Goose Island Beer Company Broadshoulders Barleywine (365 Day 347)

By scot in 365 Days of American Craft Beer, Beer on Sunday, November 13th, 2011

I knew that I was going to have some fantastic American craft beer while attending the ninth annual Festival of Wood and Barrel Aged Beer. It was a matter of limiting the list of candidates down to one beer that I could actually call beer number 347. No easy task.

Goose Island Beer Company is in the hometown of the festival, Chicago, so there was no way they were going to be misrepresented. I knew there would be some studly Bourbon County Brand Stout flavors and that was my target. I wasn’t disappointed by those flavors but they had some of the longest lines at the festival, attaining those beers was hard but not difficult.

Then the thought dawned on me: American barleywine. I am brewing a barleywine and have been drinking them all week to prepare for brew day, so why not try a shitload of barrel aged perfections. I did and this is where I found Broadshoulders Barleywine. Unfortunately it was an English barleywine, but it was the best in show for me.

After my taste of this beer I am going to call and ask if this is on tap at one of the Goose Island locations. It is a special beer. Enjoy!

Useless Fact: The Graham cracker was named after Sylvester Graham (1794-1851). A New England minister, Graham not only invented the cracker but also published a journal in Boston that took a rabid stand against tea, coffee, feather beds, and women’s corsets.