2013 BCBS ABV Question

Discussion in 'Cellaring / Aging Beer' started by bgold86, Nov 12, 2015.

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  1. bgold86

    bgold86 Pooh-Bah (1,836) Apr 1, 2015 New York
    Pooh-Bah Society Trader

    Have two bottles of 2013 BCBS:

    One bottle is 14.2%, labeled on the back 08NOV13 1414
    And the other is 14.9%, labeled on the back 09OCT13 1330.

    Why the difference in ABV?
     
  2. Ditkahawks

    Ditkahawks Initiate (0) Jul 30, 2014 Illinois

    Not sure, but When I tasted them side by side I couldn't tell the difference.
     
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  3. larryi86

    larryi86 Grand Pooh-Bah (5,106) Apr 4, 2010 Delaware
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Based off over my tries brewing higher ABV beers it is hard to get all the sugars out of the malts, my guess is that they had two brew days and one was more efficient than the other.
     
  4. Josholson666

    Josholson666 Initiate (0) Mar 21, 2015 Minnesota

    Different batches yield different ABV's. If I recall I think 2014 had 3 different ABV's.
     
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  5. BMBCLT

    BMBCLT Grand Pooh-Bah (3,403) May 9, 2014 South Carolina
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Yep!
     
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  6. sjverla

    sjverla Initiate (0) Dec 1, 2008 Massachusetts

    Basically it's batch variation. The beer is blended out of the barrels, and I'm assuming not all of the barrels will fit in the blending vat. I've heard that the barrels themselves can have anywhere from a few cups to a couple gallons of whiskey left in them, so that'll up the ABV of individual barrels. If a few more of the extra boosted barrels go into one batch, that'll contribute it.

    It's true that super high gravity beers can be very difficult to brew at home, but I have to think that GI can crank out the base beer the same every time. Maybe not though...
     
  7. vette-ss

    vette-ss Zealot (673) Nov 5, 2014 Michigan
    Trader

    I guess this all makes sense, but why are other BBA brews pretty consistent on ABV batch-to-batch and year-to-year? Why wouldn't they blend multiple batches into one consistent brew (at least for a given year)?

    Sort of on topic, and maybe it's been posted and I missed it, has 2015 ABV been released? Seems to be a downward trend over the last couple years.
     
  8. zrab11

    zrab11 Initiate (0) Dec 25, 2010 Indiana

    I could be wrong but the reason why other BBA brews are pretty consistent is they don't make the VOLUME that Goose island makes.. Goose makes a CRAP ton of BCS so as someone else said their isn't enough room in the blending vat for that much beer!

    But since GOOSE is owned by IN bev I am sure they will have the money to buy a big enough one in the future!
     
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