Goose Island King Henry

Finally...the true king of beers...I guess that really is true now considering that AB owns Goose Island.

Anyway, last week the girls each had dinner plans, so Joel dropped in for some take out sushi and a few big beers. Even though it could have aged longer, we pulled the trigger on my King Henry. The story behind this bottle is great...think back a few months about my brief note about Louisville Beer Store. When I was up there over X-mas, I spent a bunch of coin and was hooked up with a free bottle of King Henry (IIRC, you can't even sell this stuff in KY because the ABV is too high). Either way, huge props to LBS...they are awesome.

Back to the beer: King Henry is a barleywine that is aged in Pappy Van Winkle 23 barrels (the same ones that Rare Bourbon County Stout is aged in, I believe). My sample was bottled on 10/8/11...i think the bottle number was in the mid-800s. As stated above it could have aged, but damn...we had to open it. I'm glad we did because it blew my mind. This is seriously a top-5 all-time beer for me, and easily the best barleywine I have ever had. This brew lives up to the hype. It pours with minimal carbonation...caramel color and has a huge bourbon nose. The flavors meld, but vanilla, toffee, dark fruit, and booze are very obvious. King Henry is a 13.4% beer, and it drinks as such. That said, the booze is not overpowering...its perfect. I really wish I had a stock pile of this to see how it would develop over several years, especially considering how awesome it is so young. There isn't much more I can tell you...King Henry really is a must-have...

ohtheguilt Ba score = 5.0 out of 5.0