Milwaukee's Lakefront Brewery is gearing up for its 16th annual Black Friday beer release, with four limited cans, a brand-new cranberry sparkling mead, and a coat drive all set for the morning after Thanksgiving. The lineup, revealed this week, includes bourbon barrel-aged stouts priced as high as $25 a can, alongside a free glass giveaway and a charity coat collection that kicks off before the Beer Hall doors even open.
Four Beers, One Morning, No Purchase Limit
The release lands Friday, Nov. 27, and features four beer varieties sold only on Black Friday, according to wisbusiness.com. The Black Friday Imperial Stout has been aging in barrels since 2021 and will sell for $20 plus tax per can, with 1,500 cans available, per OnMilwaukee. The Triple Black IPA, dry-hopped with Citra, Chinook and Centennial hops, runs $15 plus tax with 750 cans in stock.
Rounding out the lineup are the Imperial Coffee & Cacao Nib Stout, aged in Lux Row Ezra Brooks bourbon barrels with Stone Creek Coffee and cocoa, and a 5-Year Imperial Stout aged in bourbon barrels for half a decade. Both are priced at $25 plus tax per can, with 750 cans of each available, the brewery's release notes. All four beers come in 19.2-ounce cans with no limit on how many a customer can buy, and anyone who grabs at least four cans gets a free Four Horsemen-wrapped snifter glass.
A New Mead Joins the Mix
New this year is a gluten-free cranberry sparkling mead aged in Wollersheim White Port barrels, sold in 12-ounce single cans for $4 plus tax or six-packs for $20 plus tax while supplies last. Lakefront's head brewer, Luther Paul, said the brewery keeps bringing back flavors because people enjoy them. He added, “Different barrels and brewing methods make for beers with a ton of depth,” per wisbusiness.com.
A food truck will serve coffee and burritos starting at 6 a.m., and the Beer Hall will open at 8 a.m. WisBusiness reports that some attendees arrive the night before for the release.
Coat Drive Starts Before the Doors Open
Below the Beer Hall entrance, Lakefront's Warm Hearts Community Coat Drive begins at 7 a.m., an hour before the beer sales start. Guests who bring a new or gently used, laundered coat suitable for a child ages 3 to 14 will receive one retro Black Friday bottle or can, with donors over 21 capped at two bottles or cans total, per the brewery's release notes shared with wisbusiness.com.
The barrel-aged lineup is notably heavy this year, even as OnMilwaukee's own guide observes that drinker tastes have broadly been shifting toward lower-ABV brews. Still, Lakefront appears to be leaning into its reputation for big, aged stouts rather than following that trend.
How It Compares to Last Year
Last year's release also featured four beers — an Imperial Stout, Triple Black IPA, Wheatwine Ale and Imperial Coffee & Cacao Nib Stout — priced from $15 to $25 each plus tax, according to TMJ4. In 2025, buyers of at least four cans received a free collectible wrapped pint glass instead of a snifter, and the coat drive — then in its third year — benefited students at George Washington Carver Elementary School. TMJ4 also reported that brewery staff typically start planning the next Black Friday beer shortly after the current one wraps up, since the barrel-aging process takes months.
Limited-release beer drops have long been part of the Black Friday routine at craft breweries beyond Lakefront, as the Journal Sentinel has noted of the broader Milwaukee beer scene. For Lakefront, though, the combination of barrel-aged stouts, a new mead and a coat drive for local kids has become its own annual rite heading into the holiday weekend.
