Bought on a Thursday, opened on the Friday, draft into a straight half. Near black, with a tan head that holds for a minute and then settles into a collar.
The two-row / roast / chocolate bill carries the structure and Willamette does the seasoning. At 11.2% and 55 IBU it sits where the style should, and Goose Island have resisted the urge to push it anywhere else.
The Willamette is extraordinary in the glass and merely good in the mouth. That is a small complaint about a beer doing most things right, but it is the reason this is not a nine.
At 11.2% this is a one-glass beer whatever the label suggests, and it warms up faster than it drinks. Twenty minutes in, the Willamette has receded and what is left is sweeter, rounder and considerably less interesting. Drink it over an hour or share it.
The barrel is doing real work here rather than decorating the label. Oak tannin frames the finish, and the spirit character sits underneath the beer instead of on top of it, which is the difference between an aged beer and a flavoured one.
Against the rest of the stout shelf this holds its own comfortably. It is not the beer that will convert anybody to the style, but it is the one you reach for once the converting is done, and at $17.00 / 500ml it is honestly priced.
Bought at LCBO release (annual at the time of writing). Give it a year. Fresh it is all heat and no seam.
A beer for the door of the fridge rather than a shelf under glass.
