Goose Island’s Bourbon County Stout Finds New Stripes With Zebra Barrels | Eater Chicago

"The distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky provided the rye barrels and collaboration that shaped this year’s Cask Finish Stout: the beer was first aged in freshly emptied rye whiskey barrels from the distillery’s Origin Series Rye and then transferred into zebra barrels made from American oak and cherrywood for finishing. The distillery’s Origin Series barrels are toasted using infrared rather than the normal flame method, and as Mike Siegel notes, “In doing that, they showcase a pretty stunning barrel expression in their whiskey.” The partnership builds on a prior exchange — when the distillery used Bourbon County stout barrels to age one of its bourbons, it yielded, in Siegel’s words, “a really remarkable whiskey” — and now the tables have turned, with the imperial stout taking “the exact same journey that their Origin Series Rye whiskey took,” which Siegel calls “incredibly exciting.” These specific barrel origins and treatments are presented as key drivers of the Cask Finish Stout’s pronounced herbal spice- and cherry-forward rye character and the overall goal of demonstrating how barrel type and origin impact a finished spirit or beer." - Adam Rothbarth