Starting to lose a little something. Presented a little more bitterness than I remember. Probably best fresh.

Very light, and fruity. A little strange, but refreshing and crushable.

Nice flavor. Wish it was slightly less bitter and a little creamier. Large chunks of sediment.

Bourbon County Vertical 2021 Still tons of vanilla.

Crazy amount of vanilla.

Each one I open has a varying amount of vanilla. This one is like chugging a bottle of vanilla extract; a bit heavy.

Vanilla is still very prominent. The original recipe comes in with rich chocolate and malt on the finish.

Oh wow it that a lot of vanilla that hits right away! Yum. Then the really dark malty, chocolatey flavor from the stout comes in, followed by the booziness of the bourbon barrels. Excellent!

Very sweet. Not my favorite member of the Bourbon County family, but still good. Has to be sipped to counteract the sweetness.

Sweet with flavors of caramel and apples, with a hint of cinnamon. The booziness is well hidden but becomes more prominent in the finish. I prefer their classic barleywine, which sadly they haven’t made in 2 years now. This is like dessert.

So much coffee. Not sure this has changed much in 3 years. The cinnamon just ends up adding a butter finish.

Did a side by side with 2019 Café de Olla and 2020 Special #4. In the end, they’re both fantastic, but the Café de Olla wins. Thankfully, the cassia bark aka cinnamon has calmed down in the Café de Olla.

Coffee in this is tasting really nice. I still hope they go back to a coffee only BA stout, but this is good. The base also shines through with a lot of dark chocolate and malt.

This seems like it has changed a bit since being fresh. Overwhelming amount of rich, dark chocolate and malt with just a hint of the coffee, orange and cinnamon.

Lots of coffee up from that gives way to the acidity of the orange peel and spice of the cassia bark. The finish is dark roasted malt, that leads into dark chocolate and heat. Still prefer 2015/6 coffee over any subsequent release so far.

Bourbon County Vertical 2023

Still really great. Lots of rich, dark chocolate with a hint of booziness and sweetness.

Bourbon County Vertical 2022

Bourbon County Vertical 2021

Super smooth, complex, boozy, chocolatey, and delicious. Left it a bit warmer than usual and that allows the flavors I love to shine right away.

Vertical 2020

Very dark, lots of dark chocolate and sweetness. I think this one was best fresh.

8 year vertical

Mmmm. Welcome back my old friend. This is the BC I fell in love with but haven’t had since 2014. Dark, malty, bourbony booziness. Yum

Tons of dark chocolate. Not getting the maple nor the rum. Nice warmth in the back of the throat. Been waiting a lot of years to try the base beer, which is still like to try. This is good, but I’d back off the dark chocolate a bit.

Very bourbon forward and has a nice sweetness. Very different from any other Black Ops I’ve had.

This is better now than I remember it when it was fresh. Lots of coffee, good barleywine base, and lots of dark malt.

Still not worthy of the Bourbon County moniker, but it’s pretty good. Lots of coffee still, even after 2.5 years. Might continue aging the rest, as I think it will get better.

I get the sweet barleywine, but not the aroma of not the flavor of coffee.

Coffee is very strong on the nose and palette. Taste gets darker as it sits. Very boozy. Don’t get the barleywine part of this. Bitter. Disappointed more than I already knew I would be.

This is aging really nicely. The coffee in it is reminiscent of the 2015/6 BCBCS, followed by ultra dark chocolate, but without the typical bitterness.

This tastes like someone mixed a barleywine with an extremely bitter, hoppy west coast IPA. Three years later and it hasn’t gotten any better. Will probably be a drain pour.

Malty and hoppy.

Held up really well despite most carbonation being gone.

Held up amazingly well.

Sadly there’s not much left to this after 9 years. Just a hint of tartness from the cherries on the finish.

Loss of chocolate and a hint of coffee. Has held up quite well.

Gave to Stan Soroka as thank you for bourbon samples (Red Breast and New Riff)

Starting to taste like KBS. I THINK 4 years is the longest without losing too much, but fresh is still best. Not much coffee left. Mostly roasted malt.