have- Oh yeah, Jubilal. Jubilal. Jubilal. Maybe that's what you're thinking of. But I think just Cherries Jubilee is, even if people don't know what it is, it's just shorthand for some sort of cherry dessert. Yeah. Well, so I think the key here is, and what I thought was super cool about how it came through in this, is they finished this bourbon county in Cognac barrels. So that marriage of Montmorency cherries, which are a French cherry that was embraced by the people of the great state of Michigan. So if you've ever heard of the Traverse City Cherry Festival, Montmorency is one of the big cherries there. So tart cherry, this Cognac finishing, citrus with the, what was the goofy word? Flauvaido. Flauvaido. Flauvaido. And then Penea, which is Panela sugars like the Mexican unrefined natural brown sugar. Oh, yeah. As in used in spoon candy last year. For those of you who like to nerd out on sugar, Demerara, Turbinado, Panela, very similar. They balance sweetness and acidity here beautifully. I was super impressed with this beer. My biggest gripe probably about Bourbon County is that over the years, it kind of has gotten a little sweeter. They claim that they're going back to the OG by making it thicker and sweeter. But I remember that interim where it was boozier and thinner and not quite as sweet. I personally enjoy that more. Yes. I thought that's what this year, to me, that original was less sweet, thinner, maybe not as boozy, but it didn't seem like a sweet bomb to me. Everybody's all going to perceive it differently. I think when you keep drinking several different, that it builds over time, going to seem sweeter just because you've had six different pours. I did whelp down a bunch of charcuterie and blue cheese and pretzel bites with cheese. I had two bites of cheese. This one to me was really a standout. Again, I think like the backyard rye and the ones that have incorporated tart berry fruit, I love that juxtaposition of some acidity to balance out the sugar of a big Imperial style. Do you think some of that high-tone quality acidity and fruit also came from the cognac finish? The cognac barrel had to play a part. I think definitely the stone fruit character in this. The fruitiness in this beer is such an interesting blending of, it is not just cherry. They meld together into becoming this new complex stone fruit, I think from the cognac, orange from the liqueur or from the zest. I mean, cognac and orange is such a natural partner. Think like Grand Marnier. The warmer it got, the more I perceived vanilla pudding also, which I assume is part of cherries jubilee, but I don't know. I don't know. I've never had it. Yeah, I don't really know much about cherries jubilee. Cherries jubilee is like a macerated cherries with liquor in the zest and then you pour it over ice cream and light it on fire. It's so cream. Yeah. This was awesome. This I think I really hope for anyone listening, if you have any reservations about cherry beers because you think you've tried them in the past and they've tasted like cough syrup. Yeah, there's some that do, but this is not one of them. It also didn't have that sourness. Not that all cherries are sour, but sometimes there's that tartness there with a cherry in general that I get from some beers and with cherry. The Bell's Cherry Stout just came back after many years hiatus, and that beer is dry as a bone. Nice. I love it, but it's weird. It's probably too challenging for a lot of people. It's almost like a Flanders ale. They could maybe put a little bit of sweetness in that beer. But this again was just Montmorency cherries are pie cherries. They're super sour, but they balance that acidity and tartness with the sweetness. Yeah. I really like this one. 30:35 Proprietors Baklava Proprietors, prop. Prop. Prop, proprietors. Rounding out the mix, not a good year if you have nut allergies. This is inspired by baklava and it was finished with walnuts, pistachios, two kinds of cinnamon, cassia bark and some true cinnamon, and honey. And lemon flavado. Oh, yeah, yeah, and a little lemon flavado. I'm just going to come on and say this. I'm Gaga for this beer. It's so good. Just this is by far and away my favorite. The honey, it is a grace note. It's this foundation for something, and I took a sip, and I took a smell, and it just made me feel happy. Yeah. Happy. Hashtag Greg's Gaga. Just wowsers. I got to get a bottle. I wish it had a little more pistachio. I wanted some baklava. I didn't even realize what it was until they said baklava. Which is crazy because the second I brought it up to my nose, I was like, whoa, baklava? Really? I got it a lot. Really? First of all, the cinnamon jumps out on the nose immediately. But see, when I have baklava, I don't think cinnamon at all. I don't either. That's why I'm confused. I was like, I mean, I love cinnamon. It's great. But if they call this proprietors like Bourbon County cinnamon roll, this is like honey, maybe like honey buns. Because the honey is pronounced. But I wouldn't have guessed baklava. There's not enough. Ironically, because there's so much nut character in the other one, I'm totally with Jim. I can't. Baklava, a huge part of it is the pistachio. Maybe do a blend. Maybe do some blending. A very specific one of those baklava in my mind, the one with the wispy little filo dough strands and not just the flaky. It made me full too because of sitting at Libanay and absolutely eating too much food. Then they bring you a baklava and I'm like, well, I'm eating this too. It don't matter. Already passed the point of no return. I loved it. I drank it and was really