No Long Lines Or Hectic Crowds Make Flat12 The Perfect Black Friday Stop

A lot of people spend Black Friday shopping all over town for the best deals, including at their local breweries. Flat12 Bierwerks held their own Black Friday event, opening their doors early for those patrons who needed a beer after a long morning of shopping. At 10 a.m., the doors opened and the tapping of several special release beers began.

Inside the brewery, you wouldn’t have known it was Black Friday. No long line, no one getting trampled; just a room full of people enjoying finely crafted beers like it was just another Friday. The only line I had to stand in was roughly three people deep because Flat12 offered so many unique beers it was hard to choose.

This year, Flat12 re-released their 2015 Pinko! Russian Imperial Stout and tapped two special release variations: Dark Corner (Pinko! aged in New Day Imperial Magpie mead barrels) and Grigori (Pinko! aged in Corsair Razputin Russian Imperial Stout whiskey barrels). In addition, they tapped six barrel aged, non-Pinko! beers (Rye Cowtipper, Rye BBD, Dead Milkman, Rum Rudder, Korova, and BA Massive Retaliation) and released Koko B Ware Milk Stout, the second of their 12 Beers of Christmas.

Sean Manahan, Director of Brewing Operations and Brew Master, told me they went with a heavy black beer lineup to incorporate it into the Black Friday theme. I decided to try the Koko B Ware and Dark Corner brews, both better than anticipated given I’m not a huge fan of stouts, although I am coming around to liking them more.

Dark Corner, as noted above, is the Pinko! stout aged in New Day Imperial Magpie mead barrels. This stout was pretty strong – 10.60% ABV – thanks to its time in the barrel, but also had a hint of sweetness from the mead. Overall it was a solid barrel aged brew, especially if you are a fan of the Breakfast Magpie.