What Is ‘Black Friday Beer’ and Why Do People Still Line Up for It?

These holiday beers are some of the year's most anticipated.

Food & Wine / Victory Brewing Co. / New Barons Brewing Cooperative / Atrium Brewing

Key takeaways

• Chicago brewery Goose Island is credited with helping to popularize the tradition of releasing a Black Friday beer — it's since evolved into an unofficial beer holiday.
• Breweries use the day to release limited-edition, barrel-aged, high-ABV styles like stouts, barleywines, and Baltic porters.
• This year’s releases range from whiskey-aged imperial stouts to brandy-barrel wheatwines and coffee-infused Baltic porters.

The holiday season before the COVID-19 pandemic was wild. Retail shops would scream about doorbuster deals on Black Friday, encouraging people to leave their families after Thanksgiving dinner to wait in line for small discounts on large-screen televisions. Shopping on Black Friday became a sport for many and a punchline for some. But for beer fans, it was a chance to score rare, boozy stouts. 

While pre-pandemic shopping was chaotic, things are a bit more civilized now. Some stores have remained closed on the actual holiday, online shopping is much more convenient, and society largely criticized folks elbowing grandmothers to get a toaster oven. Still, the beer releases persist.

This year, as they have for more than a decade, the craft beer faithful will queue up outside their favorite brewery or liquor store to snag a few bottles or cans of limited-release brews. 

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What is Black Friday beer?

It's become tradition through the years for brewers to release dark beers such as stouts, barleywines, Baltic porters, quadruple ales, and black India pale ales in honor of Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. To give it an extra oomph, many are aged in whiskey or spirit barrels before packaging. These are among the most anticipated beer releases all year.

Chicago brewery Goose Island is credited with helping to start this trend. Their Bourbon County Brand Stout, first released in the mid-1990s, is largely credited with popularizing rich stouts in used bourbon barrels. As the brewery grew and was purchased by Anheuser-Busch InBev, the Black Friday release of BCBS and its variants became an event. 

People would line up early outside of local liquor stores for the chance to score some of the rarer expressions. Local TV news helicopters hovered overhead to capture the scope of beer-hunting humanity. 

Folks will still line up this year, but some of the shine has come off the big events. It’s possible to sleep in on Black Friday now and still get bottles of BCBS at shops nationwide, well into the new year. 

Other breweries across the country, of various sizes, have also adopted Black Friday to release special beers. The breweries use what is typically a day off for many to entice them into taprooms and to stock up on winter warmers. 

Just north of Goose Island’s hubbub, Milwaukee’s Lakefront Brewery holds what they call “one of the biggest beer release events in Southeast Wisconsin” for their Black Friday beers.

Related: Love Bourbon and Rye? Try a Barrel-Aged Beer

This year's Black Friday beers

For this year’s release, Lakefront Brewery has four expressions: an Imperial Stout aged in straight whiskey barrels from Great Lakes Distillery, a Triple Black IPA, a Wheatwine Ale aged in brandy barrels, and a whiskey barrel-aged Stout with coffee and cacao nibs. 

“We typically start discussing next year’s Black Friday beer pretty shortly after the current year,” says Luther Paul, Lakefront’s head brewer. “With these beers needing several months to age properly in barrels, it’s a year-round labor of love creating the finest liquid we can for those making the trek to see us that day.” 

Goldfinger Brewing, an Illinois brewery specializing in lager, will debut a Polish-style Baltic Porter on Black Friday, as well as a special firkin (a small barrel) tapping of the same beer infused with coffee.

"“With these beers needing several months to age properly in barrels, it’s a year-round labor of love creating the finest liquid we can for those making the trek to see us that day.” "

Luther Paul, head brewer, Lakefront Brewery

Victory Brewing Co. is looking to get a jump on the competition by releasing Oak Horizontal, an American barleywine aged for three months in bourbon barrels, the day before Thanksgiving. It will only be available at the brewery’s various taprooms. 

Still, the fun is on Black Friday. It has become an unofficial beer holiday as brewers strive to fill seats and showcase their barrel-aging prowess with high-octane ales. 

Atrium Brewing in Kentucky summed it up best: “Come on out, walk off that Thanksgiving turkey, drink some barrel-aged beauties, brunch with the fam, [and] embrace the Black Friday goodness.”

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Black Friday beers to try

Most Black Friday beer releases are specific to a brewery’s physical location. With 9,000 breweries in the country, finding one close to home is as easy as a Google search. But if you’re looking to hit the road, these breweries will be offering some heavy-duty brews.

Crispy Cabin Vibes Barrel-aged Doppelbock, 10% ABVNew Barons Brewing Cooperative, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Food & Wine / New Barons Brewing Cooperative

The brewery describes this as a medium-bodied Doppelbock brewed with maple syrup that creates “bold caramel and toffee flavors.” It is aged in a bourbon barrel that previously held maple syrup, and is blended and aged in additional bourbon and rye barrels.

Oak Horizontal, 12% ABVVictory Brewing Co., Downingtown, Pennsylvania

Food & Wine / Victory Brewing Co.

The brewery ages its American barleywine, Old Horizontal, in bourbon barrels from Southern Tier Distilling. The resulting brew has “notes of oak, vanilla, candied fruit, and warming sweetness, mingled with aromatic hops and a silky barrel finish.”

Breakfast in the Woods, 12.4% ABVWoodland Farm Brewery, Marcy, New York

Food & Wine / Woodland Farm Brewery

The brewery says this imperial oatmeal stout is aged in a maple bourbon barrel for 44 months, resulting in flavors of caramel malts, cocoa, sweet maple syrup, vanilla, with hints of bourbon and oak on the finish.

BA Bean’s Imperial Stout, 13.5% ABVAtrium Brewing, Louisville, Kentucky

Food & Wine / Atrium Brewing

An annual release on draft and in 500ml bottles, this is a collaboration with a local coffee roaster. An imperial stout is cold-conditioned on coffee and then aged for over a year in bourbon barrels.