Before modern craft beer exploded into thousands of breweries all releasing double dry-hopped something-or-other every Thursday, there was Goose Island quietly helping kick the whole thing into motion in America.

Founded in Chicago in 1988 by John Hall after a trip through Europe left him wondering why American beer had become so painfully boring, Goose Island became one of the defining names of early US craft brewing. The brewery introduced loads of drinkers to fuller-flavoured beer through classics like Honkers Ale and 312 Wheat, but the real game changer arrived later with Bourbon County Stout.

That beer basically changed modern stout forever. Ageing imperial stout in bourbon barrels sounds normal now because everybody does it, but Goose Island more or less invented the template in the 1990s. Huge chocolate, espresso, vanilla, oak and whisky character all crashing together into something rich enough to qualify as dessert and central heating simultaneously. Bourbon County releases eventually became proper annual events for beer nerds.