Goose Island Donated $20,000 From Christmas Ale Sales, Releases New Coffee Stout

By Anthony Todd in Food on Jan 25, 2012 4:10PM

Did you score any Goose Island Christmas Ale this year? The limited-edition brew wasn't just tasty - it did some good. Goose Island made a donation to charity for every case of Christmas Ale sold. This year, the charity of choice was the Greater Chicago Food Depository, which received $20,000.

The donation program has been in place since 2009, according to spokesman Ken Hunnemeder. "We change the recipe and packaging of Christmas Ale every year and along with that, we choose a different local Chicago charity to donate a portion of the proceeds to. The Greater Chicago Food Depository was a great fit for us this year because they do many great things for our community on an everyday basis and this was our way of giving back around the holidays." In 2010, due to limited capacity at the brewery, there was no Christmas Ale - and no donation! We're glad to see the program back in operation.

This is a big week for Goose Island. The Tribune reported yesterday that the new Bourbon County Brand Coffee Stout left the brewery on Monday and will hit shelves by tomorrow. The beer is brewed with Intelligentsia and aged in Heaven Hill Bourbon Barrels. According to Josh Noel, "Goose soars with this annual release. A deft, rich web of toffee, wooden nuttiness, chocolate and coffee, it is sweet and lightly boozy without the searing burn of many barrel-aged beers." We suspect it's going to sell out pretty fast.