Goose Island Beer Company

In the midst of a summer of hard sports drinks and the revitalization of light beer, Goose Island is hoping to steer the conversation toward dark, moody imperial stouts for at least a little bit. The Anheuser-Busch InBev-owned craft brewery has revealed its dessert-laden 2026 Bourbon County Brand Stout (BCBS) lineup. The barrel-aged stout family is traditionally released on Black Friday (November 27 this year).

Kirin-owned New Belgium Brewing – including the Voodoo Ranger-powered New Belgium brand and Bell’s Brewery – now ranks as the largest non-Brewers Association craft beer family, overtaking Molson Coors’ craft brands, according to data released in the trade organization’s May/June edition of the New Brewer magazine.

The notion of dessert is threaded throughout this year’s Bourbon County Brand Stout (BCBS) lineup from Anheuser-Busch InBev-owned Goose Island.

Although still in decline, craft beer’s dollar sales and volume losses eased up in May, according to the most recent off-premise report from market research firm Circana.

Volume at craft breweries outside of the Brewers Association’s (BA) definition of small and independent declined 4% on a comparable basis, to 6.752 million barrels, in 2024, the trade group reported in the May/June edition of The New Brewer magazine.

There’s a big change coming to this year’s Bourbon County Brand Stout (BCBS) release: It’s getting smaller. Goose Island will package Original BCBS in 4-packs of 10 oz. bottles.

Craft’s rolling four-week losses improved to start 2025, according to the most recent report from market research firm Circana. The segment’s off-premise dollar sales declined -3.1% and volume, measured in case sales, declined -4.6% in the four-week period ending January 26 (L4W) at multi-outlet grocery, mass retail and convenience stores (MULO+C). That marked an improvement over the prior four-week period (through December 29, 2024), when craft dollars declined -5.1% and volume declined -6.5%.

Production at craft breweries outside of the Brewers Association’s (BA) craft brewer definition collectively declined -6% on a comparable basis, to nearly 7.6 million barrels in 2023, according to data shared in the May/June edition of the New Brewer Magazine.

Bourbon County Stout, Goose Island’s annual release of limited-edition barrel-aged stout variants, will turn 30 this November.

Jack’s Abby Craft Lagers must continue to sell its products to Atlantic Importing and Distributing of Rhode Island as the lawsuit between the two moves to trial, a Rhode Island Superior Court judge ruled Thursday.

The annual “Black Friday” release of Goose Island’s Bourbon County Stout is set for November 26, and the Anheuser-Busch InBev-owned craft brewery revealed today the lineup of variants for the limited-edition beer.

On-demand e-commerce retailer GoPuff has closed on a $1 billion Series H funding round, bringing the valuation of the Philadelphia-headquartered company to $15 billion; India’s United Breweries is now a part of Heineken N.V. following the Dutch brewing giant’s acquisition of a controlling interest in the maker of Kingfisher; and more news.

Sheetz, a major Mid-Atlantic restaurant and convenience chain, built even more excitement for the upcoming unofficial start of summer by announcing the release of its largest scale limited-edition craft beer.

She’s here, she’s queer, and this is her year! Introducing the Shea Coul-Alé: Royal Edition, born through the continued collaboration of the Goose Island Beer Co., DoStuff Media network and the Champion of RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars 5, Shea Couleé.