MILWAUKEE — Hundreds of craft beer enthusiasts gathered outside Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee, early Friday morning. Some even showed up late on Thanksgiving night.
They were there for Lakefront’s unveiling of four different Black Friday beers that are only available for purchase on Black Friday.
The beers include a Russian Imperial Stout, a Triple Black India Pale Ale, a Five Year Russian Imperial Stout and a Double Barrel Christmas Cookie Barleywine.
Jordan Rabe came from New Berlin for the Black Friday event. He said he enjoys being at the place where the Black Friday brewery tradition started.
“It’s the quintessential Milwaukee brewery; it’s been around since Milwaukee craft beer has been around and I think that this has been the pre-cursor for all the other breweries you can go to on Black Friday, it’s not just here, a lot of the other breweries around the area do Black Friday releases as well, but this is really the brewery that started it,” said Rabe.
Russ Klisch is the owner of Lakefront Brewery. He said that whether it’s his brewery or not, he encourages people to support independent Wisconsin beer makers.
Klisch said he started the Black Friday tradition in 2011.
The tradition took a hiatus due to the COVID pandemic and this is its first year back.
Klisch said he considers it a celebration of the start of the holiday season. In addition to selling beer, he is also giving back to the community.
“It’s a yearly tradition we are going to try and do right now; we are going to try to help get coats for MPS students. Carver Academy is our school we deal with right up on the bluff here, so anybody who brings in a coat gets a free lakefront brewery beer from last year,” said Klisch.
Klisch said this is the first year his brewery is offering its Barrel-Aged Black Friday beers in cans. Lakefront transitioned from bottles earlier this year.
He said the day isn’t just about beer sales, it’s about camaraderie amongst his customers, who he considers family.
“We are just happy to have everybody coming in here and hopefully it will be a great year for everybody going forward,” said Klisch.