Goose Island Is Launching Its Own Line Of Bourbon Cocktails

Goose Island Beer Co, makers of the famed Bourbon County Stout, is taking its love for bourbon a step further by launching its very own line of ready-to-drink craft cocktails.

“We like to say that our team is just as much bourbon drinkers as we are beer drinkers,” says Todd Ahsmann, President, Goose Island Beer Co.

Goose Island brewers have been experimenting and blending with bourbon barrels for the better part of 30 years. While it’s Bourbon County Stour offering uses bourbon barrels from well-known brands such as Old Forester, Elijah Craig and Blanton’s, the cocktail line will instead uses three-year-old bourbon from Midwest Grain Products (MGP), a distillery in Indiana that supplies the liquid for a number of large brands, although those brands often don’t advertise the relationship — flip a bottle over and see if it’s distilled in Lawrenceburg, IN to find a few.

Some big ones include: High West Double rye!, WhistlePig Old World Rye, and Belle Meade Cognac Cask Bourbon.

As for Goose Island’s cocktails, each cocktail is 9.0% ALC / VOL and will be $15.99 per 4-pack of 12oz cans.

Here’s the full rundown along with descriptions from Ahsmann:

Blackberry Smash

Blackberry with bourbon and a touch of mint, fruit-forward, fizzy and easy to love.

• Our Blackberry Smash is our nod to a perfect cocktail sipper. Fruit-forward, fizzy and easy to love. We paired blackberries with a slightly spicy, rye bourbon backbone and just enough mint to refresh and unwind on a long afternoon. No need to run out to buy any ingredients, just crack these open and enjoy.

Old Fashioned Highball

Light bubbly bourbon complexity with a touch of bitters, cane sugar and wisps of orange and cherry.

• An Old Fashioned is a timeless whiskey cocktail. A true highball has a light, bubbly and refreshing character. We’ve brought the two together. Our take on a highball cocktail starts with the rye bourbon complexity, a touch of bitters, cane sugar and wisp of orange and cherry to round it out. So put the stir stick and peeler down, we already made this cocktail for you.

Whiskey Sour

Classic balance of bourbon with both lemon and lime and a subtle cherry finish.

• If there is one cocktail to ease your way into the world of bourbon, this might be it. Subtly sweet, tart and spicy, yet hardly shy. Our riff on a whiskey sour pays tribute to that classic balance with rye bourbon, both lemon and lime, and a subtle maraschino cherry finish. No need to wait any longer than you need to for this cocktail, it’s ready to enjoy.

Goose Island’ s canned cocktails will be available in the Chicagoland area in November.