The American Craft Beer Thanksgiving Rumor Mill

Hey it’s Thanksgiving time… And we, like all of you, will soon be off enjoying a long holiday weekend. But no worries, we’ll be back in action (and up to no good) on Monday.

But just because it’s Thanksgiving (and everyone’s already started drinking) doesn’t mean that the craft beer biz is slowing down anytime soon. And we’ve plenty of industry news, gossip and innuendo for you to digest along with your holiday turkey…

, The American Craft Beer Thanksgiving Rumor Mill

Black Friday Beer (Everywhere, USA) – The day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday, remains the biggest shopping day of the year. And although it’s most commonly associated with crowded malls and “power-shopping,” it’s also become associated with important craft beer releases. But to truly understand how craft beer has grown to become a “thing” on Black Friday you need look no further than to Goose Island and the beloved Bourbon County Brand that they’ve become known for.

A Goose Island History Lesson (Chicago, IL) -The originator of the entire bourbon-barrel aged beer category, the Bourbon County Brand began in 1992 as an imperial stout that was brewed in honor of the 1,000th beer batch at Goose Island’s Clybourn brewpub. Since that time the brand has grown into a family of award-winning Stout variations (and one Barleywine) – highly prized beers that sell out almost immediately upon their release – and go on to fetch high prices on craft beer’s black market. In 2010 the brewery decided to release these popular beers on the day after Thanksgiving – and the “Black Friday Beer” tradition was born.

The 2015 Bourbon County Variants:

  • Bourbon County Brand Stout
  • Bourbon County Brand Coffee Stout – made using Intelligentsia’s “Los Delirios” coffee beans from Nicaragua
  • Bourbon County Brand Barleywine
  • Bourbon County Brand Regal Rye Stout – blackberry juice, candied cherries and sea salt
  • Proprietor’s Bourbon County Brand Stout – Bourbon aged maple syrup, toasted pecans and guajillo peppers
  • Goose Island Rare Bourbon County Brand Stout – Bourbon County Stout aged in 35 year old Heaven Hill Barrels for 2 years

What We’ve Been Drinking Lately (Portland, ME) – We’d like to thank all the breweries who ship us beer from time to time. It’s always great to sample the brews that we write about and helps to give us a better feel for what’s happening out there. And last night we hit up the original incarnation of from Goose Island’s 2015 Bourbon County Brand Series (what else?). Brewed in honor of the 1000th batch brewed at Goose Island’s original Clybourn brewpub –  Bourbon County Brand Stout is a massive 14.2% Imperial Stout Aged in Bourbon Barrels  that more than deserves its considerable reputation.

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