Remember when going to Blockbuster for a Friday night video was a weekend ritual? Well we don’t have to tell you that those days are almost gone forever. And that calls for a beer.

Here’s the deal…

Like so many things we thought would go on forever (CDs, fax machines, Wicked Weed as a craft beer independent), Blockbuster, the once dominant video chain has fallen victim to companies like Netflix and the world’s shift to streaming.

And in 2018 Blockbuster is down to one last store.

To commemorate the last store standing, which just  happens to be in Bend, Oregon, one of America’s best beer destinations, 10 Barrel Brewing, which also calls Bend it’s home, has brewed a special beer for whoever even thinks about spending time in a video outlet nowadays.

But what a run it’s had…

When Blockbuster launched 33 years ago craft beer was barely a thing. Jim Koch had just founded Boston Beer and it was quaintly referred to as a microbrewery.

At its peak the Blockbuster chain controlled an empire of more than 9000 stores and employed over 84,000 people…but no longer. In 2010 Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy and the Blockbuster experience was fast on its way to becoming a memory.

To keep the experience alive, 10 Barrel Brewing, (now an AB InBev crafty holding) teamed up with the Blockbuster (now owned by the Dish Network) to create an exclusive Blockbuster beer that’s the first of its kind for the last of its kind.

Available at all six 10 Barrel pub locations in the west, two of which are in Bend, the “official” Blockbuster beer, aptly named The Last Blockbuster, is described as a light-bodied Black Ale with nuances of  red licorice and hints of nostalgia.

And sadly The Last Blockbuster ale is a bittersweet celebration a more innocent time when videos ruled and 10 Barrel Brewing wasn’t owned by the world’s biggest brewing company.