2023 Black Friday Beer Release Guide

Company Brewing Black Friday releases. Photo courtesy of Company Brewing.

To the wider world, the day after Thanksgiving is a time for rest, leftovers and getting a jump start on holiday shopping. But for Milwaukee beer drinkers, Black Friday is among the most highly-anticipated release days of the year.

Next week, nearly two dozen breweries throughout the city will offer up their booziest, often barrel-aged, brews to the masses. Some require pre-ordering while others (like Lakefront Brewery, known for its hours-long line) require only patience.

In Riverwest, a brewery-hopping shuttle — better known as Five Three Brew One Two — will make for easy access to several local favorites. The free shuttle will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., making stops at Lakefront Brewery, Black Husky Brewing, Company Brewing, Gathering Place Brewing Company and Amorphic Beer. A full schedule s available to view online.

City Tours MKE will also be running a free shuttle between 10 breweries from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The service will make stops at Dead Bird Brewing, Pilot Project Brewing, Eagle Park Brewing Company, Explorium Brewpub, Wizard Works Brewing, Component Brewing Company, Torzala Brewing Company, Indeed Brewing Company, 1840 Brewing Company and Broken Bat Brewing.

1840 Brewing Company

1840 Brewing Company, 342 E. Ward St., will release two beers and one Delta-9 infused beverage for Black Friday. In-person sales begin at 10 a.m. on Nov. 24, but VIPs (newsletter subscribers) can get early access starting Friday, Nov. 17 at 9 a.m. The public presale will go live on Monday, Nov. 20 at noon.

Releases include Plumpy Black, a perennial favorite, and Sleepless Knights, a barrel-aged imperial porter with coffee. Kind Gesture, a mango and white peach flavored THC seltzer, contains 10 milligrams Delta-9 THC and 10 milligrams CBD.

Amorphic Beer

Two Black Friday releases from Amorphic Beer, 3700 N. Fratney St., are now available for preorder. Bermuda Storms, a barrel-aged ale, contains 11.5% ABV and has a flavor profile that closely resembles a dark and stormy cocktail, according to the brewery.

Toasted Coconut Major Particles is Amorphic’s barrel-aged imperial stout. The brew is 12.2% ABV with notes of coffee, chocolate and candy bars.

The 16-ounce brews are available in two-packs and four-packs. Preorders can be placed online for pickup between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Black Friday.

Black Husky Brewing

The Riverwest brewery will release Ahead of the Pack, a Belgian quad brew, on Wednesday, Nov. 22. The boozy beer packs a whopping 16% ABV. Stop by Black Husky, 909 E. Locust St., between 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. to get your paws around a pint glass of the stuff.

Black Husky will open at 10 a.m. on Black Friday, serving a lineup of “unusual” brews that’s still TBD, according to the brewery, but will likely include a few bottles that are more than 10 years old.

Broken Bat Brewing Company

Five new beers will hit taplines and coolers at Broken Bat Brewing at noon on Friday, Nov. 17 — a full week before Black Friday. The baseball-themed brewery, 135 E. Pittsburgh Ave., will offer up Straight Chedd, a new and improved apricot pale ale; Darryl, a fruited sour; Batter’s Rye, an IPA; Tailgate Culture, a crisp apple pilsner and Magellan, a cinnamon and vanilla porter that the brewery describes as “Christmas in a can.”

Central Waters Brewing Co.

Central Waters Brewing Co., 1037 W. Juneau Ave., will release four different barrel-aged beers starting at 11 a.m. on Black Friday. The new releases include three variations of English-style Honey Barleywine: one aged for a year in peach brandy barrels, another aged 19 months in BLiS maple syrup barrels and the third aged in both maple and peach barrels for a well-balanced brew.

All three barleywines will be available in four-packs of 12-ounce cans.

The brewery will also re-release its Gold Label 25th Anniversary stout, aged for 52 months in 15-year-old Pappy Van Winkle barrels. The stout will be available for purchase in 22-ounce bottles.

Company Brewing

Company Brewing, 735 E. Center St., will kick off Black Friday at 9 a.m. with a four-beer release. That includes Holiday Party 2023, a rum barrel-aged Belgian quad; Holiday Party 2023 Whack and Unwrap, a rum barrel-aged Belgian quad with orange peel and chocolate; Holiday Party/Thousandfold 2023 BA Blend, a blended Belgian imperial stout aged in rum barrels; and Thunder Thiols (from The Weird Turn Pro series), a dry-hopped thiolized lager.

