Chicago-brewery selling rare beer in Dayton on Black Friday

A rare beer from a Chicago-based craft brewery is hitting store shelves in the Dayton area on Black Friday but only 255 cases of it will be up for sale.

Goose Island Beer Company will release its Bourbon County Brand Stout in Ohio for just the second time Friday, said George Karras, co-owner of The Market on Wilmington Pike in Kettering.

For the first time, Goose Island will release multiple flavors of its limited-edition bourbon barrel-aged beer in Ohio, including a vanilla stout, an orange stout, a coffee barley wine, a rye stout and a stout made with raspberry and blackberry juice.

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Karras’s store in Kettering is one of a few around the area that will start selling the beer at 9 a.m. Friday. He said he received 10 of the 255 cases of the brew that are being distributed throughout the greater Dayton area.

Karras plans to sell individual bottles from $11.99 to $22.99 on a set schedule for the next two weeks. Customers will only be able to purchase one bottle of each beer, he said.

“We would have people buy two cases at once or more,” Karras said. “We have 1,000 beer customers…We want to be able to share it with everybody.”

Goose Island, which was acquired by Anheuser-Busch in 2011, first started brewing its Bourbon County Brand Stout around 26 years ago. The stout was developed for the brewery’s “1000th” batch of beer and became one of the country’s first bourbon barrel-aged beers, according to Goose Island.

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Goose Island releases the stout every Black Friday with a celebration at its Chicago brewery. This year the brewery hosted a “Bourbon County Stout Proprieter’s Day” on Nov. 11 which included food trucks and music and cost $30 per person to attend, according to the company.

The way Goose Island decides what stores to sell its rare stout to in Ohio is based on how much of the company’s beer a store stocks and sells throughout the year, Karras said. While Karras received 10 cases, some other stores may receive a case or two or a keg or two, he said.

Chappy’s Social House on Washington Village Drive in Centerville plans to tap a keg of Bourbon County Brand Stout on Friday and Karras said it’s likely some area Kroger stores will be selling a few bottles of the brew.

“Goose Island’s policy is (the stout) is allotted based on how much regular Goose Island product you carry,” Karras said. “Basically, they’re rewarding the stores that have partnered with Goose Island and carried the brands.”

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Rare beer

Chicago-based Goose Island will release several versions of its bourbon barrel-aged stout in Dayton on Friday, ranging in price from $11.99 to $22.99 a bottle.

Original Bourbon County Brand Stout: Aged at least four years.

Reserve stout: Aged in 2017 barrels for 2017's "Whiskey of the year."

Proprietor's stout: Made with dark chocolate.

Wheatwine: Flavors of caramel and aged four at least four years.

Vanilla stout: Brewed with vanilla beans.

Bramble rye stout: Brewed with raspberry and blackberry juices.

Coffee barleywine: Brewed with coffee from Guatemala.

Midnight orange stout: Brewed with flavors of orange and chocolate.

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