excited about it, and then was really sad because I remembered how expensive they are. You'll have it one or two more times. Then I'm like, I might just buy it anyway, so I liked it. For the collectors, they updated the box. It now says which one it is on the front, so- You don't have to flip it over. I remember looking at the box, I looked at seven or eight different sides of the box before I figured out which one I had. It only has six sides. I know. You know how you have to plug in the USB, but it doesn't work, so you flip it and you plug it, and it doesn't work, you flip it again and then it works. That's the process. Anyway, they put the answers right on the front of the box. They said in general, all their packaging this year is going to be more prominently featuring what it actually is. Oh, and the reserve and the double barrel were two for two on self-destructive packaging. I love it. The reserve, you have to unzip on three of the four sides of the box, and it tears the box open and it lifts the lid up, and it just blooms like a flower and falls apart. So, if you want to keep this box precious forever, you can, but don't open it that way. Did you know at Michigan State University there's an entire program dedicated to packaging? I believe it. Everybody... Like bear packaging? Everybody wakes up in the morning and goes to Die Line to see what else dropped in the morning. Yeah. I feel like the guy who chose this, I forget his name, I feel like he was like, all right, to be rubbing my hands together. He was so excited about this. He was like, all right. I made a comment about embossing and he smiled, but once I looked at the box more closely, I was like, oh, it's blue cold foil applique. He was like, oh yeah, it is. It's really cool. Yes, it's very fancy. Anyways. I think people love this beer. It reminds me of there's a thing that us beer nerds used to do at the Bottle Share is they would take breakfast cereal and put it in a cold press and then pour Bourbon County over it. One of the most popular cereals to use is Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I would say this is a mix of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Golden Grahams because of the honey. Not far off, but the honey is more authentic and natural. It's so present. It's so good. Well, try this alongside some Cinnamon Rolls or Honey Buns or whatever. Yeasty, Cinnamon-y goodness. Bet it will pair marvelously. So I did the thing that you shouldn't do, maybe. Which is I tried this one and then I went back just straight to the OG. And it was like a thin, mean little boy by comparison. Big, big beer. I loved it. Good line up this year. Pretty good line up this year. They're going on sale on Black Friday. Black Friday. Come grab some. 9 a.m. I'm going to get them. All Binny's locations prop, only available in the Chicagoland area. And if you want to try some stuff, including some vintage stuff. Linkin Park has their Bourbon County event. Oh yeah. That day, yeah, that afternoon. Super fun. Which is convenient if you miss the old Goose Island, don't forget it's moved. They used to be right outside our Mercy Street store. They're only Salt Shed or the Fulton now. I feel like it's a great spot if you're shopping all day. Yep. To escape the nonsense. There's a lot of stuff around there. Anyway, great lineup this year. Very excited about these beers. Gonna buy some again. Again. Yeah. Fun little four packs with 10 ounce bottles that you can share with your friends and family. Yeah. I hate when we try stuff on the podcast. That's so good that I want to buy it. Then I go into the store and I go, thanks, I'll buy this now. Yeah, yeah. I did that this weekend. I was listening to our Fresh Out Beer episode. I listened to myself gushing about Farm to Fist. Then I just went to Binnys and got a Farm to Fist. They were like, hi, Greg, what's going on? I'm like, I just need beer. You don't have to talk to me. And an addendum. I'm glad you brought that up because I have a little extra info. Remember how I was a little confused by their Cryo CGX thing? Yeah, which hop ride was it? Right. So I did confirm that they have two different forms of CGX. They have normal that's in pellets and then the wet hop one is called Nuovo. And it is just like fresh frozen. They do it. They cryogenically freeze the fresh hops. It doesn't end up getting pelletized. It ends up being like a loose powdery substance that they compared to kinetic sand. And everyone in the office was like, I was not aware of what that was, but apparently people of kids are very familiar. Cool. But like wet sand. Anyway, I think there might really be something to these cryo frozen fresh hops, because that beer was the bomb. I don't need to say it again, but that beer is like the perfect IPA. It's really good. It's really good. Anyway, after the Bourbon County Stout Tasting, I went home and drank my last can. This could be a game changer, because the implication is that, depending on how much they process of this, you could do wet hop beers any time of year. Oh, wet hop American winter and spring also and summer. So get out there and buy these. They're really good. Yeah. As always, they're bringing the classics. They will be available two weeks from the release of this episode. Okay. So that guy who's like super excited to listen to us on Friday morning, hello, thank you for listening. Whatever. Thank you for listening to another episode of Barrel to Bottle, The Binny's Podcast. Back with you real soon with something great. Until then, I'm Greg. I'm Lexi. I'm Jim. And I'm Roger. Keep tasting. Midnight Orange.