All beers will be available on draft or in four-packs. A variety pack will also be available for purchase.

Hungry? The brewery will have its kitchen open for service starting at 9 a.m.

Component Brewing Company

Component will be open from 1 p.m. to  p.m. on Black Friday, with three new beer releases for the holiday. Barrel-aged Ho Ho Hold my Beer 2023 an Imperial Haze the Lord IPA will be available on draft and in cans. Barrel-aged Swirled Stout will be available on draft as well as in bottles — a first for the brewery, 2018 S. 1st St.

Hot Dish Pantry will be on-site from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m., serving up comforting Midwestern-inspired snacks.

Dead Bird Brewing

Dead Bird, 1726 N. 5th St. is plotting two re-releases for Black Friday. Bean Water, an imperial oatmeal stout with dark roast cold brew coffee, Mexican dark chocolate and Tahitian vanilla and Beanut Putter, an imperial oatmeal stout with roasted Texas peanuts, will be available in 16-ounce cans at the taproom from noon to 6 p.m.

Eagle Park Brewing Company – Milwaukee

Eagle Park’s Milwaukee taproom, 823 E. Hamilton St., has three brews set to release in the lead-up to Black Friday. New brews include This Christmas, a bourbon barrel-aged Belgian-style quad with dark Belgian Candi Sugar and orange peel; Double Vanilla Bottoms Up, a milkshake IPA brewed with lactose sugar, double vanilla, blood orange, tangerine and mandarin and Hard Smoothie: Holiday Punch, a hard seltzer with pineapple, cranberry, pomegranate and lime.

Beers will be available by the 16-ounce four-pack and on draft, while the seltzer will be sold in 12-ounce four-packs and on draft. Members can access the brews early on Friday, Nov. 17 starting at 3 p.m. A public release is set for 11 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 18.

Enlightened Brewing Company

Enlightened Brewing Company, 2020 S. Allis St., will release Cosmic Nihilism at 3 p.m. on Black Friday. The super-dark Czech lager is 5.2% ABV. Sweet Smoke BBQ will be on-site slinging meats throughout the day.

Gathering Place Brewing Company

Gathering Place will release two unique beers, Mélange and Turbo Hop. The beers will be sold as a bundle, with just 100 bottles of each available.

Melange is an imperial blended ale with notes of stone fruit, cherry and chocolate, while its counterpart, Turbo Hop, packs massive flavor thanks to its double dry-hopping. Expect big citrus and tropical notes in this triple IPA.

Beers will be available in bottles and on draft at both Gathering Place taprooms (811 E. Vienna Ave. and 7208 W. North Ave., in Wauwatosa.) Newsletter subscribers will receive early access for preorders.

Hacienda Beer Co.

Hacienda Beer Co.‘s Black Friday lineup will include Obnoxious Heckler, a barleywine crafted with Golden Promise malt from England and Scotland and 2023 Velvet Bulldozer, a barrel-aged brew with vanilla chocolate and bourbon notes that weighs in at an impressive 16% ABV.

The 2022 version of Velvet Bulldozer will also make a comeback for the holiday.

Beers will be available in two-packs of 16-ounce cans. Preorders for pickup on Black Friday can be placed online.

Hacienda is located at 2018 E. North Ave.

Indeed Brewing Company

The team at Indeed Brewing Company, 530 S. 2nd St., has created a rich and creamy brew inspired by a classic Italian dessert for its Black Friday release. Spumoni, an imperial cream ale, layers flavors of pistachio, cherry and chocolate for a beer that’s equal parts nutty, sweet and tart.

Preorders can be placed online for pickup on Black Friday starting at 10 a.m.

Lakefront Brewery

Four Black Friday brews, billed as “colorful, dynamic, and rare,” will be available for purchase at Lakefront Brewery, 1872 N. Commerce St., starting at 8 a.m. on Nov. 24. That includes a 2023 Black Friday Imperial Stout, 2023 Black Friday Triple Black IPA, 2023 Black Friday Double Barrel-Aged Christmas Cookie Barleywine and 2023 Black Friday 5-Year-Old.

For more information, see our earlier coverage.

New Barons Brewing Cooperative

This lager-focused brewery will release two beers on Black Friday: BA-BR, a barrel-aged imperial stout aged in a mix of bourbon and rye barrels from next door Twisted Path Distillery and Q Belgian Quad, a rum barrel-aged brew with dark caramel and fruit flavors.

