Chicago

Goose Island's Belgian ales are by far my favorite beers from Clybourn. Goose Island's six pack offerings never really appealed to me, I found them pretty bland and uninteresting. The Belgians on the other hand were a lot more flavorful and just better beers. Tonight I'm sitting down to a bomber of Matilda, a Belgian style Pale Ale with Brettanomyces. Brett and I go way back, I'm a big fan of his work and we along really well. I've had the Matilda once or twice but I don't remember ever having a bottle and I generally like brett fermented beers better out of a bottle, so I'm excited to try this Goose Island Matilda again.

It has only beer recently that I've started getting into Goose Island's Belgian style beers. The only Goose Island that was available when I first got into beer was either 312 Wheat or Honker's Ale. Those are two beers I'm not particularly fond of and I wrongfully assumed all of their beers were similar in terms of quality. I've been pleasantly surprised by the flavors in the Sophie, Matilda and Dominique that I've had on tap in the past couple of months and I'm looking forward to trying the rest of the series. The bottle I have tonight is Pere Jacques, a Dubbel. This bottle is from the 2009 run, so your mileage may vary if you're playing along with a 2010 at home.

There's a name that keeps popping up whenever Imperial Stouts are mentioned. Bourbon County. Goose Island is a brewery I got off on the wrong foot with years ago and I haven't really gone back to their beers until very recently. When I first heard of Bourbon County a couple years ago I decided to check it out. One look at the price tag changed my mind. At $20 for a 4 pack or $15 for a bomber, I balked... I missed out on the Bourbon County last year in part because I was really burnt out on barrel aged Imperial Stouts. 2010 is a new year and I've really gotten into the other Goose Island specialty beers recently so I figured I'd finally give the Bourbon County Stout a try, President Jackson be damned.

When I first saw Goose Island's Mild Winter and read that it was brewed with rye, I was skeptical that it'd be anywhere near being considered mild. But, they pulled it off. Unlike other Rye Beers that I've had, which were spicy and bitter, this beer is mellow but still full of flavor. The Mild Winter smells like warm tortillas from a Mexican restaurant and it tastes like a dry filtered wheat with a and extra handful of salty and starchy grains thrown in. The rye in this beer retains on a fraction of it's signature bitterness because it's been balanced out by mild malts that bring in a hint of sweetness.