The latter, made with Paraguayan molasses and aged for nearly two years, is available only to member-owners of the co-op.

New Barons, located inside Lincoln Warehouse, 2018 S. 1st St., will open bright and early at 9 a.m. on Nov. 24, with food truck Roll-N-Waffles handling breakfast. There will also be coffee and live music until 1 p.m.

The Edison

Not beer, but still worth mentioning, The Edison, 322 N. Broadway, will host a ticketed bourbon-tasting event on Black Friday. Attendees can expect to sample a selection of spirits, including Pappy Van Winkle, Weller, EH Taylor, Buffalo Trace and Elijah Craig.

The kitchen will be dishing out salty snacks to enjoy between sips.

The event will take place from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tickets, priced between $40 and $70, are available for purchase online.

Explorium Brewpub – Third Ward

Explorium Brewpub has a packed schedule for Black Friday, starting off with a 9 a.m. beer release. Several versions of Explorium Milwaukee County Stout will be available, including Oat Whiskey, Stranahan’s Irish Whiskey, Baker’s Bourbon, Willett Rye and Heaven Hill.

The brewery will also offer bourbon barrel-aged New Quad on the Block with cacao nibs; William 1066, a barleywine aged in brandy barrels; Triple Bock, aged for six months in bourbon barrels and Big Doc, a hearty brew with notes of toffee.

At its Historic Third Ward location, 143 W. St. Paul Ave., the brewery will serve a $16 brunch buffet with bottomless bloody marys and beermosas from 9 a.m. to noon, at which time the full pub menu will become available.

HEARTHFIRE is slated to perform from noon until 3 p.m.

Third Space Brewing Company

Third Space Brewing Company has two releases on deck for Black Friday –  Deconstructed Dessert: Linzer Torte and Cellar Stash. The former is the brewery’s first-ever mixed pack and includes six beers — one for each flavor in the classic Austrian dessert. That includes The Beer, a seven-month bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout, also the base for each variant; The Lemon & Vanilla; The Honey & Cinnamon; The Pecan; The Red Currant and The Linzer Torte, a blend of beers one through five.

Cellar Stash is a two-year bourbon-barrel-aged stout. It will be sold in individual, 16-ounce cans. Preorders can be placed online.

The brewery, 1505 W. St. Paul Ave., will be open from noon to 10 p.m. on Nov. 24. Ian’s Pizza will be slinging slices on-site from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Torzala Brewing Company

Torzala, 2018 S. 1st St., will release The Squash Blossom Spiced Harvest Ale and Cream City Calling Fruited Cream Ale on Black Friday starting at 11 a.m.

The Squash Blossom, a hefeweizen that serves as an homage to Georgia O’Keefe, is made with locally-sourced, roasted pumpkin has notes of caramel, spice and fruit. The cream ale features honey, cranberries, oranges and Door County cherries.

Urban Harvest Brewing Co.

Urban Harvest, 1024 S. 5th St., will release seven beers, including a few dating back to 2020, on Black Friday. The full lineup includes 2020 Brown Mumbler Bourbon Brown Ale, 2020 Big Ring Bourbon Red, 2021 Imperial Chocolate Whiskey Stout, 2021 WhiScotchsin Whiskey Scotch Ale, 2021 Two Naught Naught Chocolate Bourbon Espresso Amber and 2021 Deux Stappen French Cognac Belgian Dark Strong.

Online preorders are live as of Wednesday. Pickup will start at 11 a.m. on Nov. 24.

Vennture Brew Co.

Vennture Brew Co. is getting an early start with three beers set to release on Wednesday, Nov. 22. Mumble Biscuits, a barleywine aged in J. Henry bourbon barrels; Grandma’s Boyfriend, a double West Coast IPA with sultana and citra and Thanksgiving Sangria Bruv, a Berliner-style ale with pomegranate, cranberry, orange and Zinfanzel juice will be available at the brewery, 5519 W. North Ave., starting at noon until it sells out.

The beers will also be on tap.

Vennture will be open on Thanksgiving from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Black Friday from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Wizard Works Brewing

This magic-inspired brewery is sending it straight to Christmas with Santa’s Wrath, a barrel-aged English strong ale. The release will be available on draft or in 22-ounce bottles from the Third Ward brewery and taproom, 231 E. Buffalo St.